Engineering 190W - Spring 2025 - Bach Sections

Standards and Specifications are described as documents that describe the rules and conditions for how materials and products should be manufactured, defined, measured, tested, and applied.  They are used to establish baselines or a minimum level of performance and quality control to ensure that optimal conditions and procedures for the purpose of creating compatibility with products and services from different periods and a range of sources.  Specifications have a more limited range of application than standards and generally establish requirements for materials, products, or services. Standards and specifications may be issued by voluntary technical or trade associations, professional societies, national standards bodies, government agencies, or by international organizations. It is critical to establish the source.

Standards and specifications are of greatest utility to engineers, scientists and those working with new innovations.

Learn more about Standards

Types of Standards:

• Category, type, dimension, structure, equipment, quality, grade, component, performance, durability, or safety 
• Methods of manufacturing, methods of designing, methods of drawing, methods of using, or methods of operation of safety condition of production
• Methods of testing, analyzing, appraising, verifying, or measuring 
• Terms, abbreviations, symbols, marks, preferred numbers, or units 
• Design, methods of execution, or safety conditions

What are some points to remember when using standards?

• Some standards are government-mandated, and others are voluntary.  There may be various penalties associated with not adhering to the standard. 
• Standards are updated frequently to keep pace with changing technology -- check to see if the standard you are using is the latest version. 
• Older, superceded versions of standards may be useful in many cases, such as legal disputes concerning the performance of a product that was manufactured when the older standard was in force.  The Engineering Library DOES NOT maintain historical or superceded standards.

To locate a standard you should (ideally) have at least three of the following:

• The name of the publishing organization
• The standard number
• The title
• The subject

Sources for Standards:  ASTM SEDL

Patent Information

1. U. S. Patent and Trademark Office
   http://www.uspto.gov/ and How to Search the USPTO database Official source for U.S. patents and trademarks in full text from 1976 (full page images available since 1790) with links to the Library of Congress for copyright information. Definitions, application forms and instructions, handbooks, notices, and patent attorney directory are just a few of the products provided. Includes design patents and reissued patents as well as patents currently in application process (coverage starts March 2001). Full-text searching is available.

2. Google Patents - different arrangement of output - there is lots of help; not as formalized a search process - contains 7.3 million patents with references to worldwide patents; images are inline

3. Google Scholar - Google Scholar's Advanced Scholar Search can now be used to find patents and legal opinions. Search options include all legal opinions and journals, search only US federal court opinions, and search only court opinions from individual states.

4. Other valuable patent resources:
   Training Guides from USPTO
5. "How to Conduct a Preliminary U.S. Patent Search: A Step by Step Strategy " - Online, Web-Based Tutorial (38 minutes) - Tutorial on the new Patent Public Search
6. Patent Guide from University of Washington Engineering Library
7. European Patent Office - index of patents originating in Europe
   Freepatentsonline - Fulltext and images of US patents beginning with patent number 4,000,000
   Crazy Patents
   Scirus - Indexes over 13 million patents from the US, European and Japanese Patent Offices and WIPO
   Subject Guide for Patents

For assistance in preparing presentations you may find the following resources helpful in preparing a Powerpoint presentation that can capture your ideas with some visual elements including images, graphs, photographs, etc. For some background in creating an appropriate presentation, consider the needs of your audience and play to that group. You may find the following resources and tutorials helpful:

• Top Ten Slide Tips - by Garr Reynolds -

Mastering Powerpoint 2000 - SL Bar T385 M8863 1999

• Tutorials:

http://www.hostos.cuny.edu/library/HHCL_New_Web/Teach_Learn_tutor_ppoint.ht

http://www.cew.wisc.edu/accessibility/tutorials/pptscratch-text.htm

• Sources for images include: Google Image Search and other search interfaces; remember to cite the source even if it is in the public domain.

Technical Writing and Communication & Resume Guides Selected current resources & texts (SL = Science Library (Ref on 2d floor); LL = Langson Library (Ref on 1st floor))

1. Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations, 2008- SL HF5718.22 D83 2008

1. Speaking About Science: Manual for Creating Clear Presentations, 2006. SL Bar Q223 M67 2006

    

2. Careers in Focus: Engineering, 3rd ed. Chicago, IL: Ferguson/Infobase Pub., 2007. SL REF TA157 .C283 2007

    

3. Resumes for Engineering Careers: With Sample Cover Letters, 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. SL REF TA 157 R47 2006

    

4. Writing Power: Communication in an Engineering Center / Dorothy Winsor. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2003. SL Bar TA 158.5 W56 2003

    

5. Writing and Speaking in the Technology Professions: A Practical Guide / edited by David F. Beer, New York: IEEE Press, 2003, SL Bar, T11 W75 2003

    

6. Writing from A to Z, 4th ed. / Sally Barr Ebest. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2003. LL Reserves PE 1408 W773 2003b

    

7. A Student Guide to Writing at UCI, 11th ed. / John Hollowell. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2003. SL Ref Desk PE 1408 H668 2003

    

8. Handbook of Technical Writing / Gerald J.Alred, Charles T. Brusaw, Walter E. Oliu, New York: St. Martin’s 2003, SL Ref T11 B78 2003

    

9. MIT Guide to Science and Engineering Communication, 2nd ed. / James G. Paradis and Muriel L. Zimmerman. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002. SL Bar Q223 P33 2002

    

10. Technical Communication, 6th ed. / Mike Markel. NY: St. Martin's Press. SL Bar, T11 M346 2001

     

11. Technical Style / J.M. Haile, Central, S.C.: Macatea Productions, 2001, SL Bar, T11 H24 2001

     

12. Technical Writing and Professional Communication for Nonnative Speakers of English / Thomas N. Huckin, Leslie A. Olsen, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991, SL Bar, T11 H823 1991

     

13. IEEE transactions on professional communication (journal)