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Most research assignments should have a combination of different source types within your research. Books are a great resource for doing research. E-books and physical books both fall into this category.
Books differ from peer-reviewed journal articles because books provide general overviews of a topic, whereas articles are shorter and more specific.
Remember: You don't have to read the entire book! If there is one chapter in the book that works for your topic, just read that chapter.
The link to the library catalog will take you to an advanced search. Use these steps to fill in the search box:
Your results will come up as a list of sources with the ability to save links. Along the right side of the page is a sidebar with more filtering options.
The sidebar is labeled "Tweak your results." Use some or all of the following tips to narrow down your results further:
Finding Scholarly Articles
These articles are basically the "bread-and-butter" sources for scholarly research - they're used in every discipline.
What does peer-reviewed mean?
If an article is peer-reviewed that means that before the article was published it was reviewed and scrutinized by other experts in the same field. This process ensures that the sources are reliable and trustworthy.
Why you should use them:
These source types may also be referred to as peer-reviewed article, academic article, or journal article.
Here are some of the best databases to use for finding scholarly articles in mathematics:
Finding Web Resources
Useful Websites
Clay Mathematics Institute: "The Clay Mathematics Institute is a privately funded operating foundation dedicated to increasing and disseminating mathematics."
Commalg.org: This website is designed for commutative algebra enthusiasts! It contains news, conference listings, and a directory of commutative algebraists.
MacTutor History of Mathematics: Useful website for researching the history of mathematics; also contains biographies of numerous mathematicians.
Mathematics Genealogy Project: The Mathematics Genealogy Project traces the academic advisors of mathematicians, exposing the mathematical heritage of both living and deceased mathematicians. Produced by NDSU Dept. of Mathematics.
The Erdos Number Project: Contains information about the prolific mathematician, Paul Erdos, as well as the project designed to highlight connections between Dr. Erdos and his many collaborators.
WolframAlpha: Designed by the makers of Mathematica software, this "computation knowledge engine" can be used to solve math problems or obtain demographic and other statistics.
Professional Organizations
Mathematical Association of America
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Pi Mu Epsilon (Mathematics Honor Society)
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)
Math Help
Calculus.org: List of calculus-related websites. Includes sites with sample problems, tutorials, and tips.
Khan Academy: Provides video tutorials on a number of different mathematic concepts, in a way that is easy to understand and straightforward.
Finding Reference Resources
Reference resources are great sources to provide you with background information or context for a topic. These resources can be dictionaries, encyclopedias, guides, handbooks, etc.
The best place at the VCSU Library to find reference information is our Credo Reference Database.