CICS 305 Social Issues in Computing

Finding Relevant Resources

• consider the reseach question
• use appropriate sources/platforms
• experiment with search strategy

Using appropriate keywords

• reflect on your research topic
• database searching as exploration
• peruse abstracts, author supplied-keywords

Identifying where to search

• What resource types would best address your question
• Identify suitable sources in Libraries A-Z Database List

Getting Access to Resources: avoiding paywalls

• Access through the Libraries/UMass
• Access through Interlibrary Loan

Evaluating resources

• verify credibility with lateral reading
• consider the authority of the source

Staying organized

• Document your process
• Use Citation Management tools (Zotero)

Structure of a scientific paper in one word: Chicken (Doug Zongker)

Can you identify the main components of these research papers?

• Conference Paper
• Journal Article
• Trade Magazine Research Article

 Activate your ILL account! 

Interlibrary Loan (also abbreviated ILL) is a free service that allows patrons of the UMass Amherst libraries to borrow materials and to receive copies of documents from libraries beyond the Five Colleges.

This service is available to current UMass Amherst students and current and retired UMass Amherst faculty and staff. You can borrow physical items or scans of articles and book chapters for items that the Libraries do not already own or license.