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Computer Science

Find scholarly resources for computer science research on this guide.

Searching for Articles

Once you have a topic, you can start searching for articles.

  1. Brainstorm synonyms and related terms and develop a list of terms you can use to search.
  2. Select a database from this research guide or the Mason Libraries A-Z database page (see the link below).
  3. Search by keyword anywhere in the document or in specific areas of the document like author, title, subject, index terms, etc.
  4. 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

Make an appointment with a librarian to learn how to do complex and accurate searching.

Core Databases for Computer Science

Open Access 

Looking for IEEE standards?  They will be found by searching the IEEE Xplore database (link below).

To do this:

  1. Open the IEEE database and go to the Advanced Search.
  2. Enter you search terms, standard title or standard number in the search box.
  3. Scroll down the page until you find the "Content Type" selection.  Check the box for Standards and all of your results will be IEEE Standards (active, inactive, draft).  Click Submit.image of IEEE content type choices

Looking for a Specific Journal?

Search for full-text access to journals by title.