ENGG 1003 Assignment help
| Assignment help |
Before you begin, it is strongly recommended that you:
- read the assessment instructions available on your learnonline course site.
- read the Writing Reports PDF available on the Study Help site.
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Study Help: Writing reportsAn online hub packed with study resources.
Start here
Planning your search is key to getting the most out of your search results. The following video will help you get started.
Video Length: 2:26
 Key points from the video |
- Searching for your whole assignment is not very effective
- Identify the key concepts in your question or topic
- Think about what other words (similar words or alternative terms) might be used to describe the key concepts
- Connect your concepts using AND and OR
- You can change your search as you find more information
- Searching for your whole assignment is not very effective
- Identify the key concepts in your question or topic
- Think about what other words (similar words or alternative terms) might be used to describe the key concepts
- Connect your concepts using AND and OR
- You can change your search as you find more information
 Read: How to plan your search |
The rest of this page will outline the key steps for planning your search as discussed in this video: identify keywords, consider alternative keywords, connect your keywords as well as understand assignment types and copyright.
Step 1
| Identify keywords |
Typing your question into Google or the Library Catalogue is not the best way to search.
Mapping out your search can be a good place to start:
- Identify the keywords (also known as key concepts) in the assignment question - these are the words which give meaning to the question, the main ideas
- Remove task words (also known as instruction words) from your assignment question - these are the words telling you what to do with the key concepts (e.g. analyse, compare, discuss)
Step 1: Identify keywords; Test your knowledge (Engineering)
Step 2
| Consider alternative keywords |
Now you've identified the keywords in your assignment question, try doing the following to help you understand your keywords and find similar or alternative keywords:
Use the course readings, an encyclopedia, dictionary or reliable websites to understand your topic
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Macquarie dictionaryThe Macquarie dictionary is constantly updated with Australian Language words
Use a thesaurus to help you find similar or alternative keywords
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Webster's Word Power English Thesaurus: A-Z of Alternative WordsThe Word Power Thesaurus is the easy way to improve your vocabulary and extend your knowledge of words - by looking up alternative words. Contains 150,000 alternative words (synonyms), and over 7,500 antonyms (opposites).
Do some basic initial searching using the keywords you've already identified to see what other words are used in the papers you find. Create a mindmap or table to help you brainstorm alternative keywords
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Using mindmaps to plan assignments (PDF)Creating a mindmap or table can help you brainstorm alternative keywords.
Step 2: Consider alternative keywords
Step 3
 Connect your keywords |
Once you have identified your keywords and found alternative keywords, you need to connect these to put your search together.
Use the following operator words, which most search tools will have, to indicate how you want the tool to search for your keywords:
- OR: Combines similar keywords
- AND: Combines different keywords
- NOT: Excludes words from the search (use cautiously and only when necessary or you might exclude results you actually want)
Remember to use "quotation marks" to keep phrases together and (brackets) to keep synonyms together.
Step 3: Connect your keywords
Option 1: Library Catalogue
| Search the Library Catalogue |
The Library Catalogue is a good place to start your search for scholarly material. You can use it to find eBooks, journal articles, reports, videos and more.
Using "Refine my results" menu to refine your search to find exactly what you need.
 Watch: How to search the Library catalogue (1.47) |
 Test your knowledge |
Practice using the Library catalogue with our interactive tutorial (15.00)
Option: Databases
| Search databases |
Databases are online collections of resources including articles, papers, book chapters and reports. Databases have advanced search options, helping to focus your search and find more relevant, scholarly references quickly.
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Access EngineeringSubject areas within the database include aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, energy engineering, industrial engineering, material engineering and more. Included in the database is a large number of videos demonstrating engineering solutions.
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IEEEXploreStandards issued by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc) are available in full text. This database also provides full text access to IEEE transactions, journals, magazines and conference proceedings
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ProQuest CentralThis database serves as the central resource for researchers at all levels. Covering more than 160 subjects areas, ProQuest Central is the largest aggregated database of periodical content.
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ACM : Association for Computing Machinery digital libraryProvides access to bibliographic information, abstracts and full text access to the Association of Computing Machinery journals, magazines, transactions and conference proceedings
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ScienceDirectScienceDirect is a full-text scientific database that contains peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters from nearly 2,500 journals and more than 30,000 books. Subject coverage includes: physical sciences and engineering, life sciences, health sciences and the social sciences and humanities. Includes open access journals, open archives and open access articles.
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More engineering databases ...List of databases relevant to all areas of engineering.
| Read: How to save time searching databases |
Option: Google Scholar
| Search Google Scholar |
Google Scholar searches only within academic or scholarly sites, rather than the whole internet. By accessing Google Scholar from within the library website, you will be able to link directly to articles that the library has access to by clicking on the Full-text at UniSA link. Use the Google Scholar link from the Library website for best access to full-text references.
| Test your knowledge |
Practice using Google Scholar with our interactive tutorial (10.00)
| More information |
Visit this Library online resource to teach you how to search Google Scholar, the Library catalogue and databases successfully.
Referencing help
| Referencing |
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Referencing RoadmapHelp with the Harvard UniSA referencing style. Find in text-citations and reference examples, from different sources such as articles, books & chapters, websites, and more.
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Referencing HubInformation around what is referencing, paraphrasing, referencing rules, referencing styles and Academic Integrity. Also includes a link to the Harvard Referencing Guide UniSA (pdf).
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Referencing forumDiscuss referencing, exchange advice and post questions and answers about referencing (facilitated by Student Engagement Unit).
| Why you should manage your references |
Referencing is how you acknowledge or provide evidence of other people's work in your academic writing.
Learn more by watching Managing Your References.
Video Length: 1:55
| What do you do with all those references you have found? |
Use a bibliographic management software to store, organise and cite your references. The Library supports the bibliographic management tool EndNote, although there are many free systems available.
More information on EndNote can be found in the EndNote guide.
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EndNote guideProvides more information about installation and getting started.
Other helpful guides
Final step: Choose what to use
| Evaluate your resources |
While you are finding references, you need to think about whether they are appropriate to use in your assignment. You may be asked to use Scholarly or Peer Reviewed material to support your arguments.
You should evaluate all resources before including them in your assignment - even if you found them through the Library Catalogue or Databases.
Video Length: 3:16
| Key points from the video |
- Searching for your whole assignment is not very effective
- Identify the key concepts in your question or topic
- Think about what other words (similar words or alternative terms) might be used to describe the key concepts
- Connect your concepts using AND and OR
- You can change your search as you find more information
| Currency | How current does the information need to be? Do you need to use information published in the last five years or are older, seminal works fine to use? |
| Relevance | Does the information found answer your question? Do you understand the content and is it at the right level for your purpose? |
| Authority | What are the author's qualifications? Are they linked to a particular organisation such as a university, research institute or government department |
| Accuracy | Is evidence given for the research undertaken? Can you verify the information presented by using other sources? Is there a bibliography or references given? |
| Purpose | Is it trying to communicate research, persuade you or sell you something? It is expressing an opinion, or is it balanced and objective? |
| Read: Critically analysing a website |
