Subject Guide
Quick Links
Class Resources
Refresh on how to do library research
- Conducting Research GuideThis research guide provides tips from the librarians on finding and evaluating sources for your research.
Find books and ebooks
- Washington University in St. Louis Library CatalogAccess books, ebooks, journal titles, government reports, and more.
- MOBIUS Library CatalogSee and request books from other libraries in Missouri.
Note: ebooks cannot be requested. Contact your subject librarian for possible purchase. - Illiad (Interlibrary Loan) ServicesArticle and book delivery.
Principles of Water Treatment by ISBN: 9781118309704Publication Date: 2012-10-26Also available in print
- AccessEngineering (Access Engineering) This link opens in a new windowMcGraw-Hill textbooks, handbooks and more.
- Knovel Library This link opens in a new windowOver 2,800 major science and technical reference books and databases from major sci-tech publishers including John Wiley & Sons and Elsevier.
Find articles in databases
- Academic Search Complete (1975-present) This link opens in a new windowGreat start for database novices; work on keywords and search filters.
- Scopus This link opens in a new windowThe world’s largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. Contains over 46 million records, 70% with abstracts, and also includes over 4.6 million conference papers. NOTE: Click "Institutions" icon in right corner. Change organization to Washington University in St Louis John M Olin Library, Danforth Campus.
- Web of Science (1900 - ) This link opens in a new windowIncludes Science Citation Index Expanded (1900-present)
Other Online Resources
- National Technical Reports Library (NTIS/NTRL) This link opens in a new windowOnline library of U.S. government-sponsored technical reports, acquired, indexed, and archived by the National Technical Information Service. Contains over 2 million titles with links to over 600,000 full-text reports (in PDF). Note: Search to Public NTRL is free but in order to display a full text document you would need to register. Registration is free but Terms and Conditions of use need to be signed.
Cite your sources
- Citing Your Sources & Writing StylesThis guide is designed to help you find information on how to cite your sources correctly and to avoid plagiarism.
AI Chatbots and Library Research: Augmentative Technologies
How ChatGPT and Language Learning Models can help you in this class:
- Identify relevant engineering standard numbers based on design prompt inputs.
- Summarize standards and standard requirements.
- Brainstorm keywords, subject headings, and additional research areas.
- Identify possible "experts."
- Help outline your report.
- Remember to fact-check all information generated as it could be wrong, outdated, or fabricated.
Considerations when using LLMS as a research or writing tool:
- Start creative juices and overcome writer's block.
- Generate topics, keywords, and ideas.
- Help outline papers.
- Compare and contrast
- Refine research questions and thesis.
- Note effective prompts and strategies.
- Be very specific with your language inputs.
- Consider the target audience and task.
- Refine your questions and responses.
- Verify everything.
- Use for simple facts that you can fact-check via another source. Then cite that other source.
- Beware of misinformation.
- ChatGPT is notoriously bad at sources and often includes fake articles and citations.
- ChatGPT has limited knowledge of the world or events after 2021.
- If you copy/paste AI-generated text, you could be plagiarizing without even knowing it.
Citations
- Hargadon, Steve. "Library 2.0's ChatGPT Bootcamp for Libraries and Librarians." Library 2.0, 3/25/2023, https://www.library20.com/bootcamps/chatgpt.