Subject Guides: Machining: Find Internet Resources

Recommended Websites

American Machinist Magazine
A lot of information on many aspects of machining.
Canadian Metalworking
This is the digital home of Canadian Metalworking and Canadian Fabricating & Welding. Technical articles, case studies, and company profiles that have appeared in these magazines can be found on this site. Additionally, this website contains exclusive articles addressing metalworking and fabricating topics of interest to Canadian manufacturers.
Canadian Tooling and Machining Association
The Canadian Tooling & Machining Association (CTMA) was established in 1963 by combining various trade associations to produce one strong organization to represent the “Tooling Industry”.
Howstuffworks
A source of credible and easy-to-understand explanations of how the world works.
IQS Resource Center
IQS offers a free comprehensive listing of manufacturers and suppliers serving major segments of the OEM industrial manufacturing marketplace across the United States and Canada.
Industry Canada
Industry Canada works with Canadians throughout the economy and in all parts of the country to improve conditions for investment, improve Canada's innovation performance, increase Canada's share of global trade and build a fair, efficient and competitive marketplace.
Machine Design Magazine
Machine Design keeps a constant finger on the pulse of the design engineering universe with the most extensive research program in the industry.

Evaluate Your Research Materials

It is important to find credible print and online resources for your research paper. Get into the habit of evaluating information, especially if you are using sources that you find on the Web where anyone can post a webpage. Ask yourself the following questions:

Currency Is the information recent, or have there been newer updates?

Relevancy Why are you choosing this resource? What is the scope? Is this resource general or specific?

Accuracy Is this information correct? Can it be verified? Is it complete? Is it cited? Is it peer-reviewed?

Authority Is the author, creator, qualifications, or organization clearly stated? What is their reputation? What

type of credentials do they have, and are they appropriate to your topic?

Purpose Who is the intended audience? Is the site trying to sell anything? What biases does the author have

and how do they affect the resource?

Purdue Libraries. (2020, November 4). Evaluating sources: How to evaluate sources [Video]. https://youtu.be/KYrMC8ZaKA8

There are many methods for evaluating information. Two of the more popular methods are the CRAAP (currency, relevancy, authority, accuracy, purpose) test and CARS (credible, accurate, reasonable, support) evaluation method.

Snowden Library. Lycoming College. (2020, July 21). Evaluating online sources with the CRAAP test [Video]. https://youtu.be/Q8zRBdKlszE

The goal of peer review is to assess the quality of articles submitted for publication in a scholarly journal. The article undergoes the following process:

The author submits their article to a journal editor who forwards it to experts in the author's field. These experts are considered to be the author’s peers (peer-review).
These impartial reviewers carefully evaluate the quality of the submitted manuscript.
The peer reviewers check the article for accuracy and assess the validity of the research methodology and procedures.
The reviewers may suggest revisions. If the article does not meet established standards for a given discipline, it is rejected. Peer-reviewed articles that are accepted for publication exemplify the best research practices in a field.

Features of a Peer-Reviewed Article

Infographic highlighting the features of a peer-reviewed article.

Further Considerations

Is the journal in which you found the article published or sponsored by a professional society or association, or a university? Does it describe itself as a peer-reviewed publication?
Did you find a citation for it in one of your library's article databases that includes scholarly publications, i.e., Proquest Central?
In the database, did you limit your search to scholarly or peer-reviewed publications?
Is the topic of the article narrowly focused and explored in depth?
Is the article based on either original research or authorities in the field (as opposed to personal opinion)?
Is the article written for readers with some prior knowledge of the subject?
Is the article divided into sections with headings such as: Introduction / Theory or Background / Methods / Discussion / Literature review / Subjects / Results / Conclusion.

Where to Find Peer-Reviewed Articles

Search your library's article databases, many of which include peer-reviewed journals. To ensure that your results come from peer-reviewed or scholarly journals, do the following:

Read the description of the article database to determine if it features peer-reviewed articles.
On the database's search screen, look for a check-box that allows you to limit your results to peer-reviewed only.
If you didn't check off the "peer-reviewed articles only" box, look for an option that allows you to filter your results by resource type. For example, the database Proquest Central, provides an option for choosing "Scholarly Journals" in its "results" screen.

John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Lord Sealy Library. (n.d). Features of a peer-reviewed article. https://guides.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/evaluatingsources