Advanced Writing in the Disciplines (AWD) : 3302 (Technical Professions)
Key Resources
Academic databases
Academic databases usually contain the most up-to-date and in-depth information on your topic. While Scholar OneSearch is a great place to start your research, subject-specific databases can give you more focused results. For topics in Engineering and Computer Science, try:
Full-text access to most periodicals and conference proceedings from a leading computer engineering society. Covers 1985 to the present, including proceedings and publications of affiliated societies.
Combines the citations and full text links of Compendex and Inspec with full text books from Knovel, for a more comprehensive search on computer science and engineering topics.
Coverage: 1969 to present, including some older backfiles, and new articles in press from over 1,000 journals.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers is the world's largest association for the advancement of technology. This database gives access to technical literature in engineering and technology, and includes select content published since 1950 from IEEE journals, transactions, magazines, conference proceedings, and standards.
Citations and abstracts for more than 1,800 academic journals (730 in full text), professional publications, and other reference sources from a diverse collection relating to computer science. Links to full text for Northeastern-subscribed journals.
Use this link for access to citation tracking and subject searching of scholarly literature. Data visualizations, alerts, and journal impact factors. Includes the Web of Science Core Collection. One of the largest curated databases of scholarly research, with citations in some subjects from 1900 to the present.
Northeastern's subscription includes:Web of Science Core Collection (Arts and humanities, social sciences and Science Citation indexes)
Biosis Citation Index
Biosis Previews
Current Contents Connect
Data Citation Index
Derwent Innovations Index
KCI-Korean Journal Database
Medline
SciELO Citation Index
Enter a natural language query and receive results from one of the largest multidisciplinary abstract and citation databases, including graphical representations showing connections among keywords, pointers to influential papers, and suggested related queries to further your research.
An AI-powered research platform that analyzes and provides citation context for scientific papers, helping researchers evaluate the credibility and impact of scholarly articles. Account registration is necessary for some features.
Statistics brought together from governments, industry, international organizations, scholarly societies, polls, and more. Expressed as easy-to-use charts, some data is downloadable.
This website helps you determine if a publication is "peer reviewed". Search the title of the journal...the referee shirt means it's reviewed, or "refereed"!
Reference materials don't offer up-to-the-minute research, but they do provide important context and background information on a broad array of topics. A selection of reference databases is listed below.
All aspects of electronics materials including ceramic, photonic, nanoscale, magnetic, and more. Useful for researchers in engineering, robotics, health sciences, energy and power systems, chemistry and more. Published by Elsevier (2023)
Covers all aspects of the materials sciences, useful for researchers in engineering, physics, chemistry and the biomedical sciences. Published by Elsevier (2001-2011).
A core reference source for engineering, Knovel Library provides engineering-specific definitions, data sets, and materials information from a large library of textbooks, reference manuals, dictionaries and encyclopedias.
Focused on computer and information science, O'Reilly contains many handbooks and references. To access, set up an account with your Northeastern email address.
The library has many more research tutorials on common research questions and skills. To see what else is available, visit the library's Research Tutorials page.
A summary of a research article that appears at the beginning of the document. Reading the abstract may help you decide if you want to read the full article.
A geographic information system (GIS) software developed by Esri. ArcGIS enables you to analyze, visualize, and interpret spatial data for better decision-making.
Written content on a narrow subject and published in a periodical or website. In some contexts, academics may use article as a shortened form of journal article.
A group of libraries in New England that work together to share resources with students, faculty, and staff of member libraries. Northeastern University is a member of this group. Requesting a consortium library card is free to Northeastern students.
A free library available to people who work, live or attend school in Massachusetts. Boston Public Library's collection includes physical and digital access to books, journals, and films.
A label of letters and/or numbers that tell you where the resource can be found in the library. Call numbers are displayed on print books and physical resources and correspond with a topic or subject area.
Catalog
A list of all the items in a library's physical collection. Modern catalogs are searchable databases. Catalogs include information about the item's:
title
creator
publication
subject
availability
location in the library
Also called a catalogue, OPAC. Historically a card catalog.
Software that can help you collect, organize, and cite sources. The library provides training on five specific citation managers: BibTeX, EndNote, Mendeley, RefWorks, and Zotero. Also called citation management software, citation management tool or reference manager.
Physical materials assigned by an instructor and held at the library. These materials are generally restricted to in-building use for a limited period. At faculty discretion, some materials may be checked out overnight or for a few days.
A searchable collection of similar items. Library databases include resources for research. Examples include: a newspaper database, such as Access World News, or a humanities scholarly journal database, such as JSTOR.
A searchable online storage space for video files, images, and documents. Specialized digital repositories collect materials related to a theme or institution.
Northeastern University Library manages the Digital Repository Service (DRS). The DRS collects digital material related to Northeastern University's history and academic work.
A unique number assigned to some digital content. DOIs do not change even if the online location or ownership of the resource changes.
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation (ETD)
A digital version of a thesis or dissertation produced by a master's or Ph.D. student. Most theses and dissertations written by Northeastern University students are ETDs. Interested researchers can find Northeastern ETDs in the Digital Repository Service. Theses and dissertations written before 2007 are only available in print format in the Northeastern University Archives.
A broad category of research in which existing research is reviewed to clarify what is known. Evidence synthesis uses explicit and reproducible methods. Common types of evidence synthesis include systematic reviews, scoping reviews, integrative reviews, and umbrella reviews.
The entirety of an article or book, as opposed to a summary or description. Libraries often provide access to the full text as an attached file or in a web reader.
A computer-based means of storing, analyzing, and displaying geographic data. Researchers use Geographic Information Systems to create maps and charts.
A way of examining and interpreting data about geographic locations, or spatial data. Geospatial analysis examines spatial data to gain insights and identify patterns or trends. Also called geospacial analysis.
A library service that allows you to request resources your library does not have. At Northeastern University, this service is free. Materials are delivered electronically when possible.
A meaningful word or phrase in a source’s database or catalog record. Keywords are often used as search terms to retrieve records that contain the word or phrase.
A search setting that removes search results based on source attributes. Limiters vary by database but often include publication date, material type, and language. Also called: filter or facet.
Marginalia
Notes, comments, annotations, sketches, added to the margins of a text. These can be typed or hand-written. Marginalia can include headers, footnotes, and sidenotes. In some cases, marginalia are written by the author of a text, but is often notes made by a reader.
Metadata
Information associated with a resource, usually organized in a specific way. The word metadata means "data about data".
Metadata varies but often includes title, creator, and format. Descriptive metadata makes it possible to find and identify resources in a collection. When the metadata in a collection is standardized, the predefined structure is called a metadata schema.
Research or data available for free. Open access resources are sometimes labeled with an unlocked padlock symbol. These resources often have permissive licenses that support re-use and sharing.
Words used to connect multiple search terms to bring back targeted results. Operators can be used to reduce or expand the number of search results. Operators include:
Well-regarded review process used by some academic journals. Relevant experts review articles for quality and originality before publication. Articles reviewed using this process are called peer reviewed articles. Less often, these articles are called refereed articles.
A free and open-source Geographic Information System (GIS) application. This tool set enables you to capture, analyze, visualize, and share geographic data. QGIS is a Mac-friendly alternative to ArcGIS.
To transfer information from one format to another. Example: Scanning a paper newspaper to create an online or PDF version. Reformatting includes digitization.
A webpage or pages created by librarians to guide your research in a field or course. Research guides include links to resources, tutorials, and other information.
The removal of a published article from a journal. A journal’s editors or editorial board can decide to retract an article when it has serious errors. Errors that can result in retraction include:
A book or article written by academic researchers and published by an academic press or journal. Scholarly sources contain original research and commentary.
Scholarly articles are published in journals focused on a field of study. also called academic articles.
Scholarly books are in-depth investigations of a topic. They are often written by a single author or group. Alternatively in anthologies, chapters are contributed by different authors.
Common filetype (.shp) for points, lines, or polygons. This filetype is widely used in Geographic Information Systems, specifically ArcGIS. Various free shapefiles are available online.
A library database that searches a broad range of resources. Material in Scholar OneSearch includes:
Scholarly, newspaper and other articles
books & eBooks
streaming music and video
board games
archival material
Scholar OneSearch also includes information about material held at Northeastern’s libraries. Researchers can use ScholarOne Search to organize their research and manage borrowed items. To best serve Northeastern University's widespread community, ScholarOne Search has different views:
The Online / Global network view shows all online material.
The Boston view shows all online material and items held at Snell Library.
The Oakland view shows all online material and items held at the F. W. Olin Library.
Appropriate views for each global campus are included on their Global Campus Portal.
A source focused on sharing news and information of interest to an industry. Trade publications are often published by industry associations. Periodicals related to an industry are called trade journals.
An unrepeated string of numbers and letters used to recognize and differentiate material. Also called an identification number. Examples include American citizen's’ social security numbers or published books' ISBNs. A persistent identifier (PID) is a long-lasting type of unique identifier. Persistent identifiers allow you to locate a resource with a URL. Examples include electronic articles' Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) and digital materials' handles.