Research Guides: SCI 220: Dream, Make, Innovate: Informing and Communicating Your Project

Elevator pitches

6 tips for putting together the best elevator pitch from CNBC.

An elevator pitch is a succinct (usually lasting between 30 seconds and 2 minutes) description of a product, company, idea, or even a person in a persuasive way. Your product pitches for SCI 220 will include 3 elements:

Defining your problem
Presenting a solution
Providing some details on your solution, such as project budget, group expertise, etc.

Here are two examples of elevator pitches for different products:

https://static.nbclearn.com/files/higheredsa/site/pdf/53913.pdf

https://static.nbclearn.com/files/higheredsa/site/pdf/41932.pdf

Defining Your Problem

Start here:

To gather background information about your topic

Gale ebooks This link opens in a new window
Subject encyclopedias, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. Great starting point for overviews, theories, basic concepts, etc.

OneSearch
Search the Library's catalog for a broad range of resources related to your topic

Global Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Full-text of hundreds of U.S. and international news sources. Includes coverage of major U.S. and international newspapers such as The New York Times and the Times of London, plus hundreds of other news sources and news wires, including the Press Democrat and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Statista This link opens in a new window
International statistics, industry reports, and market data that can be downloaded in Excel, PowerPoint, and JPG formats.

Pew Research Center
"...conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research."
American Customer Satisfaction Survey
ACSI reports scores on a 0-100 scale at the national level and produces indexes for 10 economic sectors, 45 industries (including e-commerce and e-business), and more than 225 companies and federal or local government agencies.

Talk to your client! What information do they have about the problem?

Consider adding:

Quotes from conversations with your client.
Information from your client's website.
Information from resources they recommend.

Finding a Solution

Looking at Patents

To see what other similar products have already been created

Business Resources

Business Source Premier (Ebsco) This link opens in a new window
BSP is a full-text business database, covering management, economics, finance, accounting, international business. BSP includes access to academic journals, trade journals, company profiles, case studies, market research reports, SWOT analyses and more.

BSP also includes Biographies, Books/Monographs, Book Reviews, Country Reports, Industry Profiles, Interviews, Obituaries, Popular Magazines and Newspapers, Product Reviews, and Working Papers.

Bay Area Council Economic Institute
A public-private partnership organization. Publishes Regional Economic Assessments, and reports on technology, innovation, economic impact, labor, transportation, and other topics.

Roper Center for Public Opinion Research This link opens in a new window
Documentation and data files from the Roper Center's public opinion studies in Roper Express, iPOLL, Public Opinion Matters!,Survey Spotlights, NSF Surveys, and election polls. Free, but must register to use.

Environmental Studies Research

GreenFile This link opens in a new window
Offers well-researched information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment with scholarly, government and general-interest titles including content on the environmental effects of individuals, corporations and local/national governments, and what can be done at each level to minimize these effects (via Ebsco).
Environment Complete This link opens in a new window
A full-text database covering agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, renewable energy sources, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, geography, pollution & waste management, environmental technology, environmental law, public policy, and more.

Materials Science, Physics, and Electronics

American Institute of Physics - Scitation This link opens in a new window
Supports the study and advancement of physics and related disciplines including physics, chemistry, geosciences, engineering, and acoustics.
IEEE Xplore This link opens in a new window
IEEE Xplore is an online delivery system providing full text access to the world's highest quality technical literature in electrical engineering, computer science, and electronics.
SAGE Journals Online This link opens in a new window
Access to 440+ Sage online journals from social sciences, humanities, medicine, engineering, physical and life sciences, professional, and business disciplines, with backfiles to 1999.

University Library

SCI 220: Dream, Make, Innovate

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