Researching Comp Sci Topics

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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.

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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. There are also open-source journals, just as there is open-source software, such as the Public Library of Science.

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 Computer Society (IEEE Computer Society). 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. A third option for searching these and other online databases is Google Scholar. Google Scholar searches papers, abstracts and articles, as well as theses and books for relevant topics.

(Note: For students trying to access the Full Text articles returned from the Google Scholar search, they must still go through the library's proxy for free access.)

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.

1. Get your library id (http://umanitoba.ca/libraries/help/help_my_library.html#what_idpin)
2. 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)
3. Search Databases by name (under A for ACM Digital Library or I for IEEE/IET Electronic Library (IEL))
4. Enter your library id and password
5. Search the online database
6. Click on the link to the Full Text article desired

How to access articles in Google Scholar

If you just go to Google Scholar on the web you will be able to search for articles but you will have to pay in order to access many of the articles. Instead, you should access Google Scholar through the U of M library's site. If you follow the steps below you will be working under the U of M's proxy server which gives you access to many of the articles returned by Google Scholar's search.

1. Go to (http://umanitoba.ca/libraries)
2. Click on the Google Scholar tab
3. Enter your libary id and password
4. Begin searching

References and Useful links

• ACM - http://www.acm.org/
• IEEE Computer Society - http://www2.computer.org/portal/web/guest/home
• Wikipedia: Academic Journals - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_journal