1. Library Sources for
“Assessing Emerging Technologies”
Melanie Parlette, BA, MLIS
Engineering and IT Liaison
Library Resource Centre
Conestoga College
May 2012

2. Today we will cover . . .
• Why you should use different types of
sources (Scholarly Journals, Trade Journals
etc.) to get different types of information
• What Peer Review is and why it’s important
• How you can find articles in an academic
database
• Different ways you can research after you
graduate . . .

3. Types of Sources
Scholarly Journals
Popular Magazines
Trade Journals
Conference Papers
Technical Reports
What’s the Difference?

4. Types of Sources
What’s the Difference?
Scholarly Journals Popular Magazines Trade Journals Conference Papers Technical Reports
• Scholarly research • General interest • Industry related • Author is scholar in • Author is often a
or projects. articles, information, news field, academic or scholar or a scientist,
• Illustrations are entertainment, or and trends. Some researcher engineer,
usually charts and information aimed illustrations. • Conference papers government
graphs. at the consumer. • Authors are industry tend to be more contractor, or
• Authors are Usually colour experts, recent than journal technical personnel.
authorities in their photographs and professionals, or articles, but may be • Published by a
field. Often illustrations. practitioners who considered less corporation or
professors or • Articles are usually are not always authoritative educational
researchers. written by magazine identified depending on the institution
• Peer review process staff, freelance • Typically no peer review and • Reputation is
is in place where the writers, or may be review or refereeing acceptance everything
content of an article anonymous. process. process • Typically not peer
is reviewed by one • No peer review or • Peer Review Process reviewed
or more experts in refereeing process. Examples: may or may not be Example:
the field. ComputerWorld, rigorous ECMA Technical
Examples: Electronic Report TR/75
Examples: Wired, Popular Engineering Times Example: Standardizing
Wireless Networks, Mechanics Proceedings of Information and
IEEE/ACM Transactions International Communication
on Networking Conference on Systems
Autonomous Agents
and Multiagent
Systems

5. What’s a credible source?
There may be times when you don’t know exactly where your resource fits. This
test can help you determine if your information is reliable. Depending on the
question you are asking, different part of the criteria might be more important
than others.
The CRAAP Test
• Currency The timeliness of the information
• Relevance The importance of the information for your needs
• Authority The source of the information
• Accuracy The reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the information
• Purpose The reason the information exists

6. CRAAP TEST
• Activity
• The CRAAP Evaluation Tool

7. What is Peer Review?
• When an author submits his or her research article to a scholarly
journal, an editor will review it to see if it meets the criteria of that
journal. If it does, the editor will send the article out for Peer Review.
[Peer Review is the process where other experts in the field will
thoroughly review and evaluate the article and the research
that was done. They check for accuracy of the information
presented, validity and repeatability of the research, quality and
appropriateness for the journal.]
• Based on the feedback from the experts (i.e. “peers”), the author’s
submission will be accepted, rejected or accepted with revisions. It is
uncommon to accept a paper with no revisions. In most cases an
author will need to make some changes before final publication.
Source: Simon Fraser University

8. Academic Publishing Process
A researcher The The editor reviews
carries out researcher it and sends it out
research submits their to multiple experts
paper to a for peer review
journal.
Sometimes the
article might be
Open Access is revolutionizing this process.
outright rejected
People
People
engage with
comment
the findings of
on the
the article
article
through social
through
media
letters to
The reviewers
the editor
examine the
Other article.
researchers
incorporate
the findings in This process may
their research be repeated until
the article meets
the standards of
the reviewers.
The publisher The
and experts researcher
The makes some
paper is review the
paper. edits.
published
in the
journal

9. Searching Databases

10. Searching Databases

11. How can I do research after graduation?
• Open Access (OA) Journals Journals that are freely available online - this term specifically refers
to free scholarly journals
• www.doaj.org (Peer Reviewed)
• http://arxiv.org/ (not Peer Reviewed, although many may be submitted to journals, some
very influential pieces can still be found here and may never be submitted to journals)
• www.scirus.com comprehensive scientific research tool on the web. Allows you to search
for journal content, scientists' homepages, courseware, pre-print server material, patents
and institutional repository and website information.
• Purchase Scholarly journals (can be expensive)
• Explore what resources your employer provides (ask colleagues)
• Your local public library
• Institutional Repositories – online space for collecting, preserving and disseminating digital
content usually in research institutions. You can often find pre-prints and other research in these
spaces.
What’s a Pre-Print?
• DSpace at MIT
•Draft of a scientific paper that has not yet been published in a peer-
reviewed scientific journal.
•Publication often takes weeks, months or even years.
•The need to quickly circulate current results within a scientific community has led
researchers to distribute pre-prints.
• The immediate distribution of pre-prints allows authors to receive early feedback from
their peers, which may be helpful in revising and preparing articles for submission.

12. Don’t forget to Cite Your Sources!
• For help with IEEE, APA and other citation styles check
out the “Cite Your Sources” tab in the ITCT “Explore
Your Topic Guide”

13. Get Help!
• By Email
• mparlette@conestogac.on.ca
• lrcinfo@conestogac.on.ca
• Online
• AskOn on the LRC Contact Us Page
• Or in the ITCT “Explore Your Topic Guide”
• Twitter: @Conestogalib_mp
• In Person
• Visit the LRC
• Monday – Friday 7:30 AM – 5:00 PM
• By Phone
• Information Desk @ 519-748-5220 x3361