Libraries Ask Us

CICS 305 Class Visit

What is Your Topic?

Not sure where to start? Try these tips:

Start where you are. Think about topics that might be of interest to you. What do you already know? What would you like to know? What class papers or discussion caught your attention? Skim over your reading list or textbook for more ideas.
Seach for relevant current events. Twitter, ScienceDaily's Computers and Math section, and popular science magazines, such as WIRED or Ars Technica, often cover recent events in the field. Do some searching and you're bound to find some ideas!
Look for articles in your area of interest. Peruse the ACM Magazines, particularly Communications of the ACM and XRDS Crossroads. (Full text is available to UMass through the ACM Digital Library linked below.)

Use the databases below to search for overview articles and proceedings on current computer science topics:

ACM Digital Library This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Journals of the Association for Computing Machinery, its conference proceedings, magazines, technical reports, and more, 1954-present. Includes some works published by affiliated organizations. Covers the fields of computing and information technology.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Synthesis Digital Library of Engineering and Computer Science This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Peer-reviewed, expert reports on research and development topics in engineering and computer science; includes access to Complete Collections One, Two, Three, and Four.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Moving from Research Question to Research Strategy

Moving from a research question to an effective search strategy requires that you:

break your research question down into its core concepts,
identify alternative keywords for those concepts,
combine your keywords with boolean connectors to create a strategy
iterate different combinations of keywords and concepts until you find a search method that returns relevant results!

For Example!

Modified from Research Methods in Gerontology LibGuide, Georgia State University Library.

Keyword Searching

Keywords are the words that you use when searching online catalogs and library databases. Select your keywords carefully; the more targeted they are, the more efficient your searches will be.

Keywords should represent the most important concepts in your topic.
Try multiple variants or synonyms of your keywords. Sometimes you may have to do several searches to identify keywords related to your topic.
If you find a good and relevant source for your topic, look for additional keyword synonyms in the title, abstract, and subject headings.

Modified from Choosing and Using Keywords Tutorial, CREDO Instruct

Tutorial: Choosing and Using Keywords
Try this tutorial to practice selecting refining, and expanding keywords.

Keyword Search Tips!

Are you getting too many results? Narrow your search by:

Put keyword phrases into quotations, IE: "artificial intelligence"
Use AND between search terms; Use NOT to eliminate irrelevant terms
Use fielded searches, IE: search in the title or abstract fields
Try additional synonyms for your keywords, look at subject headings of relevant results for ideas
Use filters to narrow down by time frame, format, etc.
Try a different, more specialized database
Review your research question, is it too broad?

Are you getting too few search results? Broaden your search by:

Use OR between search terms
Nest keyword synonyms together using OR, IE: (iphone OR smartphone OR mobile phone)
Search Full Text or All Text rather than fields
Use truncation to find word variants, IE: autis* will return autistic or autism
Try alternative search terms
Try a different, more general database
Review your research question, is it too narrow?

Image from Introduction to Boolean Operators, Slippery Rock University

Search Techniques Tutorials

Tutorial: Search Techniques, Part 1
Use this tutorial to familiarize yourself with strategic searching. You will learn the purpose and uses of natural language and Boolean operators to broaden and narrow the scope of a search.
Tutorial: Search Techniques, Part 2
Use this tutorial to learn strategic search approaches to navigate scholarly databases including advanced search techniques for broadening and narrowing the scope of a search.