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Academic Skills for IT Professionals INFS 5073

Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment (ITEE)

Introduction

This Assignment Help is designed to help you to find books, journal articles and other documents for your assignments.

ITEE Information Search Methods

The ITEE Information Search Methods workshop assists you to use the Library's website, together with a strategy for searching the catalogue, databases and the internet

Assignment

Write a survey of Privacy-Enhancing Technologies

Create a Search Plan

Identify keywords

These can include similar words (synonyms), plurals or alternative spellings.

Combining your search terms

Searching using a string of search terms (eg. typing in a sentence) is not an effective search strategy.

Think about how your keywords relate to one another by using the OR or AND operators as appropriate.

When you combine keywords using OR your search will find items containing either one or both of your keywords
When you combine keywords using AND your search will only find items containing both of your keywords

Refer to the Strategies for searching ITEE databases guide (PDF 70kb, opens in new window) for further assistance

Truncation/Wildcards

Most databases help you to search for plurals and other forms of words by using a feature called truncation.
For example, technolog (followed by the appropriate symbol ie: ? in catalogue, * in the databases) will find technology, technological, technologically etc.

Most databases help you to search for alternative spellings of words by using a feature called wildcard.

For example, organi?ation will find organisation, organization.

The symbols are not standardised across different databases and will depend on the database you are using.
Check the Truncation / Wildcards / Phrase Searching guide (PDF 86kb, opens in new window) to ensure you are using the correct symbol for the database you are searching.

Where to Search

You can use your keywords and search plan to search for a variety of information sources. An information source can be a book, journal, conference proceeding, video or DVD, report or web page. The type of information source you need will determine the most suitable place to search.

Catalogue - where you will find details about books, videos/DVDs and other material
Databases - where you will find details about journal articles and sometimes the full text of an article
Internet - web pages containing a variety of information about many different topics.

Library Catalogue

Search the catalogue (opens in new window) for library resources including books, journals, audio-visual (AV) and website links. The catalogue is essential in any search for information.
For information on searching the catalogue see General help - catalogue.

Databases

Library databases are indexes to journal articles. Search databases to find quality journal articles on your topic that you may not find on the internet.

If you already know the title of a database, select from the Database Titles list. To find a list of databases on the broad subject area of your topic use the Database Subjects page or try searching the multidisciplinary databases as they cover a wide range of academic topics.

Key databases we recommend you search include:

Obtaining the full text

If you have found a reference and the full text of the article is not available the Find it button may link you to the full text. Refer to the Using Find it guide (PDF 469kb, opens in new window) for more information.

If this option does not find the full text:

  • for a journal article, the source is the title of the journal
  • for a book chapter, the source is the title of the book

Search the Library catalogue (opens in new window) to find out if the Library holds the source you have found in your search.

Internet Resources

You may also find suitable academic references for your assignment using an internet search engine. Google Scholar searches within academic sources on the internet rather than over the whole internet. The internet contains an enormous amount of material and there is no overall quality control on the web. You need to carefully evaluate the websites you find.

Topic guides

There are a range of Resources by Topic which will link you to useful collections of websites and online library resources in specific subject areas.

Other Resources

Obtaining Assistance