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Portland State
University
Center
for Transportation Studies
Introduction
to Library and Literature Research
With
the advent of the Internet it is very tempting to think that all necessary
resources for a project, thesis or dissertation will be available in full
text after typing in a few words at Google.com. This notion should be discarded
immediately. We will discuss the
concepts of library and literature research, involving your need to access
real books and articles contained in refereed/archival journals. You will
need to use real library search tools and will also need to go to the library
and physically touch some sources of information.
Several
good sources for finding transportation journal articles and other documents
are:
NOTE:
Library references for most relevant documents will be provided as output
from your searches using these tools.
You will have to actually look up the document in the PSU library or
request it through interlibrary loan.
TRANSPORTATION RESOURCES AT PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY
The following are selected information resources
focused on transportation engineering that are available in the PSU Library.
The Portland
State University Branford P. Millar Library is
located at
the southwest end of the campus, on the Park Blocks, at the corner of SW Park
and Harrison. Some major features offered by the PSU Library include:
JOURNALS
The PSU Library offers the following journal features:
- Vikat: search
for journal titles owned by PSU.
- Current
Periodicals are on the south side of the library 3rd
Floor.
- Bound journals are shelved in the Transportation
Stacks in the Basement
or in the Engineering Stacks on the 5th
Floor.
- Full
Text Electronic Journals: this is a link to a list of journals that
are on-line directly, which doesn't include many journals that are
on-line through other databases.
This is a selective listing of the major journals
covering (with links to the jounal web sites) the transportation engineering
and planning arena:
ABSTRACTING AND INDEXING SERVICES
Use these databases or print indexes to find references to journal articles,
books, conference papers and dissertations. Once you have located
journal articles of interest, the second step is to search Vikat by the journal title to see if we have
the title and year that you need.
- Transportation Research Information Service (TRIS).
TRIS Online indexes over 420,000 records covering
books, journal articles, technical reports and other articles. Coverage
includes Federal, state, local and association publications and
conference proceedings from the 1960s to the present. There are links
provided when the full text document is available on the internet.
Search the database by author, title, subject, corporate
author/publisher, journal/conference title.
- Transportation Research Board. TRB publishes a series of Transportation Research
Records (TRR) each year after their annual meeting. PSU owns almost all
of their publications, but for some reason the 1998 TRRs are missing
from the collection. They publish several technical
reports series that disseminate important transportation research
results. Use the TRB
Publications Index or the Vikat
online catalog to locate reports on your topic. They also make
available at Research in Progress Database.
Technical report series include:
- TranStats: The Intermodal
Transportation Database. Database provided by the Bureau of
Transportation Statistics, U.S. DOT.
- State
of Oregon Department of Transportation. They have a publications page
which has some recent Research
Reports and Research
Notes in PDF format.
- ASCE
Civil Engineering Database. The database covers ASCE documents
published 1973 to present. It provides access to all the journals,
conference proceedings, books, standards, manuals, magazines, and
newsletters. A unique feature of the database is that it links
discussions, closures, and erratas back to the original records. The
full page image of all journal articles is available from 1999 to
present. For coverage prior to 1973, use the "Cumulative Index to
ASCE Publications," 1950-1979. Located the PSU Library
Reference section, 2nd Floor at TA1 .A58 A5.
- ABI
Inform. Provides indexing and abstracts to articles from
leading business and management publications. Full abstract and
indexing coverage begins with 1992. Full text available for over 600
titles.
- Academic
Search Elite. Provides full text for over 3,200 scholarly
publications covering academic areas of study including social sciences,
humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, and mathematics.
Good resource for a few basic articles on a topic. Good for newspaper
coverage and public policy and business aspects. This database is
designed for undergraduate research.
- Alternative
Transportation Fuels Database. Coverage is 1984 to present.
- ITS
Berkeley Publications: The Institute of Transportation Studies at
the University of California at Berkeley has a publication series, most
are available as PDF files.
- UCTC Pubilcations:
The University of California Transportation Center also has a
publication series, and most are available.
- ITS
Decision Database: This is a helpful database relating to benefits of
intelligent transportation systems.
- PSU Center for
Urban Studies Publications: The Portland State University Center for
Urban Studies has most of its publications available online.
- California
PATH Database. Provides access to research on intelligent
transportation systems. It contains over 24,000 records from the 1940s
to the present.
- EI Compendex. (Engineering
Index) Coverage is 1970 - Present. The best multidisciplinary
engineering database that indexes over 5000 engineering journals,
conferences and technical reports. Use their subject headings to obtain
more precise results. Access is provided by the following indexes:
author, author's affiliation (university or company), keywords from the
abstract and title, subject terms and source title (journal or
conference title). Compendex is part of the Engineering Village 2. This
service also provides specialized indexing of the Internet, a technical
standards database, and a link to the U.S. Patent Database. Print copy
in PSU Library Reference section, 2nd Floor at Z5851 .E62 beginning about
1919.
- Dissertation Abstracts International.
Indexes dissertations and theses written by graduates of North American
and European universities since 1861. The complete text of
dissertations written at Portland State University after 1997 are
included.
- Kluwer Online. Coverage is
1997 - Present. Provides full text access to over 700 journals covering
all fields of science. Has a wide variety of mathematics journals. You
are able to scan the table of contents or search the entire collection
of articles by author, title, keywords or abstract words. You cannot
currently search the full text of the articles.
- National Transportation Library.
Must see! Over 5,000 full-text documents on transportation
planning. A service of the U.S.
Department of Transportation.
- Web of Science: The Web of Science comprises three citation databases:
Humanities Citation Index
Science Citation Index
Social Sciences Citation Index
Citation databases are multidisciplinary databases of bibliographic
information gathered from thousands of scholarly journals. The databases may
be searched by: topic, author, publication journal, author address, cited
author, cited work, or cited year. We highly recommend that students do citation searches
in their research. In particular, if you have found a key article that covers
your topic well, use the above index to search to see who else has cited the
article.
- Science Citation Index. (Sci Index Q 1
A1S36) Use this print multidisciplinary information source to
track down papers that have cited an article of interest.
Science and Engineering Center librarians can show you how to use this
important resource. Online searches are available through a
librarian.
- ScienceDirect.
Coverage is 1995 - Present. Provides full text access to a wide variety
of science and engineering journals. Browse the table of contents of
known journal titles or scan the listing of relevant titles for your
subject. You may also search the database by title or abstract words,
author, author's affiliation, and full text of the article.
- Elsevier
Web Editions: Rolling, current-year-only, access to PSU
Library-subscribed journals published by Elsevier. Click on the Journals
link at the top of the screen to access the titles.
- Innovative
Transportation Technologies: Prof. Jerry Schneider’s very
comprehensive website covering unconventional transit technologies, and
much more.
TRANSPORTATION STATISTICS
HANDBOOKS AND OTHER REFERENCE WORKS
- Concise Encyclopedia of Traffic and Transportation
Systems. Pergamon, 1991. (PSU Reference TA1145 .C58 1991)
- Highway Capacity Manual. Transportation
Research Board, NRC, 2000. (PSU Reference has 1994 edition at
HE336 .H48 H54 1994; HCM 2000 available in ITS laboratory) Provides
techniques for determining the level of service for all types of
facilities: multilane freeways to bicycle lanes.
- Highway Design and Traffic Safety Engineering
Handbook. McGraw-Hill, 1999. (Not at PSU) Concentrates
on design of roadways and their alaignment and evaluates speed
recommendations, safety criteria, and human factors.
- Highway Engineering. by Paul Wright.
Wiley, 1996. (PSU Stacks TE145.W74 1996.) Comprehensive textbook.
- Highway Engineering Handbook. McGraw-Hill,
1996. (Not at PSU) Provides information on highway design,
pavements, bridges, walls, safety systems, signs and economic analysis.
- Manual on
Uniform Traffic Control Devices. MUTCD defines the standards used by road managers nationwide
to install and maintain traffic control devices on all streets and
highways. Published by the Federal Highway Administration. 2001 ed.
(Available online at: http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/)
- Manual on
Uniform Traffic Control Devices. (MUTCD) Standard Highway Signs. Available in metric and English
units. 2002 edition. (Available online at: http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov)
- Manual of Traffic Signal Design. Edited by
J. H. Kell. Prentice Hall, 1991. (PSU Stacks TE228.K44 1991)
- Manual of Transportation Engineering Studies.
Prentice-Hall, 1994. (Old version in PSU Stacks at HE369.B65 1976; 1994
version available in ITS Laboratory) A "how to"
guide for conducting field studies with appendices on data analysis and
presentation.
- Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and
Streets. 4th ed., AASHTO, 2001. (Old version PSU Stacks at
TE175.A54 1990. New version in ITS Lab)
- Roadside Design Guide. AASHTO, 2002.
(Old version PSU Stacks at TE228.A49 1989)
- Standard Handbook for Civil Engineers. 4th
ed. Edited by F.S. Merritt. McGraw-Hill, 1996. (PSU
Stacks and PSU Reference at TA151.S8 1996)
- Traffic Calming: State of the Practice. Institute
of Transportation Engineers, 1999. (available at http://www.ite.org/traffic/tcstate.htm#tcsop)
- Traffic Control Devices
Handbook. Institute of Transportation Engineers,
2001. (Old version at PSU Gov. Info. Federal TD 2.8:T
67/3/983-2/pt.4)
- Traffic Engineering Handbook. 5th ed.
Institute of Transportation Engineers, 1999. (Not at PSU)
- Traffic Signing Handbook. Institute of
Transportation Engineers, 1997. (Not at PSU)
- Transportation Engineering Handbook. 4th ed.
Prentice-Hall, 1992. (Not at PSU)
- Transportation Planning Handbook. 2nd
ed. Institute of Transportation Engineers, 1999. (PSU Stacks
HE152.5.T73 1999)
- Trip Generation : trip
generation rates, plots, and equations. 6th ed. Institute of Transporation Engineers. (Old
version PSU Stacks HE370.O75 T75 1987)
- Trip Generation Handbook. Institute of Transportation Engineers, 2001.
(Not at PSU)
WRITING RESOURCES and EVALUATION CRITERIA
Here are some useful sources of information from around
the country relating to writing resources and evaluation criteria for
sources:
RELATED INFORMATION
SOURCES
Transportation
Internet Subject Guide
PAPER
FORMATS
Different
journals and conferences require different paper formats and bibliographic
styles. It is often convenient to
follow the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Information
for Authors procedures for preparing a manuscript. You should ensure that
you follow the correct procedures from the beginning, which will avoid the
tedious process of changing references later.
The
TRB procedures include a particular method of citing references:
- The reference
list shall include only those references cited in the text; number them
in the reference list in the order they are first cited in the text.
- Denote a
reference at the appropriate place in the text by an underlined or
italic arabic numeral in parentheses, e.g., (2).
- Do not repeat
a reference in the list and do not use ibid., idem, op. cit., or loc.
cit. If a reference is cited more than one time in the text, repeat the
number first assigned to the reference.
- Do not use
footnotes to the text. Incorporate such notes within the text.
The
following are some samples of the basic style for references:
Sample Reference Style for TRB
Publications:
V. Zahavi and J.M. Ryan. Stability of
Travel Over Time. In Transportation
Research Record 750, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C.,
1980, pp. 70-75.
Sample Reference Style for Book:
D. Shinar. Psychology on the Road: The Human Factor in Traffic Safety. John
Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York,
1978.
Sample Reference Style for
Periodical:
J.K. Jolliffe and T.P. Hutchinson. A
Behavioral Explanation of the Association Between Bus and Passenger Arrivals
at a Bus Stop (in Japanese). Transportation
Science, Vol. 9, No. 3, May 1975, pp. 248-282.
Sample Reference Style for
Government Report:
B.J. Dempsey. Climatic Effects of Airport Pavement Systems: State of the Art.
Report DOT2DRD-75-196. FHWA,
U.S.
Department of Transportation, 1976.
CITING
YOUR SOURCES
The
following information is from PSU’s Write
and Cite web page.
Plagiarism
and Copyright
The
idea of research is to study what others have published and form your own
opinions. When you quote people -- or even when you summarize or paraphrase
information found in books, articles or Web pages -- you must acknowledge the
original author.
If
you use someone else's words or ideas without crediting them, you are
committing a type of theft called plagiarism. Plagiarism can be as obvious as
turning in another person's paper or project as your own, or as sly as simply
paraphrasing sections of various works. It is also incorrect to copy text
from Web pages or other sources without identifying where they came from.
How can
you avoid plagiarism?
- Take clear,
accurate notes about where you found specific ideas
- Write down the
complete citation information for each item you use
- Use quotation
marks when directly stating another person's words
- Always credit
original authors for their information and ideas
Citing
Your Sources
Citing : noting the
source of a quote, paraphrase or idea as an authority or proof
Citing
is the process of giving credit to the sources you used to write your paper.
Citations can be located in the text or at the end of the work in a
bibliography. It can be difficult to figure out what needs to be credited.
Use
this rule:
If you knew a piece of information before you started doing research,
generally you do not need to credit it. You also do not need to cite
well-known facts, such as dates, which can be found in many encyclopedias.
All other information such as quotations, statistics, and ideas should always
be cited in your papers.
As
you create your list of cited sources, it is helpful to know what type of
information you need to write down. Here is a citation from a periodical
index with each of its important parts labeled.
Formats
for citing are consistent so that other researchers may quickly identify the
sources you used and easily locate them. To find the guidelines for a
particular format you will need to look in a style manual. Your instructor
will probably recommend a particular style manual such as APA, MLA or Chicago Manual of Style. Each style manual format includes the
same basic parts of that citation, but may organize them slightly
differently.
The
Library keeps copies of all of the major style manuals at the 2nd floor
reference desk. Many style guides are also online. For more on citation
styles, check out the PSU Writing
Center's Resources Page.
Additional
Resources:
PSU's
Writing Center
page on citations:
http://www.writingcenter.pdx.edu/resources/apa.html
The Center's main page: http://www.writingcenter.pdx.edu.
Go here for help on writing.
Electronic sources: http://www.writingcenter.pdx.edu/resources/electronic.html
Humboldt State
University Library: A good overview of options and
links
http://library.humboldt.edu/~rls/bibdata.htm
Dartmouth University: Sources--Their Use and Acknowledgement (a comprehensive
source)
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~sources/
American
Psychological Association's Publication Manual is often used as
the standard for citations and references:
Main page: http://www.apastyle.org/
Tips: http://www.apastyle.org/previoustips.html
Electronic references: http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html
THESIS
OR DISSERTATION STYLES
If
you are preparing a thesis or dissertation, please see the PSU Thesis and Dissertation
guidelines. Take advantage of the resources
offered by the PSU
Writing Center,
including information on citation formats, including the American
Psychological Association and the Modern Language
Association. If you are writing a Field Area Paper (FAP), see Prof.
Jennifer Dill’s
FAP Page.
PRESENTATION
TIPS
A
research presentation in a classroom setting should be looked upon as an
opportunity to gain experience making a professional presentation in a
supportive environment, among your peers. The Transportation Research Board
provides a useful Guide
for Speakers that you should review. The Institute of Transportation
Engineers also has some pointers for giving a technical presentation, and
some valuable quick
tips for preparing and presenting visual aids for a technical
presentation.
Delivery
The
primary contributors to an effective presentation are (a) technical content,
(b) visual aids, and (c) skills of the speaker. Remember that a presentation
may (should) differ from the printed paper and that the presentation gives
the author an opportunity to discuss and emphasize highlights of the work,
which may not be possible to do in the printed version. It is recommended
that you think towards structuring your presentation as follows:
- Title
- Objectives
(i.e., what is the question?)
- Outline of
Presentation
- Methodology
- Body
- Summary
- Conclusion
- Perspectives
Do
not read the paper or presentation. Practice to become completely familiar
with your presentation so that you can speak from memory or notes.
Concentrate on your delivery. Speak clearly and at a pace somewhat slower
than normal conversation. Avoid a monotone. Can you be heard throughout the
room? It is very important that you actually face your audience and make eye
contact. Many people make the mistake
of putting their back to the audience and facing the visual aids! Don’t make this mistake, and feel free to
print out some notes that contain images of your visual aids.
Timing
Your
presentation will almost always be limited in time. Most people are surprised when their time
is up! It is very helpful if you practice your talk beforehand, keeping track
of elapsed time. Recognize that actual presentations usually take longer than
rehearsals. Help your audience by not exceeding your allotted speaking time.
Visual
Aids
Visual
aids are always effective tools for communicating your ideas quickly, and
therefore are recommended. However, remember that the visual aids are just a
tool, and try to avoid making them overly distracting with complicated
backgrounds or moving cartoons. Never use “all text” visuals that convey no
additional information to the audience. A maximum of one or two visuals
should be used per minute of presentation. Text size should be large enough
to be seen from the back of the room.
TRB recommends using 24-point type for lettering done in ALL CAPITALS
and 32-point for lettering in Capitals and Lowercase.
RESEARCH POSTERS
Posters are often helpful means of presenting research
progress or results in various settings.
Poster sessions at the TRB Annual Meeting must follow a particular format. TRB recommends that the lettering for the
paper title and author name(s) should be at least 25.4 mm (1 in) high and
that all other lettering should be at least 9.5 mm (3/8 in) high. Remember that a “picture” is preferred to
text, and that you can often tell your story better with diagrams and
graphics. Here is a sample poster format
developed by Mike Rose, PSU MURP student.
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