Source types make up the scope of the literature you are searching. Common source types include:
Books are excellent sources for information such as:
"But I don't have time to read a whole book!"
It's ok, you don't have to read a book cover to cover! To determine how useful a book might be, first skim through the following parts:
Where to start?
Use WPI Library Search by typing in your search terms, and in the results list, look at the filters on the left side of the page. There, you can easily narrow down your results by 'Resource Types' to find only books or book chapters.
Access to 3000+ ebook titles from MIT Press. Key subject areas covered in the complete collection include art and architecture, biomedical sciences, business and finance, computer science, cognitive science, design, education, environment, game studies, humanities, information science, linguistics, neuroscience, new media, philosophy, and social sciences.
Databases are simply collections of online resources, such as scholarly and popular articles, eBooks, statistics, and more. Usually databases center around a particular subject. Below are some databases I think would be particularly helpful for you to use for this class.
Abstracts from the Compendex database, which includes the electronic version of Engineering Index, with links to full text articles, patents, standards and handbooks in scientific, applied science, technical and engineering disciplines.
Online archive of eBooks and complete backruns of scholarly journals in a variety of academic fields.
Full text access to more than 2000 Elsevier science, social science, engineering and management scholarly journals.
Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature, features smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research. Scopus delivers the most comprehensive overview of the world’s research output in the fields of Science, Technology, Medicine, Social Sciences, and Arts & Humanities. As research becomes increasingly global, interdisciplinary and collaborative, Scopus helps ensure that crucial research from around the world is not missed.