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Engineering student writers must document their reference sources in their theses, papers, proposals, reports, and related documents that they prepare. This is generally done in Microsoft Word or in a LaTeX software package and typically done in the IEEE citation style which is widely used in engineering and technology. In this work, we identify 25 primary reference types and 21 secondary reference types that are used in present-day engineering writing. Because all 46 of these engineering reference types are typically not available in commercial reference management software, we have generated customization files for the widely used EndNote reference management software package that enable referencing to be done using either Cite-While-You-Write (CWYW) for Word users or using BibTeX for LaTeX users. These customization files and instructions on how to install and use them, herein called the Georgia Tech Engineering Reference Management System (GTERMS), are made available on an open-access free-to-use basis. 

Searching, compiling, understanding, and explaining the literature relative to one’s research or project represents an essential 21-st century skill for students. The innovation in the present work is that the full range of these diverse topics can be integrated and team taught, in a single unified course format. There is widespread awareness that the rapid advances in technology have greatly accelerated fundamental progress in science, engineering, and medicine as well as in the entrepreneurial development in these fields. Simultaneously, there have been, perhaps less publicized, advances in information science, database technology, literature searching tools, data compilation tools, and data sharing tools. To be competitive, students need to learn about and to incorporate these powerful tools into their research and engineering project work while they are in school and after graduation. Lessons learned in developing a productive academic research laboratory (Optics Laboratory at Georgia Tech) were used to formulate an inclusive suite of the needed topics and to introduce these via a course for undergraduate students to be team taught by an engineering professor and several librarians. After five offerings, this course has earned permanent listing. The resulting 2-credit hour elective “Research Methods” course has gotten high course evaluations. The course has enrolled not only the intended undergraduate students, but also has attracted graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and faculty as well.