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Description
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Author
Organisation
Date
Finding journal articles in computer science
computer science, journal articles
Suggests databases and tips for computer science
students
1
Susan Glen
Swansea University
15/8/14
Finding Articles in Computer Science
Objectives
This presentation will help you to:
•
Find the best databases to use for computer science
•
Use search techniques effectively
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Know how to access journal articles
•
You will also find guides to individual databases within this Blackboard course
& you are welcome to contact the team for help with any of this.
Which databases should I use?
<heading>Database Passwords</heading>
You will need your university username and password (as for email, blackboard etc.)
to access many of our databases and e-journals, especially off campus. It is best to
go through one of our services: iFind Discover, iFind Research or iGetit as that will
take you to the correct login point. If you are not able to do this there is a handout in
the Using Online Resources part of this course which will help you to work out where
to login.
<heading>iFind Research</heading>
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iFind Research is a tool which cross searches many of our databases.
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It can be a useful starting point but be aware that because it searches many
databases at once, it will not be as thorough as searching an individual
database.
•
Choose Computer Science from the Science menu. If you do your search in
the Quick search box at the top of the iFind Research screen you will be
searching our general databases, not the ones specifically for computer
science.
<heading>Inspec</heading>
Inspec is the most comprehensive database for computer science so is the
best place to start searching (unless you are only searching for full text
material). It includes some books, conferences and other types of publication
material as well as journal articles. It does not include full text.
<heading>Full text databases</heading>
We have three databases which contain the full text of journal articles relevant
to computer science. These are very useful if you need material quickly but be
aware that they only cover certain publishers so will not give you a full picture
of a subject.
This contains journals and conferences from ACM and also some information
about other publications which are not full text. To restrict to full text only run
your search then click the link near the top of the screen which says limit
your search to Publications from the ACM and Affiliated Organizations.
Full text journals and conferences from the IEEE and IET. Our subscription
includes most of the material in this database but there are a few titles which
we cannot use. To exclude these you can run your search then tick the box at
the left of the screen.
Science Direct contains journals from the publisher Elsevier who produce a lot
of computer science titles. To restrict to full text only go to Advanced search
and choose the options below:
Starting your search
The first step in a successful search is to think about the keywords you will use.
There may be synonyms, alternative spellings and acronyms used in a database. For
example, if your topic is:
Cloud computing and web services
you might need to think about terms such as cloud computing, mobile computing,
grid computing, web services, file servers, network services.
If you need ideas about terminology you could try looking at reference books such
as subject dictionaries and encyclopaedias. You will find a selection of these on the
central shelves in the Study Hall of the library. For example:


BCS glossary of computing and ICT (also available as an electronic book)
A dictionary of computing
Inspec has a useful thesaurus which can give you suggestions about terminology.
Click search tools then change the drop down menu to Thesaurus as below.
It will then give you suggestions of similar and related terms to consider.
You could also try searching Wikipedia. Although it is not often used as an academic
source because it is anonymous and can be unreliable, it can be helpful for finding
out what terminology is used in a subject.
Search Techniques
<heading>AND</heading>
In most literature databases using the command AND tells the database to search for
results including both your terms. If you are using Inspec the multi field search option
makes this easier.
The search above would look for articles which contain both the terms cloud
computing and web services as below.
<heading>OR</heading>
The command OR allows you to look for alternative terms so in this case results can
include web services or file servers or business data processing in the same record
as cloud computing.
<heading>Phrase searching</heading>
You may notice that if you put in terms such as cloud computing databases may
separate them so you can find articles such as this:
This may not matter for your search but if you want to keep your terms as a phrase
enter them in quotation marks e.g.
“cloud computing” or “web services”
<heading>Truncation</heading>
Most databases have a truncation or wildcard symbol which you can put on the end
of a word to avoid having to type out different endings.
In this example comput$ would pick up computers, computing, computational etc.
Many other databases, such as Science Direct, use an asterisk * as their truncation
symbol. If you are unsure which to use consult our guides or the database help.
<heading>Title search</heading>
If you find that you are getting an unmanageably large number of references
try restricting your search to the titles of articles as this is usually a quick way
to reduce the number. If a word appears in the title of an article that article is
also likely to be relevant.
In Inspec change the option in the right hand box to title. This tip also works
for other databases such as Science Direct and IEEE Xplore.
Getting the full text
<heading>iGetIt@Swansea</heading>
Inspec and some of our other largest databases index a wide range of journals
which are not all available at Swansea. Look for the iGetit@Swansea link or button:
This will link into our systems to see if the article is available.
<heading>Checking the catalogue</heading>
Alternatively you can check iFind Discover to see if we hold the journal you need.
Change the search option to Journal title.
If the journal is online, an iGetit box will appear as below which will tell you which
years of the journal are available – make sure it includes the year you need before
going into the journal site.
<heading>Document Supply</heading>
If an article is particularly important for your project but is not available in Swansea
your department may authorise an inter-library loan.You can pick up a request form
from library desks or download one from our document supply web page.
Summary


Inspec is a good starting point for computer science topics. It is the most
thorough database but if you need something quickly you may want to try one
of our full text databases.
Think carefully about your search terms.


Try using search techniques such as AND, OR and truncation to improve your
search.
If you cannot find the material you need for your topic contact the subject
team for help.