Information Skills for Computer Scientists June 2007
Approaching your project Scope Construct a strategy Locate and access information Compare and evaluate Organise
Search strategy comput*program? AND OR processor Java Oak AND software OR bytecode NOT “native machine code” system WITHIN 3 operati*
Resources Books/ e-books Journals/ e- journals E-prints Statistics/data tables Theses Newspapers Internet pages Conference proceedings Patents Academics & librarians
Library web pages Catalogue – keyword search Don’t forget reserves and recalls apply over the vacation Online information resources Subject information pages –Key resources
Journals Bordewich, M., Freedman, M., Lovász, L. & Welsh, D. (2005) Approximate counting and quantum computation. Combinatorics, probability and computing 14(5-6) pp Burd, E.L., 'The Single Ultimate Source', Quality journal, Vol 7, June, 2001, pp Catalogue search
Databases Access from Subject Information Pages Search multiple journals at one time Find related records/ citation search Specific scope: Computer AbstractsComputer Abstracts Broad scope: Web of KnowledgeWeb of Knowledge
Websites Who is the author? Is the material biased? Who is hosting this web page? When was it posted or last updated? Is there a bibliography or further references? Always use Gateways firstGateways Online tutorials available
Other resources E-prints – arXivarXiv Conference papers – ISI ProceedingsISI Proceedings Standards and Patents News – Infotrac
Access beyond Durham Visiting other libraries and archives –check before you go –ID UK Libraries Plus (reference) SCONUL Vacation Access Document Delivery Service
References and bibliographies ALWAYS keep a full and accurate record of your information sources Use the Library Catalogue to references for saving references Avoid plagiarism
Where to go for help Academic Support Team: Richard Pears and Laura Jeffrey Enquiries Desk on Level 2, Main Library Enquiry service:
Hands on Search grid Online tutorials: catalogue, Computer Abstracts, Web of Knowledge, arXiv Bibliography
Suggested topics Human Animation Motion Retrieval Feed Scraper Algorithms for graph colouring Speech Synthesis for Poetry Reading SAT Solving Intelligent Internet Agents Compiler Optimization Web Service for Component-Based Software Engineering Tools to Support Education
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