Engineering Problem Solving  

Five Ways to Get Research Help

Spring Semester 2012

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This is a guide to reference books useful for engineering problem solving, including engineering fundamentals, data manipulation, mathematics, and calculations. Most of these materials will be found in the Reference collection, but older editions may be available for borrowing. As the range of potential useful sources is so great, the guide will begin with an overview of basic techniques and give a few field-specific examples. For information sources related to chemical engineering, see Chemical Processing Plants subject guide.

It is impossible to list all the titles which may be of use for a particular project.  Engineers love handbooks, and the HELIN Catalog allows Boolean Searching in the “Keywords” search, so a search for “handbook and your topic” will often get results. (Ignore the quotation marks when typing, and be sure to limit the search to “University of Rhode Island (All Campuses).”) If you find too many, you may wish to focus your topic, while no or few results should lead you to broaden it.

So, if you were looking for material on lubricant viscosity, you might do a search for “handbook and tribology.” You will find six items, all of which may be good. A look at the titles might give you the idea to try the more specific search “handbook and lubrication,” or, if you received no hits, you might try the broader “handbook and mechanical engineering.” Terms other than handbook (e.g. encyclopedia, manual, guide, etc.) may also be useful.

J. Williamson, 07/01; rev. P. Larsen, 06/06, H. Williamson 4/10.