Chapter 4 · Practice 1 of 3
Search the places researchers and practitioners actually use
Why it matters
For computing projects, three or four sources cover most of what you need:
- Google Scholar: broad, free, good for finding the most cited papers on a topic.
- IEEE Xplore and the ACM Digital Library: peer-reviewed computing papers; many universities provide access through the library.
- Products and open source: app stores, GitHub and product websites for systems already in use.
Search in plain words first ("medicine expiry tracking small pharmacy"), then use the keywords you see in good papers. Read the abstract and conclusion before deciding whether to read the whole paper. Ten to fifteen relevant items is plenty for a proposal; the full review comes in the report.
Do
- Combine research papers with existing products
- Use your university library access for IEEE and ACM
Avoid
- Citing only blog posts and tutorials
- Listing papers you have not read