Scholarly research and writing requires many different elements outside of the typical Google browse; critical thinking, information literacy, and database utilization are just some of the factors required for academic research and writing. This page is here to help by providing information such as citation details and comparisons, specific databases for CIS courses, as well as how to review sources for quality and reliability.
The world of scholarly citations can be overwhelming and tedious as each style requires different specifications on formatting and punctuation. The Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) has made wonderful efforts in breaking down the nuances between APA, MLA, and CMOS that are helpful in academic writing. Below are links to each style that can be utilized in class as well as a chart that visually compares and contrasts each style's reference list and in-text citations.
APA (American Psychological Association) 7th Edition
MLA (Modern Language Association)
CMOS (Chicago Manual of Style)
Purdue OWL Citation Chart - current as of December 2019
As always, please confirm with professors on what style should be utilized on various assignments and feel free to reach out to the Subject Specialist at any time with questions or concerns related to reference and in-text citation formats.
If online writing labs aren't enough, please feel free to visit the Woodbury Writing Lab located in the Whitten Student Center. The Writing Center's homepage is the place to submit a paper for review, schedule an in-person or virtual appointment for assistance, or even become a writing tutor! Make sure to check out their Fall 2022 hours of operation as well as additional writing resources to aid in the journey of scholarly writing.
The following databases will help you locate periodical literature and images related to applied computer science (including scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles).
While many of your search results will include "full-text" (meaning the actual article, not just a summary/abstract), others have only an abstract. So, what do you do when you find an article that is exactly what you need, but the database does not have PDF or HTML links for the full text?
If this happens, look for this icon:
That button will search all of our other databases, and our print periodicals too, and tell you if the article is available through our library (and where to find it).
If you get this message:
this means that the library does not have access to this article at all. If that happens, you can still request the article through Interlibrary Loan and we'll get it for you from another library. Just click the "Request this item" button, or fill out a blank form here, or ask a librarian for help.
Evaluate for quality & reliability
Be a critical consumer of information. You wouldn't trust a stranger you met on the street to provide information for a paper you were writing, so why would you trust strangers when they publish information online? Keep the C.R.A.A.P. analysis in mind as you evaluate materials.
Currency Refers to the timeliness of the information. How recently has this information been updated? How important is having recently published information for your topic?
Relevancy Is the information useful in the context in which you plan on using it? Is it appropriate for college-level research? Is it the best information out there, or could you find better, more complete info elsewhere?
Authority Who is publishing this information? Does he/she/the organization have a background that makes them experts in this subject matter? How do you know?
Accuracy Is the information correct? Are there spelling or grammatical errors? If so, you may want to question the accuracy of the information on the site. Does the website cite any sources? Where is the author getting his/her information?
Purpose Why has the information been published on the web? To entertain? to sell a product or service? To inform? Does the author have any biases? Might this lead to the information being less credible?