Recommendation Report
ABSTRACT EXAMPLES
Abstract
Water covered about 71 percent of the earth’s surface; it should be accessible. We cannot just take random water and drink it, due to the effect of the water on our body. Our body requires purified water, one and easy way to get purified water is by distillation. Although water covered more than the half percentage of the earth's surface, distilled water is yet inaccessible in many countries. It is important that people have access to water, there is portable and attainable distilled water equipment that could be shared with other countries. Engineers find an easy way to spread distilled water to other countries without having small equipment that can be embarrassing. It is a better way for a poor country to not worry about access to distilled water.
ABSTRACT:
Electric vehicles, an innovative model of transportation, renowned companies that build vehicles are making a change from fuel to electrically operated. Greater diversity of fuel choices available for transportation, creating a way for the environment to be less polluted by reduction of emissions. Due to technology advancing at an exponential rate, advancing the capabilities and efficiency is inevitable; electrical vehicles have got enough buzz and enough demand to be pursued. Increasing range capability, a sensor from vehicle to environment, auto-piloting, how quickly it can recharge, the ability for it to last longer without a recharge, and solar panel options. The debate over the pricing or rather the financial cost to maintain these vehicles are becoming less optimistic to those who believe can't afford them; partial empirical public opinion on the pricing of the vehicle is sensible. Creating a cheaper vehicle while increasing its capabilities are becoming hand and hand. Cheaper long-lasting batteries, solar panels are becoming a cheaper installation. Even the senor options; being a big part of the appeal from the consumer becomes cheaper in ways being worked now. Increasing the demand will follow and the supply and production will pick up; the domino effect of attraction will eventually lead more companies to part take in the ever expansion of the electric vehicle.
LOW STAKES PARAGRAPH EXAMPLE, May 15, 2020
“Increasing Efficiency in Electrical Vehicles”. 5-9 Sentences, no citation, Not the abstract part of my report.
Electrical vehicles are becoming more available on the market. Advancing technology creates a more innovative ground, all the while increasing the efficiency of the vehicles. The use of increasing energy density of car batteries can increase the range the vehicle can travel. Solar power panels are also being used, integrating it into the electrical vehicle can also make it last longer. Vehicles such as, ones created by Tesla, use auto-pilot; increasing the censoring of what the vehicle can sense creates more growth opportunities. These items are actually becoming cheap to create and integrate into proper engineering of the vehicle. Overall, the creation and promotion of the vehicles creates affordable opportunities, increasing supply and demand for the public.
[TF: This appears to be the introduction. I do think that, since some information must be from a source, there should be ( ) citation at least once, even if the writer basically knew the information before. 2 grammatical changes are indicated in bold above, and the second to last sentence has a redundancy that I've eliminated by shortening the sentence. In the last sentence, I deal with a word-choice issue.]******
A large component of the waste disposal process consists of the handling, collection and transportation of the waste. The municipal solid waste is initially gathered at a transport station or a material recovery facility where the waste is separated into different sections based on the type or common components i.e. biodegradable waste, recyclable waste etc. After the waste is separated and stored, it is collected by small collection vehicles that transfer the waste to a larger container for transport. Finally, the waste is transported and delivered at a processing or disposal facility. Moreover, in addition to these practical components, an economic analysis has found that the collection and transportation of the waste account for up to 60% of the municipal solid waste management and operating costs.
[TF: I'm guessing that this is the part of the introduction that deals with the problem of cost. For the statistic in the last sentence, you should identify the date of the analysis and you need a ( ) citation; also, it might even be better to quote a few words of the source directly. I call this a "hybrid quote," because part of the sentence is the writer's own words and part is a quotation from the source. I think I talk about this in our textbook, but I'm not sure.] HOW TO DO ( ) CITATION FOR THE RECOMMENDATION REPORT
Use the citation method that I use in our Technical Writing Textbook when I quote and paraphrase items: in parentheses, put the author or authors last name(s), a comma, and the year. HOWEVER, if there is pagination (as in a book, hard copy article, or PDF), you put a comma after the date, then p. and then the page number. In the case of numerous authors, you can put the first author's name and then et al. (This is an abbreviation of a phrase that means "and others" in Latin.)
Please click on this link to watch my Youtube video on the Recommendation Report:
For the Recommendation report,
· find a problem with international consequences that an organization can deal with,
· then you will research 3 technological solutions to the problem,
· then you will think critically about feasibility (practicality), economic viability, and level of usefulness to stakeholders,
· and finally, you will decide which of the solutions is best and why.
Although in many recommendation reports, actual recommendations might include taking no action, studying the matter further, or taking specific actions, in this case, you need to recommend taking specific actions.
Problem-Solving structure to guide your research:
- The problem
- Criteria based on desired outcomes
- Possible Options—in the case of this paper, 3 will be enough
- Studying each option according to the criteria
- Drawing conclusions about each option
- Formulating recommendations based on the conclusion.
Markel (2015) uses the following chart (p. 478 of his book):
Methods Results Conclusions Recommendations
What did you do What did you What does it mean? What should we do?
determine?
In my video, I talk about the use of a Decision Matrix, which is mention in our Textbook, p. 15. I tried to copy and paste one to the blog, but it didn't work. Please go to Google image to find a "Weighted Decision Matrix" if you want to see how it works by looking at it. Think about whether you want to use one.
In my video, I talk about the use of a Decision Matrix, which is mention in our Textbook, p. 15. I tried to copy and paste one to the blog, but it didn't work. Please go to Google image to find a "Weighted Decision Matrix" if you want to see how it works by looking at it. Think about whether you want to use one.
Organization for the Recommendation Report:
Title Page
Abstract
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations [same page as Table of Contents]
Introduction
Research Methods
Research Results
Conclusion
Recommendations
References
In the "Research Methods" section, not only can you list what kinds of searches you did--i.e. from data bases and how you determined the subject areas for other online searches-- but you can also make this section the place where you actually list your criteria for judging the effectiveness of different options. (You don't JUDGE in this section, but give the points to consider in making your judgment.)
LOOK for the 4 REQUIRED SOURCES in some of the following places:
In LaGuardia Library databases:
Engineering and Technology
IEEE Technology and Society
The Chemical Engineer
Engineering Record
Mechanical Engineering
Engineering Record
The Economist
The Wall Street Journal
Time
The Guardian
The New York Times
Wired
Not in the LaGuardia Library databases as full articles, but useful:
Civil Engineering
Websites:
Engineers without Borders
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
Water for South Sudan
Water for Life
Engineering News Record
Go to https://www.enr.com/ and select general topics shown under the “Projects” tab in the gray menu bar
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Go to https://www.asme.org/; select “Topics and Resources” from menu located across the top of the screen; select “Find Content” or Select one of the topics shown under “Topics” to begin researching general topics.
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Go to https://www.asce.org/ ; Type in a topic in the search box and then select “Civil Engineering Magazine” in the filter results box shown toward the left-hand side of the page
There should be at least 1 direct quotation from each of the sources and preferably more.
Please note: I do not have permission to put the Recommendation Reports of previous students on this blog. However, if you want to look at a previous Recommendation Report, you should google "ENG 259" "ePortfolio," and at least one previous student's Recommendation Report will be in their public LaGuardia ePortfolio, and you can read it in a Word file. It may cause you to ask me questions about content or formatting of this assignment, and I will happily answer them in the comments section of this post of the blog.
TOPICS UNDER CONSIDERATION:
Vertical farming (i.e. hydroponics, aeroponics)
Development of effective dams to control river flooding
Innovations in solar panel construction
Innovations in solar-powered vehicles
Increasing efficiency in wind turbines
Drilling of wells in impoverished areas (see Water for South Sudan website)
Increasing efficiency in electric vehicles
Improvements in airplane technology
Wastewater treatment
Waste management (i.e. disposal of plastic)
Please note: I do not have permission to put the Recommendation Reports of previous students on this blog. However, if you want to look at a previous Recommendation Report, you should google "ENG 259" "ePortfolio," and at least one previous student's Recommendation Report will be in their public LaGuardia ePortfolio, and you can read it in a Word file. It may cause you to ask me questions about content or formatting of this assignment, and I will happily answer them in the comments section of this post of the blog.
TOPICS UNDER CONSIDERATION:
Vertical farming (i.e. hydroponics, aeroponics)
Development of effective dams to control river flooding
Innovations in solar panel construction
Innovations in solar-powered vehicles
Increasing efficiency in wind turbines
Drilling of wells in impoverished areas (see Water for South Sudan website)
Increasing efficiency in electric vehicles
Improvements in airplane technology
Wastewater treatment
Waste management (i.e. disposal of plastic)
This is from Chun-Hang, and my replies follow:
ReplyDeleteIn the text book you quoted ,“enough information to enable readers to understand what you
did and why you did it that way.” Are we supposed to discuss how we got to our sources and why we used certain sources, or are we supposed to write about our motives for our topic?
TF: You don't have to write about your motives or how you found your sources; just indicate briefly why those sources were relevant to your research agenda.
As for ideas, I have a few though they are very general.
1) Controlling river flooding. This is not a particularly new problem but has become more of a concern with rising sea levels.
2) Reducing use of oil by replacing it with solar panels and other green energy. This is a very big topic so maybe focusing on a more specific part of it might be better.
3) New farming methods can be viable. With advancements in farming, engineers and scientists have devised new techniques that are better for the planet and use less water than current methods.
TF: These are all great topics. They could all be placed easily in an international context. Regarding topic 2, this really includes several topics in 1, and I can think of a few: a) solar panels, as you said; b) wind mills; c) green roofs in economically challenged neighborhoods in cities abroad; d) utilizing solar-powered vehicles for mass transportation in areas where mass transit is ineffective, scarce, or inefficient; e) conversion of waste matter (feces, urine, food scraps) into energy for agriculture, heating, etc. (The last one is weird, but I've heard about it.)
I want to throw this out to everyone online now, post peer-critiquing: what were the challenges of doing the Instruction Paper? How did you face the challenges?
ReplyDeleteOne of the challenges that I face is how to keep it simple.
ReplyDeleteLike to explain the details in simple words, and especially the bullet points.
Another one is where to put the images.
I face these challenges by describing everything in a side and the other side I tried to paraphrase it and this help me to make my bullet points easily and by the points I know where to put the images.
Christie, I think you are providing very good advice.
DeleteI would have to say keeping information minimal yet precise for the reader all the while being simple. The more font and room to type have me an impression of a limited space to work with. However that gave room for creativity.
ReplyDeleteThese are important points, Joshua, especially that a lot of space should not encourage crowding, but roominess.
DeleteWe are now gathering topics for the Recommendation Report. Everyone should look back in this thread at what Chun-Hang listed. Joshua has indicated that he's using engineering methods to attempt to cure cancer, and since this is an international project that you're all doing, it can be targeted toward a particular country or region of a country.
ReplyDeleteMy goal for the first hour of this class is for us to come up with a substantial number of topics and to discuss the pros and cons of using some of them. On Wednesday's class, we will be discussion actual sources for your research.
One of Chun-Hang's 3 possibilities was farming methods. I'm wondering if anyone knows innovative farming methods that engineers can implement. And if so, what kind of engineers? So I just googled "farming methods" and "engineering" together, and there's an article called "13 Vertical Farming Innovations that Could Revolutionize Agriculture." The article by Kashyap Vyas in Interesting Engineering is dated July 4, 2018. I had never heard of vertical farming--have you? Among the 13 methods are hydroponics (which I have heard of) and aeroponics. Take a look at the article if it might be a good topic for you. You could choose 3 of the 13 methods and indicate how an engineering team would create the conditions for implementation of this agricultural advance.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I have notice that could be a possible topic would with the use of natural energy with the use of electric vehicles on the rise one priority for everyone is to increase the rate of energy that being created one example is a couple of years ago there was a failed government funded project about solar energy what we could do is research that project and try to develop methods to figure out why was the weak point in the project and what could have been the change that could have made the project a success
ReplyDeleteYes, Ever, the research question could be: can engineers develop new solutions to improve the efficacy of electric vehicles in developing countries? Another would be: can engineers develop new solutions to expand the use of solar energy in developing countries? I will add this to the list in the main part of the post.
DeleteI guess we already have solar listed, but electric vehicles are especially good for those of you who are interested in how cars work. And is anyone interested in improving efficiency of solar-powered cars?
DeleteIn the main part of this post, I have listed all topics so far. The list needs to be much more substantial. For those of you who are really unsure about what kind of topic to choose, I recommend that you go to the website, Engineers without Borders, and then go to News & Stories, and you will find a further menu including Water and Sanitation, Energy, Agriculture, Structures and Civil Works, and Disaster Response. Each of these sections include ideas that could easily fit your Recommendation Report.
ReplyDeleteThe sooner you can find a topic that you like, the sooner we can advance in the stages of this research paper.
I hope that some of you will join me for the second synchronous hour with your thoughts about topics but also with questions about the structure of the Recommendation Report as delineated in the textbook, in my video, and in the main part of this blogpost. If I don't hear from you, I will just start putting material for your consideration into the main post.
Aside from Ever's mention of electric vehicles, as well as solar vehicles, are there any of you who are interested in the improvement of hybrids? (Again, these vehicles should be for the use of those in developing countries.) I wonder if anyone wants to research the possibility of improvements in airplane technology so that fuel would be less toxic for the environment--any takers?
ReplyDeleteI guess airplane fuel would be the domain of chemists, so perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned that, but since I'm ignorant about how chemical engineers work with chemists, I have to ask you: would chemical engineers be involved in the improvement of jet fuel? And if not, engineers might be able to improve airplane design to increase fuel efficiency--what do you think?
DeleteIf I was to work on electric vehicles could I be talking about how we could be more usage out of the electricity or be able to use any other methods of clean powered fuel for example instead lithium batteries we could use hydrogen cells there is some research that I have been paying attention to hydrogen powered vehicles could possibly better to the environment
ReplyDeleteCompared to lithium ion batteries
DeleteYes, Ever, I would encourage you to research all of that. See if it fits the structure of the recommendation report regarding 3 solutions and then choosing 1--or ELSE, you can combine different solutions as the ultimate recommendation, rather than excluding 1 or 2 of the 3.
DeleteDo other people agree with me that Ever should pursue this avenue of research?
As we approach the end of today's class, I would encourage as many of you as possible to suggest new topics asynchronously (between now and Friday morning), just as Chun-Hang and Ever have done. And once again, not merely googling with general search terms but going to the Engineers without Borders site, looking at the topics in the News and Stories section, that I mentioned in an earlier comment, as well as some of the other websites, such as Water for Both Sudan, in the main part of this blogpost will help you find a viable topic.
ReplyDeleteThe email of announcements that I sent yesterday contains our agenda for Friday. Please take a look at it.
Could looking into Wastewater Treatment be a possible topic for providing water to impoverished countries? The problem within some countries isn't no access to water, it's the substances within their sources of water. I'd have to research more in depth if there are many methods of wastewater treatment to have 3 solutions for the recommendation report. I'm not sure what topic I'd like to do however I am very interested in agricultural and water topics.
ReplyDeleteJose, this is a really great topic, and I will add that to the list. Even if there are 20 methods of treatment, you just need to pick 3. I'm sure there are more than 1, or maybe a few can be combined.
DeleteAfter some research, these are the following topics I have thought about so far:
ReplyDelete1) Lack of sustainable energy technologies in third-world countries
Most developing countries in Asia and Africa are very abundant in renewable energy resources but they are not able to utilize these resources due to the lack of financial abilities. The development of renewable energy technology can be expensive but it can help these countries reduce the usage of oil and natural gas as well as introduce electricity and other sustainable energy sources in rural areas which can improve the quality of life for the citizens. Most importantly, developing certain technologies can play a huge role in poverty alleviation in these countries.
2) Improving Waste Management facilities in Southeast Asia
The global waste trade is a system created by affluent countries where they export millions of tons of plastic waste to under-developed poor countries for the recycling and disposal at lower costs. However, the issue begins when most of the waste is contaminated plastic which cannot be recycled and the large amounts being imported is causing these countries to use toxic disposal methods. Due to the poor conditions of Waste Management facilities in the developing countries, it is negatively impacting the environments by causing more air and water pollution.
For topic 1, which renewable energy production strategies are you thinking of? Are they the same that we already have on the list in the main part of the post or different? I find your reasoning very convincing.
DeleteTopic 2 is excellent. I will add it now to the list.
Ive decided to make my report on disaster response any tips
ReplyDeleteWilson, I'm not sure how engineering factors into disaster response; if you can tell me which aspect, I can help.
DeleteMy topic is on cancer treatment through the use of technology and it's financial cost of the treatments being available.
ReplyDeleteA few of the articles or creditable sources I've listed from 1-3 I will use for my information that I wanted to use for my work
1.)https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2020/february/crispr-edited-immune-cells-can-survive-and-thrive-after-infusion-into-cancer-patients
2.)https://ki.mit.edu/news/newsletter
3.)https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/backpacks-boost-immune-cells-ability-to-kill-cancer/
Joshua, these are all highly credible sources. My one concern is specifically how you will tie recommendations about engineering into this. (That's why you should focus, not on financial cost itself, but on how engineering innovations will LOWER the cost.) I looked at the Harvard article, and I don't see any passages about how the backpacks are constructed by engineers. The article may still be good, but you'll need other articles to indicate that so that you can make recommendations.
DeleteIt seems challenging, my other topic of choice was increasing efficiency in electric vehicles. I have some options on expanding how to increase it's efficiency at lower cost from engineering innovations; elaborating on the engineering options but keeping in mind it's cost must be lowered.
DeleteEarlier, Wilson asked for suggestions about engineering's role in disaster response. Does anyone have advice on this?
ReplyDeleteAlso, in an email to me, Chun-Hang, who is interested in vertical farming, as he told us last class, is also interested in a few other possibilities: use of automation in farming, desalination plants (ostensibly to combat droughts), and ways of purifying organic waste. Our goal today is to gather and discuss sources. We have already seen sources for vertical farming, but perhaps he and others interested in these other topics can search while we're "together"/apart and report on our findings. Since I have an office hour after class, I can communicate with you about this until 4:20.
OK, so I will get started with research by going to the LaGuardia library site and will check out the Civil Engineering journal while keeping in mind some of the topics you all mentioned. I'll be back in under 10 minutes.
Academic Search Complete, licensed by the LaGuardia Library, only has the journal Civil Engineering up to 2014. Gee, I think that ALL your sources should be from Jan. 2017 to the present, and as many in the last 2 and 1/2 years as possible. Am I right?
ReplyDeleteI'll go back to the Library website and keep looking for other ways to access the journal.
One thing that is really important in life is water, regardless of our infinite natural source of water people still can’t have access to distilled water. Water pollution is a huge issue in the world, huge yet heavy. I wanted to do it about water pollution.
ReplyDeleteAnother Idea is electricity/oil over renewable resources.
And maybe GMO food
Christie, my family just bought a water distiller recently. It works well. What engineering innovations will achieve widespread distillation in a country other than the U.S.? If you don't know, there are 2 ways to do research in licensed databases purchased by LaGuardia library:
Delete1) Go to a likely database (such as "Business Source Complete" or the one with a more scientific/techie name), and put in Boolean search terms--i.e. "water distillation" or "water purification";
2) Do what I just did and go through issues of a particular journal that you find in the database to see if something catches your eye.
The second is much more time-consuming.
You can try one of these now and report back.
This question make the topic really interesting, i would like to think about that.
DeleteI agree with you, the second one is a large topic. Even if it is such an interesting one, however, it will take a long time to complete the paper. Can I make it about a categorical type of country. Let’s say the poor countries. This countries could use renewable resources instead of spending money in oil/electricity. Can it be about that?
First of all, when you took ENG 101, your professor taught you how to use the LaGuardia Library site to find licensed subscription data bases or at least the librarian did during the library orientation session. So I'm presuming the knowledge that there are different data bases and you have to see which ones have "full text" of what you need. Remember that you should have at least 1 article and preferably 2 of your 4 required sources from a licensed database.
ReplyDeleteThis is from the April 2020 issue of Civil Engineering, which I got from first looking up Civil Engineering under the "Journals" button on the Library home page, then going to "Business Source Complete," since Academic Search Complete did NOT have full-text articles. So it looks like "Business Source Complete" is a good licensed subscription data base for Engineering; if they happen to be your topics, you can get a PDF of these articles:
4.
Wind farm projects flying.
Full Text Available
Periodical
Civil Engineering (10212000). Mar2020, Vol. 28 Issue 2, p15-19. 5p.
Subjects: Wind power plants; Engineering Services; Power and Communication Line and Related Structures Construction; Wind Electric Power Generation; Offshore wind power plants; Civil engineering; Uninterruptible power supply; Flight
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5.
Upgrading of the Rimer's Creek Water Treatment Works.
Full Text Available
Periodical
By: Lundie, Banie. Civil Engineering (10212000). Mar2020, Vol. 28 Issue 2, p20-21. 2p.
Subjects: Waterworks; Sanitation; Engineering Services; Water Supply and Irrigation Systems; Water purification; Rivers; Civil engineering; Drinking water standards
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The topic I have chosen is as follows: Improving Waste Management Facilities and waste disposal methods.
ReplyDeleteI have a question, does the report have to be based on one specific part of the world, i.e. a continent or country? Can I write and include information on a more global scale?
Your research could APPLY on a global scale BUT you should tailor the recommendations to a particular country or region, perhaps not an entire continent.
DeleteOkay. Also, can I list more than 4 sources on the report?
DeleteSure, Rochelle. Since the report is relatively short--not a long article or a book--10 should be the cap. But most people will just need 4 to 7.
DeleteWhen I put in Civil Engineering as a search term under the Library page "Find a Specific Journal or Magazine," I got a very large number of items and if you know what country you're interested in, this might be useful, so I've copied and pasted part of the page:
ReplyDeleteFind a Specific Journal or Magazine
0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other
35 records retrieved for the search: Title begins with "Civil Engineering"
Civil Engineering
See: Civil engineering (Johannesburg, South Africa) (1021-2000)
from 11/01/2009 to present in Business Source Complete
Civil engineering
See: Civil engineering (New York, N.Y. 1983) (0885-7024)
from 01/01/1997 to 03/31/2014 in Academic Search Complete, Applied Science & Technology Source, Business Source Complete, MasterFILE Complete and Military & Government Collection
Civil engineering
See: ISRN civil engineering
from 01/01/2011 to 01/31/2014 in Academic Search Complete
from 01/01/2011 to 01/31/2011 in Gale Academic OneFile
Civil engineering
See: Periodica polytechnica. Civil engineering. Bauingenieurwesen (0553-6626)
from 01/01/1999 to present in Freely Accessible Science Journals
Civil Engineering & Environmental Science
See: Civil engineering and environmental systems (1028-6608)
from 12/01/2002 to 18 months ago in Academic Search Complete
. . . .
from 01/01/2015 to present in Applied Science & Technology Source
Civil engineering dimension
from 03/01/2004 to 12/31/2013 in Gale Academic OneFile
from 01/01/2016 to present in Gale Academic OneFile
Civil Engineering Dimension
See: Dimensi teknik sipil (1410-9530)
from 1999 to present in Directory of Open Access Journals
from 03/01/2010 to present in Academic Search Complete
Civil Engineering in Asia-Pacific
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
Civil Engineering in Australia
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
Civil Engineering in Brazil
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
Civil Engineering in Canada
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
Civil Engineering in China
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
Civil Engineering in Europe
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
Civil Engineering in France
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
Civil Engineering in Germany
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
Civil Engineering in India
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
Civil Engineering in Indonesia
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
Civil Engineering in Italy
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
Civil Engineering in Japan
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
Civil Engineering in Mexico
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
. . . .
Civil Engineering in South Africa
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
Civil Engineering in South Korea
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
Civil Engineering in Spain
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
Civil Engineering in the Netherlands
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
. . . .
Civil Engineering in Turkey
from 12/12/2018 to 12/31/2018 in Business Insights: Global
Civil engineering infrastructures journal
from 2013 to present in Directory of Open Access Journals
This is really important thank you so much
DeleteFor this report is it required for us to have a certain amount of citation included or is it the amount that we need included for the recommendation
ReplyDeleteGood question, Ever: I think that there should be at least 8 quotations from sources to present research findings, and you might feel that you need significantly more than 8.
DeleteWilson just wrote me an email to clarify that he is interested in engineering that facilitates earthquake resistance. That would certainly help particular regions that experience frequent earthquakes so that buildings will be secure.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to go with water desalination, which is turning salt water into drinkable water to combat droughts.
ReplyDeleteThere exists a multitude of ways to desalinize water, so for the Recommendations Report I can pick a few and compare them to each other.
1)https://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/library/water/desalination-methods-for-producing-drinking-water/
This site lists the types of water desalination methods that exist.
2)https://www-sciencedirect-com.rpa.laguardia.edu/science/article/pii/S0038092X17303973
This article talks about one of the methods that exist called multi-stage flash distillation
and ways to fix the issues it has.
3)https://www-sciencedirect-com.rpa.laguardia.edu/science/article/pii/S001191641931714X
This article talks about another method called shock electrodialysis, which is more suited
for small scale desalination for poorer areas that cannot afford the more expensive
methods.
I haven't looked at every single method yet, but when I do and find which ones provide more reliable sources, I will pick those for options to discuss about in my Recommendation Report.
Chun-Hang, I think you've gotten valid sources, and perhaps Science Direct is one of the LaGuardia Library's licensed subscription data bases that I didn't notice today. This sounds like a great project!
DeleteAlso after the quick research I've done, I've started to develop some ideas as to which criteria I can judge the different methods on: cost effectiveness, waste, and production output.
DeleteThose 3 criteria sound excellent!
DeleteFor those who want to do Boolean searches by topic, on the Library home page, you click on:
ReplyDeleteBrowse databases by:
Title (A-Z)
and then go to either "Applied Science and Technology Source" or "Business Source Complete" (or in the case of Joshua's topic "IOP Science" and "The New England Journal of Medicine") and maybe "Science in Context."
At that point, you'll be asked for your user name and password.
You can do a basic search, but advanced is better to limit your sources to full text and also Jan. 2017 and after.
I just did an advanced search in Applied Science and Technology Source" for "earthquake resistant buildings" which came up as a search term after I put in the first word, earthquake, and limited it to 2017 and after and full text. This is the first part of what I got:
1.
Comparative Response of Earthquake Resistant CBF Buildings Designed According to Canadian and European Code Provisions.
Full Text Available
Academic Journal
By: Yudong Wang; Nastri, Elide; Tirca, Lucia; Montuori, Rosario; Piluso, Vincenzo. Key Engineering Materials, 2018, Vol. 763, p1155-1163, 9p, 2 Charts, 6 Graphs; DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.763.1155
Subjects: Building design & construction; Earthquake resistant design; Quality factor; Nonlinear mechanics; Seismic response; EN1998 Eurocode 8 (Standard); Acceleration (Mechanics); Yield strength (Engineering)
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2.
2794. Creation of innovative earthquake resistant steel buildings by dividing the structure into inner and outer parts having interaction by hysteretic dampers.
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Academic Journal
By: Taheri, A.; Hosseini, M.; Moghadam, A. S.. Journal of Vibroengineering, Jan2018, Vol. 20 Issue 1, p477-493, 17p, 12 Diagrams, 4 Charts, 15 Graphs; DOI: 10.21595/jve.2017.19194
Subjects: Steel buildings; Earthquake resistant design; Earthquake intensity; Effect of earthquakes on buildings; Hysteresis; Building design & construction
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Typology of House in Earthquake Disaster Area: A Case Study of Bobanehena Village, West Halmahera.
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By: Marasabessy, Firdawaty; Muhammad, Asri A.. Aceh International Journal of Science & Technology, Apr2019, Vol. 8 Issue 1, p12-19, 8p; DOI: 10.13170/aijst.8.1.12246
Subjects: Earthquake damage; Earthquakes; Other Community Housing Services; Housing; Disasters; Villages
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ANALYSIS OF A BASE ISOLATED STRUCTURE.
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By: GUPTA, ANKIT; TUSHAMAR, VIKAS. Journal on Civil Engineering, Mar-May2017, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p27-33, 7p; DOI: 10.26634/jce.7.2.13425
Subjects: Base isolation system; Earthquake damage; Earthquake hazard analysis; Elastomers; Earthquake resistant design; Plastics Material and Resin Manufacturing; Synthetic Rubber Manufacturing; Resin and synthetic rubber manufacturing
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Earthquake Response of Cold-Formed Steel-Based Building Systems: An Overview of the Current State of the Art.
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By: Di Lorenzo, Gianmaria; De Martino, Attilio. Buildings (2075-5309), Nov2019, Vol. 9 Issue 11, p228, 1p; DOI: 10.3390/buildings9110228
Subjects: Cold-formed steel; Earthquakes; Effect of earthquakes on buildings; Lightweight steel; Lateral loads; Industrial Building Construction; Industrialized building
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The reason I want you to quote from sources today is that this is an area where it is helpful for students to practice and gain feedback from their professor about both formatting and content well before they hand in a high stakes assignment. In our previous assignments, you have not had to do any quoting. Just because you learned how to situate quotes in ENG 101 doesn't mean that you are perfect at it; practicing the skill now will yield benefits in later courses and probably professional situations.
ReplyDeleteWell I was reading the task that we are going to be doing for the week with the writing that we need to do and I’ve written multiple abstracts but I’ve never been really clear but how to really structure the abstract and how we as engineers will be using this in our writing
ReplyDeleteEver, when you go through the last 2 years of college and an advanced degree in engineering, you will be writing recommendation reports and similar documents, most of which will require an abstract, and of course, professional engineers write recommendation reports, and abstracts are usually required for those.
DeleteThe abstract is a maximum of 200 words: think about that. How many sentences is 200 words? 10? 15? 20 at the most? So you need to condense the ESSENCE of your recommendation report into 10, 12, 15, 18 sentences. In the work world, it's about giving a quick picture to busy executives so they can decide if it's worth reading the whole thing.
Look at some of the abstracts in your own sources in the Licensed Subscription databases like "Applied Science Technology Source" and "Business Complete Source." You'll get a good sense of how to do abstracts from such examples. Some of those abstracts you see in those databases are really short--50 words--but you should aim for between 150 and 200 words.
To clarify the task for friday is only a portion of the report and also the report is just written typed and no powerpoint such task
ReplyDeleteWilson, it is precisely one paragraph of the report, and some sections of the report may only BE one paragraph; others could be 2 or 3 paragraphs, so you would only be doing one half or one third of that section. The paragraph can be copied and pasted into the body of an email. A powerpoint is unnecessary.
DeleteSo far, some of the sources that I found contain several different aspects that will be very important to my research. Some of these aspects include an economic analysis of waste management facilities, environmental impacts of landfills and odor emission, the importance of finding a geographically suitable location for building and operating waste management facilities as well as proposals for integrated waste management facilities i.e. production of waste-to-energy (WTE) plants that will reduce the amount of greenhouse gases caused by excessive waste in landfills.
ReplyDeleteI discovered most of the sources from the LaGuardia Library list of databases e.g. Environmental Studies, Academic One File and Academic Search Complete. All of these databases were very helpful in gathering the initial set of information on my report.
Rochelle, it sounds as though you are doing great with your research! Please note that when one is doing a recommendation report on an environmental topic, it may be tempting to present a great deal of data on "environmental impacts of landfills and odor emission," but this is the area (the statement of problem section) where you should be as concise as possible, because the purpose of the report is to work to overcome the problem and not to describe it and its enormity.
Delete"Economic analysis of waste management facilities" is important, but I would surmise that in a decision matrix, this would be weighted less than some other variables, since any solution to the problem will be costly in the short run yet unbearably costly to human survival in the long run.
A citation from one of the sources is as follows: "Anaerobic decomposition of wastes in landfills promotes the production of CH4 which has a global warming potential of about 21 multiples of that of CO2" (Sonibare, O. O., Adeniran, J. A., & Bello, I. S. (2019). Landfill air and odour emissions from an integrated waste management facility. Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering, NA.).
ReplyDeleteDo I have to include the "Retrieved from URL" with every in-text citation? Or, should I include it at the end of the report when I list the references?
Rochelle, I'm glad you asked that, and I hope other class members will read your question and my response. The answer is no. What you identified as a parenthetical citation [ ( ) citation ] is actually close to a hybrid of both a citation and a References entry. So what you need to do when you quote something like this is ONLY to use the citation method that I use in our Technical Writing Textbook when I quote and paraphrase items: in parentheses, put the author or authors last name(s), a comma, and the year. HOWEVER, if there is pagination (as in a book, hard copy article, or PDF), you put a comma after the date, then p. and then the page number.
DeleteFor reference entries that come from licensed academic databases, instead of the URL, you can say "Retrieved from" and put the database. For reference entries that have a dot number, you can put that. (See the section on APA Format in the Textbook.)
In the case of numerous authors of an article, when you are quoting the article, the citation can be the first author's name and then et al. (This is an abbreviation of a phrase that means "and others" in Latin.)
DeleteSoon, not today, we will practice the format for a References entry. Rochelle, yours is very close to being fully accurate.
For the topic that I’m going to focus on it going to be with electric vehicles and what is the best method to reduce emissions
ReplyDeleteDOE Hydrogen Program. Hydrogen & Our Energy Future. U.S. Dept. of Energy, Hydrogen Program, 2007.
https://onesearch.cuny.edu/permalink/f/1tbam3v/CUNY_ALEPH005860665
This some research based now how hydrogen energy could be really good Producer for clean energy and how it could be used in vehicles
Ever, you have presented information for the References entry; let's save this data for when we are practicing constructing a set of References. Your source is very credible, and I'm sure it will be very helpful for you.
DeleteWhen you are developing a paragraph of your recommendation report that includes quotations, remember to use the I Q A method. Always introduce a quote with either part of a sentence or a whole sentence, then quote the quote and follow it with a ( ) citation, and then analyze the quote while integrating it into the main points that you're making in that paragraph. Never just go from one quote to another.
ReplyDeleteIn ENG 101, at first, some students tend to think that all they need to do in a research paper is to dump data into it. A recommendation report, which is a kind of research paper but also serves a very practical function, is not a data dump because all of the data/quotation relates to the purpose of the particular section. It is carefully arranged, not dumped.
For this type of report we didn’t really talk about the format for this type report with margins and spacing needed also as I was going through the class textbook this has many parts to the writing and has a table of context so does that mean we have to add a title to each section we are writing
ReplyDeleteEver, one-inch margins are fine, and double-space will be helpful to you in proofreading, but if you were doing the Recommendation Report for an actual company as a practicing engineer, you would probably use single-space. Arial and Times New Roman or Times would be appropriate fonts, and it should be 12-point type. I believe that titles above each section (in bold but not caps) with 2 spaces before and a single space after the title would be best.
DeleteI want to thank our anonymous volunteer for providing his low stakes writing for today for me to post. Please reward him with some incisive commentary on his paragraph!
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of introducing electrical vehicles on a wider range and coming up with cost efficient ways to do so. It would help improve the environment tremendously and reduce the amount of direct greenhouse gas emissions from regular cars. However, would creating a more cost-efficient production of these vehicles also make it more affordable for the public? The current electric vehicles from Tesla cost more than the average cars which makes it harder for the low-income population to switch from fuel engines to electric ones.
ReplyDeleteI know that the author of that paragraph is factoring economic considerations into the report and is therefore addressing your concerns.
DeleteWaste management is a very good topic to talk about, globally or even about a country or state.
ReplyDeleteFrom the my take on the paragraph it seems it was part of the introduction that lead into the financial part of the cost to dispose it's waste.
If 60% is most of the cost, when reducing the cost will it cause the other 40% to be more costly or stay the same?
I don't want to speak for the writer, but my assumption is that the intention is to reduce costs overall, thus implying that the 40% would not increase.
DeleteI have already commented on the abstract that one of your classmates volunteered for today in the main section of this post, but I'm sure it would be useful to get various perspectives on it from several of you.
ReplyDeleteIf others also want to volunteer another part of their essay, please do it in the next few minutes via email and I'll post it.
Let's also discuss important aspects of the Research Results and the Conclusion.
Around 3:45, we will move to the "Grammar" post (the second oldest post on this blog) for a lesson on run-ons that begins with my "lecture" in the main section.
I didn't mean to say "essay"; I meant to say Recommendation Report.
DeleteRemember that the "Research Methods" section can be short; it indicates how you gathered information on the 3 options that you are considering for the recommendation, whereas "Research Results" has a lot of quotation and paraphrase. "Research Results" should probably be 3 to 5 solid paragraphs, 1 or 2 paragraphs for each option, depending on the complexity of the material. The "Conclusion" will also be more than 1 paragraph, because you are applying your criteria to the 3 options.
ReplyDeleteI’ve noticed that in this report we have to include a section title executive summary would this just be a summary but with a targeted audience in the report
ReplyDeleteEver,
DeleteYou are looking at the old Textbook I gave you at the beginning of the term and not the PDF that I sent a few weeks ago. There is NO executive summary and NO letter of transmittal. These are all the parts:
Title Page
Abstract
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations (on same page as Table of Contents)
Introduction
Research Methods
Research Results
Conclusion
Recommendations
References
I'm guessing that most of you have done research but have not yet organized it in a way that you want to present to the rest of the class in the form of "Research Results" or the "Conclusion." Therefore, whoever wants to volunteer the items that were supposed to be used for today is welcome to do the same on Friday. Of course, you can also do what was originally schedule for Friday, give me part or all of the "Recommendations" section.
ReplyDeleteNote that since the Research Report is due on May 29, Friday's class will be the last on the blog before that day. I am honoring the idea of Memorial Day and not having class next Monday the 25th, so the Tuesday class (May 26) that takes its place will be individually, via email exchanges, and your own needs in completing the Recommendation Report will govern what goes on in those emails. (Of course, I am always available to discuss the specifics of the assignment with you on email when we are not in class, on the blog.)
Will it be a problem if the references follow MLA style?
ReplyDeleteYou were taught MLA before, but the course, unfortunately, requires APA style, and I would be going against the intentions of those who created and supervise ENG 259 if I allowed MLA.
DeletePlease let me know if you need specific help on APA style for both the ( ) citation of actual quotes and paraphrases and the References, which is called "Works Cited" in the MLA format.
DeleteI have been using MLA and its a new way for me using APA, I will definitely need help with that.
DeleteIn addition to what Christie is saying, I was using MLA then I found out owl Purdue and used the APA style 7 instead.
Deletehttps://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/apa_sample_paper.html
Rochelle posed a very good question:
ReplyDeleteWhen I insert a figure, do I have to indicate where I obtained it from? For example, “Figure 1: ....... (Insert citation) “ ?
TF: The answer is yes. Credit needs to be given through a ( ) citation.
Ever asked the following questions:
ReplyDeleteThe recommendations report what we have to include a table of illustration for this to be clear what this is where we include data tables and charts from the research that we are going to be presenting in this report.
Also when is the Recommendation Report Due.
TF: Yes, but it's called a List of Illustrations, not table, and that is a listing of your data tables and charts. The Recommendation report is due one week from today: Friday, May 29. (Tuesday, May 26 will be an irregular day class, conducted only over email and used to have conferences to discuss the paper.)
This is a sample abstract, so let's comment on it:
ReplyDeleteAbstract
Water covered about 71 percent of the earth’s surface; it should be accessible. We cannot just take random water and drink it, due to the effect of the water on our body. Our body requires purified water, one and easy way to get purified water is by distillation. Although water covered more than the half percentage of the earth's surface, distilled water is yet inaccessible in many countries. It is important that people have access to water, there is portable and attainable distilled water equipment that could be shared with other countries. Engineers find an easy way to spread distilled water to other countries without having small equipment that can be embarrassing. It is a better way for a poor country to not worry about access to distilled water.
To me, this sounds like an excellent introduction, because it clearly and persuasively states the problem. An abstract should include a somewhat more specific sense of the options (choices for the solution) and a very brief statement of the recommendation(s).
DeleteIt should have a brief summary of the options and recommendations. Is that what are you saying?
DeleteYes.
DeleteThis is from Rochelle:
ReplyDeleteI am not sure how to do the Research Method section. I know the book says to give an explanation on what I did to gather information. So, in this case, should I mention that I used different databases to find the material? If yes, then I am not sure on how to elaborate on that. Do you have any suggestions?
TF: Elaboration isn't necessary. This should be a really brief paragraph that mentions databases and general online searches for items within a particular subject area.
In the "Research Methods" section, not only can you list what kinds of searches you did--i.e. from data bases and how you determined the subject areas for other online searches-- but you can also make this section the place where you actually list your criteria for judging the effectiveness of different options. (You don't JUDGE in this section, but give the points to consider in making your judgment.)
ReplyDeleteDear Students,
ReplyDeleteYour Recommendation Report will be graded in the order that is received; this weekend, your class will receive priority over the papers that may come in late from my other classes. I should be able to do 2 or 3 by 9 pm this evening, 3-4 on Saturday, and 3-4 on Sunday. I will use the grading rubric that you received for most of the previous assignments Grammatical comments will be confined to 3 paragraphs.
Please note that the course is not over; you have one more low stakes assignment that I scheduled for Monday but can come to my inbox on Tuesday or Wednesday without penalty. My Announcements email for next week will give the details of this assignment.