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BIOE 435: Literature Review

This LibGuide is intended for students who have been assigned into a BIOE 435 Project Group.

Easy Search - Engineering

What function does the Literature Review play?

Assessment of the current state of research on a topic
- Find out: What's been done in the past
- Find out: What have other people tried to do in this area
- Identify the successes and failures in a project area
- You do not want to present at a meeting/conference and have someone tell you that someone else has already done that work
Identification of the experts and key organizations/companies in a particular area of work
Identification of key questions or issues about a topic that need further work
Determination of methodologies used in past work on the same or similar topics

Information Resources Used in a Literature Review

Information resources of value
- Academic/research journals and conference papers
  - Topical searching
  - Citation searches
- Review articles from academic or popular journals
- Popular, trade journals
- Conference and trade show literature
- Patents
  - Engineering Village
  - Google Patents
  - USPTO
  - European Patents
- Standards
  - American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
  - American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
  - Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE)
  - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
  - American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
  - American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE)
  - International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
- Handbooks
- Technical reports - governmental, industry

Collaborative Search in the IDEA Lab

Design learning or design thinking
- Simultaneously search multiple resources
- Display results on multiple high-definition touch screen monitors
- Uses a version of the Easy Search system
- Uses voice synthesis for suggestions
- EBSCO, Scopus, Inspec, and Online Catalog resources
- Datasets and other relevant databases on Easy Search screen

Subject Guide

Grainger Engineering Library

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Subjects: Engineering

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