ENGR 102: Engineering Freshman Academy

Research takes time! Breaking down the process into steps can help you better manage your time and energy. First, ask yourself "What are the parameters of my assignment?" What topics are allowed? Is it a five page research paper? Is it an annotated bibliography or a literature review? Do you need to find scholarly journal articles? Knowing these details means you can make a plan for the next steps.

Second, ask yourself "What interests me?" As engineering and computer science students, what motivates you to study these subjects? What do you want to learn more about? And great place to explore topics and gather background information are reference sources like encyclopedias.

Here are some reference materials to get started:

You can also review the National Academy of Engineering's 14 Grand Challenges for Engineers to get a jump start on interesting topics.

Learn more about Viterbi Research on NAE Grand Challenges.

Looking for more assistance on how to get started conducing research?

The USC Libraries has helpful tutorials on a variety of topics: