Subject Guide
Quick Library Links
How to Use Library Resources in Technical Writing Research
Explore possible research topics
- CQ Researcher (1991 - ) This link opens in a new window44 reports per year. Explores a single "hot" issue in the news in depth each week, featuring comments from experts, lawmakers and citizens on all sides of every issue.
- New York Times (Current) This link opens in a new windowCreate an account using your wustl.edu email address. See the New York Times Libguide and FAQ.
To register for an account,
1. Follow the link to accessnyt.com
2. Type and select "Washington University - Saint Louis” in the box.
3. Create account and complete registration fields. - BrowZine This link opens in a new windowA way to search for, read, save, and email current journal articles. Many of WUSTL’s online journals can be accessed via BrowZine. Search by title or subject, and create personal bookshelves and notifications featuring top journal selections.
BrowZine functions on mobile devices as well as online. Download the app (free to all WUSTL students, faculty, and staff) to access thousands of scholarly journals via smartphone or tablet.
Refresh on how to do library research
- Conducting Research GuideThis research guide provides tips from the librarians on finding and evaluating sources for your research.
Find books/ebooks
- Washington University in St. Louis Library CatalogAccess books, ebooks, journal titles, government reports, and more.
- NEW Library CatalogSearch full-text holdings of catalog and select library databases
- MOBIUS Library CatalogSee and request books from other libraries in Missouri.
Note: ebooks cannot be requested. Contact your subject librarian for possible purchase. - Interlibrary (ILLiad) LoanUniversity Interlibrary Loan for books, articles, and much more
Find articles and information
- Academic Search Complete (1975-present) This link opens in a new windowCovers topics in most areas of academic study. Full-text provided for over 10,000 publications, with over 7,850 peer-reviewed. Abstracts and indexing available for over 13,780 journals in the collection. Great starting database for those who haven't done research in a long time.
- Scopus This link opens in a new windowThe world’s largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. Contains over 46 million records, 70% with abstracts, and also includes over 4.6 million conference papers. NOTE: Click "Institutions" icon in right corner. Change organization to Washington University in St Louis John M Olin Library, Danforth Campus.
- IEEE Xplore This link opens in a new windowGreat database for Computer Science and Electrical/Systems related topics.
- PubMed (1946 - ) This link opens in a new windowOver 3,500 journals published internationally, covering all areas of medicine. Includes the entire Medline database (1966+) PLUS PreMedline (recent articles that are not yet fully indexed for Medline) and links to publisher full-text web sites and other databases. Learn more about this database
- Statista This link opens in a new windowPortal for business and industry, government, and demographic statistics that integrates thousands of diverse topics of data and facts from some 18,000+ public and commercial sources onto a single, easy-to-search platform. Geographic coverage is worldwide, with particular emphasis on the United States, China, and European Union countries. Categorized into market sectors, Statista provides access to qualitative facts on agriculture, economics, finance, information technology, politics and society, and much more.
- All Library Databases A to ZAll current database subscriptions. Sortable by Subject.
Evaluate your sources
Authority is constructed and contextual.
- Different types of Authority depend on the subject, situation, and societal situation.
- Research tools and indicators of authority to determine the credibility of sources; understanding the elements that might temper credibility.
- “standards” of authority by subject areas. Engineering sources vs. gender-studies sources.
- Understanding the social nature of the information ecosystem where authorities actively connect with one another and sources develop over time.
From the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy
Cite your sources
- Citation Management ToolsOnline guides to help you choose and use citation management tools to organize research and format bibliographies.
Find image and presentation resources
- Factiva (6 users) This link opens in a new windowCombines more than 35,000 sources for access to premium content from 200 countries in 26 languages. Worldwide full text coverage of local and regional newspapers, web and social media, tweets, digital video and audio clips, analyst reports, trade publications, business newswires, press release wires, media transcripts, news photos, market research reports, country and regional profiles, company profiles, historical market data. Limited to 6 simultaneous users; logoff when finished. Learn more about this database
AI Chatbots and Library Research: Augmentative Technologies
How ChatGPT and Language Learning Models can help you in this class:
- Identify relevant engineering standard numbers based on design prompt inputs.
- Summarize standards and standard requirements.
- Brainstorm keywords, subject headings, and additional research areas.
- Identify possible "experts."
- Help outline your report.
- Remember to fact-check all information generated as it could be wrong, outdated, or fabricated.
Considerations when using LLMS as a research or writing tool:
- Start creative juices and overcome writer's block.
- Generate topics, keywords, and ideas.
- Help outline papers.
- Compare and contrast
- Refine research questions and thesis.
- Note effective prompts and strategies.
- Be very specific with your language inputs.
- Consider the target audience and task.
- Refine your questions and responses.
- Verify everything.
- Use for simple facts that you can fact-check via another source. Then cite that other source.
- Beware of misinformation.
- ChatGPT is notoriously bad at sources and often includes fake articles and citations.
- ChatGPT has limited knowledge of the world or events after 2021.
- If you copy/paste AI-generated text, you could be plagiarizing without even knowing it.
Citations
- Hargadon, Steve. "Library 2.0's ChatGPT Bootcamp for Libraries and Librarians." Library 2.0, 3/25/2023, https://www.library20.com/bootcamps/chatgpt.