Difference between revisions of "Researching Comp Sci Topics"
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| − | {{Template:1010Topic|Chapter_TOC=[[Researching Comp Sci Topics]]|Introduction=Ever wonder what your profs do when they aren't teaching? Most of the time they are doing research and trying to publish their work in journals. | + | {{Template:1010Topic|Chapter_TOC=[[Researching Comp Sci Topics]]|Introduction=Ever wonder what your profs do when they aren't teaching? Most of the time they are doing research and trying to publish their work. By getting their research published, they make contributions to their field of research and bring recognition to them and the university. Usually their isn't enough information to publish a whole book on their research, so they publish articles in specific journals instead. |
|Overview=This section will go through what jounals are, what are the major journals in the field of computing, and how to access journals for free.}} | |Overview=This section will go through what jounals are, what are the major journals in the field of computing, and how to access journals for free.}} | ||
Revision as of 14:35, 3 December 2007
COMP 1010 Home > Researching Comp Sci Topics
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IntroductionEver wonder what your profs do when they aren't teaching? Most of the time they are doing research and trying to publish their work. By getting their research published, they make contributions to their field of research and bring recognition to them and the university. Usually their isn't enough information to publish a whole book on their research, so they publish articles in specific journals instead.
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What are journals
Professors and industry professionals write papers on research that they've been doing, and submit these papers to journals. These papers are then reviewed by their peers, and if deemed worthy are published in the journal. Journals, unlike mainstream magazines (like Wired or Popular Mechanics)are very topic specific, and promote discussion through articles that present new or contest existing research in its field. The small audience also means many of these journals are non-profit, only charging a subscription and selling advertisement space to pay for publishing costs. Individual subscriptions cost less than subscriptions held by academic institutions (which can be several thousands of dollars).
Online journal databases
In the internet era, journals are moving towards online publishing and subscriptions. Many journals now provide an online version of all the articles they publish in an online database. Subscribers search the database and download the articles they want, instead of having a magazine sent to their home or office.
Journals for Computer Science
There are two major organizations that promote advancements in the field of Computer Science, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Both organizations are membership based, and aim to advance the field of computing and engineering; both are great resources for the latest in computing research. As a computer science student, you will most likely find more of the articles from the ACM database relevant to your research than the IEEE (which focuses more on the engineering aspect). A third option for searching these and other online databases is Google Scholar. Google Scholar searches all known databases for relevant articles on a topic. (Note: results of Google Scholar searches that are from subscription based journals will ask you to login before viewing the article)
How to access journals for free
As a student of the university, you can access these online databases for free through the library's proxy. All you need is a valid library account and internet access.
- Get your library id (http://umanitoba.ca/libraries/help/help_my_library.html#what_idpin)
- Go to the library's journal website http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/elibrary/index.shtml (must go through the library proxy to get free access to journals)
- Search Databases by name (under A for ACM Digital Library or I for IEEE/IET Electronic Library (IEL))
- Enter your library id and password
- Search the online database
