InfoGuides: IT 104: Introduction to Computing: Find Articles

Recommended Databases

Start the research for your paper using these databases. They cover many different subjects and topics and you will be sure to find articles that will help!

Have you tried all these databases and still need help? Visit the Mason Libraries' database list by subject or contact the IT Librarian.

Academic Search Complete
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Provides full-text, peer-reviewed journals, as well as indexing and abstracts for monographs, reports, and conference proceedings. Features content going back as far as 1887.
View a tutorial on this database here.
ProQuest Research Library
Provides access to more than 4,000 titles from general reference databases, including a diversified mix of scholarly journals, trade publications, and magazines covering over 150 academic disciplines. View a tutorial on this database here.
Nexis Uni
Provides access to a wide range of news (includes New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times), business (company news, industry forecasts), government (legislative news, tax information), legal (news, case law) and reference information. Formerly LexisNexis Academic. View a tutorial on this database here.
Newspaper Source Plus
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Provides full-text access to newspapers including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Times (London), as well as selective full-text for various U.S regional newspapers. In addition, it offers full-text television and radio news transcripts from select news organizations.

Computers and Applied Sciences Complete
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Covers the computing and applied sciences disciplines. Includes academic journals, professional publications, and reference sources. Subject areas include Engineering, Computer Theory & Systems, New Technologies, and Social and Professional context.
ProQuest Computer Science Collection
Provides worldwide comprehensive coverage of topics ranging from computer security to web commerce. Comprises three core elements: Full -text journals, tables and figures, bibliographic abstracts. Covers resources from 1981 to present. View a tutorial on this database here.

ABI/INFORM Collection
Features global coverage of business trends and key economic and corporate material for scholarly research. Includes full-text journals, dissertations, working papers, key business and economics periodicals such as the Economist, country-and industry-focused reports, and downloadable data.
View a tutorial on this database here.
Business Source Complete
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Comprehensive coverage of business topics including marketing, management, human resources, Finance and Economics. Includes Company Profiles, Investment Research Reports, Industry Reports, Market Research Reports, and much more.

Searching for Articles

Once you have a topic, start searching for articles. To do this:

Brainstorm synonyms and related terms and develop a list of terms you can use to search.
Select a database from this research guide or the Mason Libraries Database Portal.
Search by keyword anywhere in the document or in specific areas of the document like author, title, subject, index terms, etc.
Use Boolean operators -- AND, OR, NOT -- to create complex searches to target the information you are seeking.
- AND narrows a search by requiring all terms to be in the results.
- OR usually connects synonyms and will broaden a search and increase the number of results.
- NOT is used to exclude a term or phrase from the search results.

A librarian can help you learn how to do more complex (and more accurate) searching.

Remember--Databases don't think, they just match text!