Computer and Information Technology: Finding Articles

*Choose keywords carefully and avoid unnecessary words. 
*Check spelling.  
*Combine terms with AND to get fewer results.  Use OR to get more.

Not all articles are written at the same level or for the same audience.  They might all be useful in your research but undertstanding the differences is important.

Scholarly articles:

• Are written by and for scholars, professors, scientists in the field
• Have undergone Peer Review process
• Published by academic or association presses
• Contain citation sources, footnotes and/or bibliographies
• Utilize graphs, charts, and statistics
• Have few or selective advertisements

      Example:  Journal of Political Ecology

Trade/Professional articles:

• Focus on a specific industry
• Are written by scholars, magazine staff or freelance writers
• Published by professional or trade associations
• May cite sources
• Might include photographs, illustrations, industry-specific statistics

      Example:  Information Today

Popular

• Articles are written to entertain or persuade
• Are written by journalists or writers
• Rarely cite sources
• Published by commerical presses
• May contain glossy photographs and illustrations
• Probably has extensive advertising

      Example:  Time magazine

Find articles, reference sources, ebooks & other digital resources: 
For the easiest access to the following databases, click on the title listed below. The following databases are available to authorized users only. Contact a P.I.T. Librarian to find out if you are an authorized user. 

Academic OneFile (any subject)

AccessEngineering (engineering and related topics)

AccessScience (any science subject)

Encyclopædia Britannica Online (any subject)

ERIC: Education Resources Information Center (sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education)

Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center (comprehensive career research)

Gale Virtual Reference Library (full-text ebooks on any subject)

Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary

NCBI Bookshelf (Sponsored by the National Center for Biotechnology Information of the U.S. National Library of Medicine) (free access to books and documents in life science and healthcare)

Project Gutenberg (full-text ebooks on any subject)

Proquest Ebook Central (full-text ebooks on any subject)

Use these tip sheets for assistance with the databases if the Librarian is not available or you are off-campus.