Research Subject Guides: Game Design: Get Started

Welcome!

This guide introduces resources to support your research topics in game design. Use the tabs at the top of the page to help you locate background information on your topic, articles, books, and more.

If you need assistance with your research or help using library resources, please contact me, schedule an appointment, or Ask a Librarian.

Key Resources

Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary database useful for researching a broad range of topics. Includes newspaper, magazine, and academic peer-reviewed articles.
ACM Digital Library (Association for Computing Machinery) This link opens in a new window
Contains full-text access to most Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) periodicals and conference proceedings. Coverage of computer science, engineering, information science.
Art, Design, and Architecture Collection (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Scholarly and trade articles, books, and conference proceedings in the fields of visual and applied arts.
This collection includes the specialist indexes ARTbibliographies Modern (covering modern and contemporary art), Design and Applied Arts Index (for all aspects of design and crafts) and the International Bibliography of Art (covering scholarship on Western art history), together with a complementary collection of current full-text journals, Arts and Humanities Full Text.
Business Source Complete (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Articles from academic journals, magazines and trade publications covering a range of business topics. Useful for researching the business aspects of games and game design.
Communications & Mass Media Complete (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Scholarly articles covering communication, mass media, rhetoric, and other closely related fields. Useful for the business aspects of game design, such as advertising.
Compendex This link opens in a new window
Journal and trade articles, conference proceedings, books and more covering engineering disciplines, including computers, data processing, and electronics and communications.
A broad view of engineering is included with research information from the fields of nanotechnology, bioengineering, food science, medical devices, and more.

Combining your search with INSPEC adds a comprehensive database of physics, computer science and electrical engineering research and professional literature to your results. Use the toggle checkboxes to include or exclude Compendex or Inspec from your search.

Coverage: 1969 to present, including some older backfiles. Author profiles and citation counts are also available.
Computers & Applied Sciences Complete (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Articles covering computing, technology and engineering disciplines. Useful for studying the business and social implications of new technology.
Education Research Complete (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Contains scholarly research articles related to education, covering early childhood to higher education and all educational specialties.
IEEEXplore (IEEE/IET Electronic Library) This link opens in a new window
Publications in electrical engineering, computer science, information technology, and electronics from Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) journals, transactions, magazines, and conference proceedings. Maximum number of users at a time: 15.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Archive of scholarly articles in the humanities, social sciences, and other disciplines.
Most journals include extended historic backfiles and not current issues. Arts and Sciences collections 1 thru XV are available, plus the Life Sciences collection, and Business III.

The Northeastern Library also purchases individual e-book titles from JSTOR. The books are available chapter-by-chapter as PDFs.

Arts and Sciences IV content is available courtesy of the Northeastern School of Law Library.
PsycInfo (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
A database that includes articles, journals, books, and more for psychology and related disciplines. Published by the American Psychological Association. Useful for researching psychological aspects of games.
Documents indexed include journals, articles, books, dissertations and more. 90% of the 3,000+ titles indexed in PsycINFO are peer-reviewed.
PubMed (NU customized) This link opens in a new window
PubMed is a health-focused database from the National Library of Medicine, encompassing Medline,a health information clearinghouse of articles from the National Library of Medicine, plus articles deposited by authors and publishers as part of National Institutes of Health funding requirements. This is a good resource for articles focused on the health impacts of games.

Need help developing a research topic?

Consider using some of the strategies below to help you get started:

Think about something that interests you and would interest others in the field. Talk with instructors, classmates, or librarians, or look over course readings.
Review recent issues of journals or industry periodicals to explore recent articles in the field. Search by keywords related to your topic in a database and note which journals publish articles of interest. Search for those journals in the E-Journal Finder and view recent issues' table of contents. Here are a few sample journals:
Browse subject headings in databases. Subject headings are very specific terms that have been applied to an item (a book, an article, etc.) by a cataloger to summarize that item's content. Look for an online thesaurus in a database or perform a keyword search and look for the subject heading field in a few relevant items in your search results. Here are a few sample subject headings in Scholar OneSearch:

Research Methods

Sage Research Methods This link opens in a new window
Familiarize yourself with various research methods through short entries, books, dictionary definitions, case studies, and more.

Creative and Research Data Services at the Library

Design & SoftwareTutorials

LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com)
Video learning courses on 3D and animation, Adobe software, and R statistical processing language, and more. New courses added weekly.

Your Librarian

Regina Pagani

she/her/hers

Email Me

Contact:

270 Snell Library

(617) 373-3197

Subjects: American Sign Language (ASL), Architecture, Arts, Media, Music, and Design, Language, Linguistics, and Interpreting

Game Design: Get Started