Key reference material and databases for chemical engineering literature reviews, and tips for choosing keywords, evaluating, and refining search results.
HMCS Max Bernays Pre-Deployment Brief (May 2024).pptx
How not to reinvent the wheel - Literature Searching for ENCH400 2012
1. How not to reinvent the wheel
or Literature Searching for ENCH400
2012
2. Our mission is…
Literature review on a topic
Proposal
Lots of research
Mass balances – calculations
Look for different processing routes
Oral presentation and report
Experiments
Report
3. We already know...
We get information from:
Internet – Google, Wikipedia
People – Lecturers, mentors, other students
Library resources:
Textbooks
MultiSearch
ScienceDirect
Google Scholar
Journals (browsing by subject)
4. We need to know...
How to find papers
Structure and layout of the literature review
What to include and what not to include
How do you know if it’s a good article or not?
Methods to include the information without
directly copying
6. The Research Process
Define your topic
What information do you need?
Who would have written about it? Where?
Find information
Judge it – is it reliable? relevant?
– does it point in new directions?
– is it enough? or do you still need more?
Analyse and synthesise
Cite all sources!
8. Key databases
Compendex aka Engineering journal/conference articles
“who’s cited who”, review articles
SciFinder Chemistry journal articles & data
“who’s cited who”, review articles
Web of Science aka General science/engineering articles
“who’s cited who”, review articles
Scopus General science/engineering articles
“who’s cited who”, review articles
MultiSearch Searches widely
* Off-campus, log-in via top bar
Google Scholar Searches widely, “who’s cited who”
* Edit Settings -> Library Links
9. Choosing keywords
What criteria do I use in choosing keywords to
search for?
• Choose the main words from the initial question
If not enough results:
• Use fewer words (or broader synonyms)
• Use the root of words – eg magnetic*, produc*
If too many results:
• Use more words (or more specific synonyms)
• Exclude subjects – NOT methanol (Google Scholar
uses -methanol instead)
• Search for a phrase with quotes eg “lysine production”
10. Evaluating resources
Is it… and...
relevant?
Who is it written for?
basic/advanced?
What kind of research is it?
up-to-date? How far along is the research?
What questions haven’t they answered yet?
accurate?
11. Filtering results
How do I refine/filter the search results to get
useful and reliable resources?
• Read the title
• Read the abstract
• Check the keywords – can use these in new searches
• Check the article’s reference list for older articles
• Check who else has cited the article for newer research
• Use the “Refine” column to narrow by
subject, author, year, document type (eg “review”
articles for an overview of the state of research)
The “literature” is the written conversation between scientists about what they’ve found out (by reading or experimenting).Searching the literature is all about learning who the cool people are and where they hang out.
Research process is iterative – as you learn more, you constantly refine your strategies and even your research question.For the best research questions, the answer doesn’t exist yet! You’re looking for clues that will let you piece together the puzzle yourself.