About This Guide
Welcome to the Computer Science Research Guide. Use the navigation menu to find scholarly resources, news about computing, and places to find and store code. If you have any questions about this guide or computing-related research, please email JD Kotula, BU's librarian for computer science, at jdkotula@bu.edu.
Getting Started
Starting a research project? Follow these steps to make the process more efficient:
1. Consult a reference source. You'll need to get an overview of your topic, so look for an encyclopedia or handbook written by a scholar in the field of computing. Try the Springer Nature eReference for computing-related topics. Sources like these will introduce you to major concepts and provide with the vocabulary you need to research your topic.
2. Form a research question. Or, decide on what you want your reader/user/client to know after engaging with your project. These are usually "how", "why", and "what" questions. For example, your research question may be "Why do facial recognition tools often fail to detect dark skin tones?" or "What is the most efficient way to transform non-relational database tables into standard relational forms?"
3. Use a scholarly database to find research on your topic. You can find these on the Scholarly Literature page. If you're unsure about which to use, try Web of Science first--it's a good, general database that indexes literature in nearly every academic field. When searching for your topic, use keywords from your research question (these are usually the nouns and verbs in your question). Try different combinations of keywords to get the most comprehensive set of results.
4. Ask a librarian for assistance. We're here to support you, so please reach out to us if you need help or if you just want to optimize your research. You can find the many ways to reach us on the Ask a Librarian page.
