Finding your way around the engineering literature: Developing an online tutorial series for engineering students

The typical graduate student in engineering or computer science excels at learning technical skills, but has had little exposure to library resources in his or her undergraduate program. Sometime in the first year of graduate school, most students are asked to do a literature search for a class, or are beginning to look at prior work as they decide on a focus for their thesis, dissertation, or Master's project. At that point, they realize that they will not be able to find everything they need with their current set of Web-searching tools and skills. Engineering librarians are challenged to engage with these new students at just the right time. Properly marketed, online tutorials may provide part of the solution. This paper explores how the author used citation analysis and discussions with faculty, students, and colleagues to design a set of tutorials that teach graduate students both how to find what they need, and why they need it in the first place.