Skip to main content
LibApps staff login

EGR 104

The EGR 104 Library Guide has been deveolped to assist you in accomplishing some of the key class assignments and course learning objectives.

Selecting a Topic

For the EGR 104 course you are required to select a research project and develop a proposal. Sometimes, we can get great ideas for project from looking at past successes & failures of engineering -- building a better mousetrap.

The following links will provide specific resources and guidance related to these assignments

Finding Research Topics (3:21) 

Formulating a Research question using the PICO framework

Creating a Thesis Statement

Finding Engineering Successes & Failures

 

Understanding the topic context

To write clearly on a topic, you need to understand the context and to lay out the reasons used on various sides of an issue. To familiarize yourself with the issues, controversies, and general state of what your topic includes, you are encouraged to use these Research Databases listed below. You may only need to read enough to feel comfortable with the all the sides (pros and cons) and the general issue as it stands.

CQ Researcher This database, a part of the CQ Press Electronic Library, looks at both sides of an issue. It also presents the issue as it stands, a timeline/chronology, bibliography, and further reading. The majority of the information is for background information.

Opposing Viewpoints in Context This includes quite a few editorials, opinion pieces, and news articles.

Times Topics Each topic also links to newspaper articles from the NY Times.

Access World News offers newspaper coverage from around the US and around the world

Nexis Uni Offers magazine and newspaper articles from around the country and the world.

Arizona Republic Get articles from our local newspaper from 1999 to present.

Alt-Press Watch is a full text database of selected independent newspapers, magazines, and journals of the alternative press. It provides an alternative to mainstream media perspectives on local, national, and international issues.

Ethnic NewsWatch  Brings full text coverage of ethnic and minority presses from around the United States.  Provides viewpoints and resources you may not find anywhere else.

The ASU Library acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. Arizona State University's four campuses are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. ASU Library acknowledges the sovereignty of these nations and seeks to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native American students and patrons. We are advocates for the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies within contemporary library practice. ASU Library welcomes members of the Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh, and all Native nations to the Library.