Suggested Article Search Algorithms
1. ABI/Inform Global business database
The ABI/Inform Global business database, accessed through the UNT Libraries ITDS portal, has been my
primary resource for gathering articles for the executive summaries throughout the semester. My method
is as follows:
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Enter the assignment terms into the primary search field
Modify advanced search terms to include only those articles which include Full Text PDFs
Using the search filtering options, I select either scholarly or trade journals, depending on
whether I am searching for academic or practitioner article
If I find an interesting article that looks like I could use it for the assignment, I’ll download the
PDF and begin the writeup
If I do not immediately find an article, I’ll click on a few of the results and observe the keywords
highlighted in the article summary
Reading through those sections where keywords are highlighted, I’ll gather some new search
terms
I will then repeat the steps above, using new search terms
Continue repeating until I’ve found an article I can use
Most recently, I used this method to find the “Psychological Impact of Metrics” article for the 9A bonus
assignment. I’ve also used this same technique multiple times throughout the semester to find very
interesting and highly relevant articles.
2. Good ole’ Google
The second method I used during the semester involved the use of two resources: the Google search
engine and the ABI/Inform Global database. When utilizing this method, I would perform a Google
search using the assignment keywords (i.e. ITSM Service Operation) and the name of one of the journals
listed among the core ITDS journals accessed through the ITDS portal at the UNT Libraries website. The
journals are sectioned into Academic and Practitioner journals, and are all contained within the online
resources available to UNT students. I personally found Google returned much better results than trying
to search from the UNT library catalog, even for articles in the same journal. My complete methodology
would be as follows:
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Select a class of journal based on whether the portion of the assignment I am completing calls for
an academic or practitioner journal
Select a journal title that sounds most interesting to me at that particular time
Perform a Google search with assignment keywords and the name of the journal
Select article that seems most interesting and relevant to the assignment
Return to the UNT Library portal, navigate to Serial Solutions database
Pull up database entry for journal in which Google located the interesting article
Navigate to the appropriate publication date range for the article
Locate the desired article in issue listing
Although I can’t recall for certain which articles I turned up using this particular method, I do remember
finding multiple potential articles from sources like InfoWorld or ComputerWorld that may have ended
up not being used for assignments.
Citation: Christopher Johnson; BCIS 5520, Spring 2015
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Suggested Article Search Algorithms
3. Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) and citation search
The third and final approach I used when looking for articles was to utilize the scholar.google.com search
engine to find articles related to assigned topics that seemed most interesting to me. Google Scholar
allows filtering based on peer-reviewed status, so quality academic publications can be isolated during
searches. Often the articles turned up in the Google Scholar results were behind pay walls, however, and
would contain only Abstracts and reference information on a particular article. Using citation information
from this summary, and looking for journals that I’ve found articles from previously through UNT
Libraries, I was able to locate some resources to which I could easily gain access through the ITDS portal.
My basic methodology is as follows:
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Enter search terms in scholar.google.com
Find interesting article
Look at citations for article
Identify journal that I’ve accessed before through UNT Libraries online resources
Return to UNT Libraries portal and search for selected article
As with the previous method, I cannot recall for certain which of the articles I summarized over the
course of the semester used this particular approach. In nearly every assignment, I used some combination
of methods to arrive at a useful resource.
One other strategy I used from time to time would be to take the articles collected on the class website
and enter those into one of the above-mentioned search utilities. Typically, the search utility would return
other articles in addition to the one I’d searched for, providing several related articles from which I could
search for another usable example.
Citation: Christopher Johnson; BCIS 5520, Spring 2015
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