The purposes of this assignment are 1) to start communicating with me about your proposed topic for the semester, 2) to help you get started with researching your semester project for the course, and 3) to make sure the topic you stated in your pre-proposal will work.  Based on what you report through this assignment, you may need to re-focus the topic you have proposed.

This assignment answers two main questions:

A)    A) What is your proposed topic for the semester?

B)    B) Based on what you have found with your initial library research, is your proposed topic feasible?

A) Your topic:

1.      What will your project be about?

2.      Why are you concerned with the topic?

3.      Who else would be concerned about the topic?  Are you doing this for another class?     Which one?

4.      What type of work do you plan to do to complete the project?  (lab work, design work,   interviews, library research)

5.      What expertise do you have with the topic?

6.      Have you started the project?  What work have you completed?

B) Project feasibility:

1.       List two (or more) indexes provided by the UI Library that you can use to find journal articles for your project. (Follow the steps in Note D, below.)

2.       List key terms useful for your project.

3.       How many articles did you find that are closely related to your project?

4.       List four or more citations for articles that you think will be useful for your project.  Use correct bibliographic form (use the form on the Web or see the last pages of the course pamphlet--see below).

5.       Based on what you’ve found, do you have enough sources to research your project or do you need to redefine your topic? Will the project be feasible? 

6.       Based on what you have found, do you want to re-focus your project?  If yes, how?

A.    A. In your email, write sentences and paragraphs (not a numbered list). Keep this concise: 200 words

B.     B. With your email, use this subject line: Pre-proposal: Your name and section number

C.     C. Write this as a formal email, so check spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

D. D. Use University of Idaho Library indexes for this assignment. To do this:

1. Go to the UI Library Web site at http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/

2. Click on "Find Articles." A new page will open with three options.

3. Click on "Choose a Database Subject" scroll down box.  A list of general research areas opens.

4. Choose an area related to your project and click on "Go there." A list of indexes related to your field will appear.

5. Choose an index.

6. Use the index to search your project key terms.

   •  Some useful indexes for engineering and computer science are
    Compendex, Inspec, IEEE Xplore, and Applied Science and Technology Index.

   •  A good general search index is Ebsco Search, which is available through the "Find Articles" window (see step 2 above).
    

7. Use the “ArticleLinker” icon or “locate article” link near an article citation to see if the UI Library owns the article in full-text online or in print. If the Library doesn't own the article, you can order it using the Interlibrary Loan service.

If you need help finding indexes for your topic, feel free to email Diane Prorak <prorak@uidaho.edu>.  She's a great research librarian and can offer good advice.  If she's not available, try libref@uidaho.edu, call 208-885-6584, or go to the Reference Desk (lobby of the library, first floor) and ask the people there for help.

This works best on a University computer, but you can also do this from home.  To open the indexes you will need the BAR CODE (not student ID number) from your Vandal Card.  If you've never checked a book out from the Library or if you've never accessed the UI Library from off campus, you may need to take your Vandal Card to the Library so they can register your Bar Code number.

CITATIONS: Basically, a citation includes:
Author name, article title, journal title, publication information (volume, issue number, page numbers, date). See pp. 71-73 in the course pamphlet.