Article Databases For Today's Class
When looking for articles on your topic, start with these databases. They are already focused by subject and have filtered out sites and sources that would not be used in academic papers or research.
- Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Digital Library This link opens in a new window The full-text collection of all ACM publications, including journals, conference proceedings, technical magazines, newsletter,s and books.
- Scopus This link opens in a new window SCOPUS is an abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. Delivering a comprehensive overview of the world's research output in the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities, Scopus features smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research.
- Compendex This link opens in a new window Primary engineering database, containing journal articles, proceedings, book chapters; includes scholarly and trade publications; coverage from 1884 forward.
- IEEE Xplore This link opens in a new window Primary full-text article database for computer science, computer engineering, information science and library science.
- ArXiv e-Print archive This link opens in a new window Open access to 1,459,763 e-prints in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative Finance, Statistics, Electrical Engineering and Systems Science, and Economics.
For the Beginning Researcher
When beginning research, it is easy to get overwhelmed, Starting off in an organized fashion will save you time and make life easier.
- Use the assignment calculator to plan your paper.
- Make sure you know exactly what your professor wants BEFORE you begin. Do you need statistics? Data? Research articles?
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Turn your research topic into a question. This narrows the focus and makes it more manageable.
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Develop a search strategy using key words to find articles. Identify the databases you will use.
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Read the articles you find and manage your citations as you go so you can create a bibliography later. Are they scholarly or trade? Do they meet your research criteria?
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Review your information and if it isn't answering your question go back and research some more, using additional keywords and perhaps a different database.
- If you need help, ask a librarian! Remember, finding information is our specialty!