CS 5014: Scholarly Resources and Services for Computer Science: Scholarly Resources
Boolean Searching
Rather than typing a full sentence or question into a search box, using Boolean operators can help you create an efficient and effective database search.
Try our Search Strategy Builder, which will create searches out of keywords that you supply!
In order to use Boolean operators, you need to know:
Boolean operators
- AND: both terms that you connect with AND msut be somehwere in the bibliographic record for that record to be retrieved. AND narrows a search and retrieves fewer articles
- OR: only one of the search terms combined with OR is required for the bibliographic record t5o be retrieved. OR broadens a search and retrieves more articles
- NOT: excludes a particular subset, category, or term. NOT requires the presence of one search term and the exclusion of another.
Truncation: A symbol, specific to the search interface, which allows the retrieval of all endings for the specified base word. An asterisk (*) isoften used. For example, child* would retrieve records with children, childish, and every other word that begins with the root word "child."
Wildcard: A symbol, specific to the search interface, which allows the retrieval of various spellings of a word. A questio mark is often used. For example, wom?n would retrieve records with women or woman.
Recommended CS Databases
VT's University Libraries has over 700 databases! In order to select the databases most relevant to your research topic, it can help to visit the Computer Science subject guide, which will point you in the right direction, in addition to highlighting basic reference texts related to CS.
I also recommend that you include the following databases in your search, after browsing the CS Subject Guide for some initial ideas:
- Computer Science Subject GuideUse this guide to perform background research to refine a research topic, confirm terminology, and get a general understanding before finding books and articles to support a research project.
- Web of Science from Clarivate AnalyticsThe three Web of Science databases index citations from journal articles and conference proceedings in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. You can perform cited reference searches, analyze trends and patterns, and create visual representations of citation relationships. 1975-present.
- IEEE Xplore Digital LibraryIEEE Xplore is a digital library providing full text access to the world’s highest quality technical literature in electrical engineering, computer science, electronics, and related disciplines. IEEE Xplore contains full text documents from IEEE journals, transactions, magazines, letters, conference proceedings, standards, and IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) publications. Full text content is provided as PDFs. 1893-present, full text from 1988-present.
- Engineering VillageEngineering Village is the search interface to three engineering databases: Compendex, Inspec, and Knovel. Compendex (1884-present) indexes citations and abstracts from over 5,000 engineering journals, conference papers, books, patents, dissertations, and technical reports. Inspec (1898-present) indexes citations and abstracts from journal articles, conference proceedings, books, and dissertations in engineering and physical sciences. Knovel provides ebooks on engineering and related subjects.
- ScopusScopus indexes citations of journal articles, conference papers, and books in the sciences, medicine, social sciences, arts, and humanities. You can perform cited reference searches. You can compare authors, institutions, and journals using various metrics. 1800s-present
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