Resources for: Information Technology Infrastructure

This guide covers search tools for research in topics related to information systems and technology.

Define a research topic

When you can answer the following questions, you are ready to conduct research that leads to a paper.

  • What problem do you want to solve?
  • Who cares about this problem and why?
  • What have others done to solve this problem and why is that inadequate?
  • What is your proposed solution to this problem?
  • What is new about your approach?
  • Who will care if you succeed?
  • How long will it take?
  • How can you demonstrate that this is a good solution? 

Start with:

Search tips

  • Use the word AND to link concepts together: innovation AND product complexity
  • Use the word OR with parentheses to search for synonyms: education AND (AI OR artificial intelligence)
  • Use quotation marks to search for a specific phrase: “knowledge management”
  • Use an asterisk to search for multiple endings of a root word: comput* - to find compute, computer, computing, computation

You can also find a relevant journal, browse recent issues for research articles, and choose a device that way. A good way to identify relevant journals is to do some searching for articles and see which journals they are published in. You don't need to stay committed to whatever specific topic brought you to that journal!

Then try any of the following:

Also check out:

Citation Assistance

Learn new skills for effective and efficient library research

Our tutorials will help you save time! Learn how to:

start your research by picking a topic and learning about scholarly articles and other types of sources

 

plan and organize your research with our assignment calculator and citation tools

 

use library databases to get scholarly information and sources on your topic

 

find sources including scholarly and peer reviewed articles, books, and primary sources

 

learn about citations and use tools to cite and manage your sources

 

communicate your research through presentations, posters, or visualizations

 

find ways to get help both in-person and online
Last Updated: Mar 3, 2025 2:16 PM