Fun Stuff > CHATTER

Blog Thread 4; Live Free or Blog Hard - 'cos we all like blogging

<< < (835/976) > >>

Papersatan:
I'm kind of appalled at any "institution of higher learning" which doesn't have a library/librarian.  That's a cost savings measure which robs students of real opportunities to learn and grow and screams "we care about your money not your education"  But I guess as a library school graduate I am bound to feel that way. 

You can also check out your local public library.  They don't usually have as much access to subscription journals, but the librarians still have Master's degrees in helping people find information; they might be able to help you come up with better search strategies, and point you towards any universities which will let you use their resources. 

In the meantime http://doaj.org/ might be a good resource for finding open access (read free) articles. 

Aimless:
http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=4357

Specifically, databases:

http://libguides.liberty.edu/browse.php?o=s

Or Google Scholar to find one paper that seems reasonably on-topic and use that to direct your search (eg. by looking at key references that are mentioned in the intro and discussion and by searching for articles that have been marked as reviews that cite any on-topic papers that you have found).

In many fields, reference literature will contain references to peer-reviewed work that can be used to direct your search. If you can't get hold of reference literature at a library, you can often find them in PDF form *cough*

Keep an eye out for mentions of conferences where these questions are discussed or where research has been presented. Sometimes your google-fu will return results that mention eg. some digital security-related conference, and you can then look up info on those conferences to find titles of presentations and papers or writers in the field. Their papers may in turn cite useful papers or (if you're lucky) in-depth reviews. Conferences tend to have more up-to-date research, for better or for worse.

No doubt you're already very good at using/abusing tabs in your browser. If you haven't already, get Mendeley and use both the desktop version as well as the bookmarklet. It's probably the best all-round solution I've found for managing the mass of papers and references under which you may soon be buried. Chuck any downloaded PDFs into it.



Your paper topics seem to revolve around security, and I wonder: are there any security-related blogs you enjoy reading?

Lines:
If I couldn't find something on my university's database, I looked on Google Scholar. Use it. You need to be very specific of what you're looking for (Know Your Keywords, as a former professor said), but I found a lot of current articles on there in my related field.

Also I know my main branch library (dunno about the local branches so much) has excellent resources and very knowledgeable staff, so maybe asking a public library would also be a good idea. Like Kat said, these people have Masters degrees in helping people find information.

hedgie:

--- Quote from: Grognard on 27 Aug 2014, 03:37 ---LU Online
online librarian is next to useless. :(

--- End quote ---
Any decent library will grant access to academic databases upon enrolment.  Those are generally provided through the library without any need for anything 'cept student credentials.  Even the last place I went gave me access to both EBSCO and Lexis-Nexis, and betwixt the two, I got all of the access to said databases without any problem.

Grognard:
well, I did talk to my local librarian.
FIRST online resource she mentioned was 'Google Scholar'.
I've been diddling in the internet longer than some of our forumites have been alive:
I'd never heard of Google Scholar before.
SECOND, she showed me how to properly sift thru a research portal when I'm not sleep deprived and hair-trigger frustrated.
THIRD, she gave me the access info for ZINIO, which allows me to download whole publications.
then, she patted my head and sent me forth.
***
I don't think I've had such a productive library visit in DECADES.
and
She's definitely on the Christmas card list for life.  My wife thought the head pat was cute.
sorta like a librarian's "Well, bless your heart..."

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page