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This guide covers the engineering departments in Founders Hall: mechanical, manufacturing, electrical and computer, and engineering technology. Plastics engineering shares most of its sources with the packaging guide. For a lab report, a design project or a senior design literature review, work in this order: a handbook or textbook for the fundamentals, then a database for recent articles and conference papers, then standards and patents for what the design actually has to meet.
Three habits that save the most time:
- Search the problem, not the product. “Vibration isolation for skid-mounted pumps” finds more than a brand name does.
- Read conference papers. New engineering work appears there first. Journals are one to two years behind.
- Write down the units and test conditions of every number you borrow. A yield strength without a temperature is a rumor.
Databases and indexes
| Database | What it covers | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering & Applied Technology Index | About 2,900 journals and trade magazines, 1970 to now, roughly 60% full text | Literature reviews and lab report background |
| Proceedings Finder | Conference papers from engineering societies and technical meetings, 1985 to now | The newest methods; prior work for senior design |
| Materials Property Tables Online | Mechanical, thermal and electrical properties for about 120,000 metals, polymers and ceramics | Material selection and design calculations |
| Technical Report Shelf | Government and laboratory technical reports, many free to download | Test data and methods that never made it into a journal |
| Halvorsen Search | Everything the library owns or licenses, in one search box | Known items and a quick first look |
Off campus, sign in with your Porter credentials when a database asks. That prompt comes from the library’s proxy server and is not a phishing attempt. If the login keeps looping, the technology FAQ has the fix.
Books and e-books
Engineering books are on Level 2. About 40% of current engineering titles are e-books, and most allow three readers at once.
| Call numbers | Subject |
|---|---|
| TA 1–2040 | General engineering, materials testing, structural |
| TJ 1–1570 | Mechanical engineering, machinery, fluid power |
| TK 1–9971 | Electrical engineering, electronics, power, controls |
| TS 1–2301 | Manufacturing processes, quality, production |
| T 351–385 | Engineering drawing and CAD |
| QA 801–939 | Statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials |
Engineering and machinists’ handbooks sit on the ready-reference shelves on Level 1 and do not leave the building, because somebody always needs one at 11 p.m. Before you pick a senior design topic, look through the past capstone reports in the Design & Engineering Media Collection. If a team tried your idea in 2019, their report will tell you what went wrong.
Specialized sources
- Standards and patents. Consensus standards for materials, testing, safety and drawing practice, plus patent prior art. The standards and patents guide covers how to find and request them.
- Test data. Raw data from the Structures & Materials Testing Lab can be cited once the lab director approves its release.
- Your own data. Sponsored-project data goes in the Porter Research Repository. The library’s data services team reviews data management plans before proposals go out.
- Old machines. The Regional Industrial History Collection in Special Collections holds technical drawings and company records from Wesconsin manufacturers back to the 1900s. It is useful for history of technology papers and for anyone reverse-engineering a part nobody makes anymore.
Citing and getting help
Engineering courses at Porter use a numbered reference style: sources are numbered in square brackets in the order you first cite them. Your syllabus names the edition. Cite a standard by its designation, title and year, and a patent by country, number and issue date. Reference managers format both correctly if you set the item type to “standard” or “patent,” which almost nobody does. Setup help is on citation manager help.
Gunnar Ostby holds drop-in hours on Tuesdays from 1 to 3 p.m. at the tables outside the Founders Hall high bay, and books 30- and 60-minute consultations in Halvorsen 244 or online. Senior design teams can book him as a group, and if you send the project brief first he will come to a team meeting. Anything the library does not own comes through interlibrary loan. See also finding evidence in engineering.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. This engineering guide, its handbooks, the capstone report archive and the drop-in hours are fictional. The databases, call-number shelving, collections and librarians on this guide are invented, so nothing here can actually be searched, borrowed or booked, and none of it describes a real library.