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COB 204 - Computer Information Systems

This guide will help COB 204 students use JMU Libraries resources to navigate their research assignments.

Develop a Search Strategy

At this point, ask yourself the question “What do I know or not know about this issue?" Start examining sources to come to a greater understanding of the state of knowledge. The individual pieces (arguments) must be put together in order to reveal the whole picture.

Capture your thoughts into a list or concept map to guide your brainstorming and keep a record of your topic as you develop it with new information. As you search capture:

  1. Search terms and concepts that both did and didn't produce relevant results in a database
  2. Related terms and concepts to your topic
  3. Synonyms to your search terms to broaden your results
  4. Database filters you used, such as limiting the date range to find current articles

What is a database?

A library database is a digital platform where you can get access to different types of resources such as scholarly articles, videos, datasets, news, etc. Some databases are more like YouTube, where you can access a wide-variety of resources, and others are more like Netflix, where you can only access specific content.

This guide explains a few databases that contain the information required for your research assignment.