The Basics:

• Electronic copies of journals and articles are available in a wide variety of databases.
• You can find journals by using the Pollak Library Catalog or the "Find Journals by Title" utility on the library homepage.
• Journals are located in print on the 2nd floor and in the basement (compact stacks) of the Pollak Library North.
• Journals in print are arranged by Library of Congress Call Number.

FAQ:

• How do I find articles?
• How do I find periodicals?
• How do I find peer-reviewed articles?
• How do I evaluate my sources?

Resources:

• Computer Abstracts Int'l
• ABI/INFORM Complete
• Academic Search Elite
• Science Direct
• Wiley InterScience
• Engineering Village
• Factiva

Information systems and decision science covers a fairly broad range of subjects. The following links will take you to lists of journals based on Library of Congress Subject Headings. For larger lists of periodicals, including those available online, try browsing using the "Find Journals by Category" link.

• Management Science -- Periodicals
• Management Information Systems -- Periodicals
• Information Technology -- Periodicals
• Operations Research -- Periodicals

Handouts:

• Popular vs. Scholarly Periodical Literature
• Business Administration Resources

The Basics:

• Look for books using the Pollak Library Catalog
• Books are located on the fourth, fifth, and sixth floor of the Pollak Library South.
• Books are arranged in the collection based on the Library of Congress Classification System.
• ISDS spans several sections of the library. Some of the call numbers you might encounter include: H (business related), QA (mathematics), and T (technology).
• You can access books outside of the Pollak Library using LINK+ and ILLiad.

FAQ:

• How do I find books?
• How do I check out books?
• How do I use interlibrary loan?
• How do I use the Library of Congress Classification System?
• How many books can I check out?

Resources:

• Find Books
• Books in the library (Library Catalog)
• Books from affiliate libraries (LINK+)
• Books from anywhere (Worldcat.org)

Handouts:

• How to Read a Call Number

The Basics:

• Reference materials are located on the first floor of the Pollak Library North.
• Reference materials often consist of general and subject-specific dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, almanacs, directories, etc.
• Reference materials cannot be checked out.
• Just like other items, reference materials are arranged by Library of Congress Call Numbers.

Electronic reference materials:

• Gale Virtual Reference Library
• Oxford Reference Online
• Reference Universe
• Literature Research Center

Print reference materials:

• Encyclopedia of Information Systems (QA76.15 .E516 2003)
• The IEBM Handbook of Information Technology in Business (HF5548.2 .Z454 2000)
• The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management (HD30.15 .B455 2005 v. 1-10)
• Encyclopedia of Management (HD30.15 .E49 2000 and Online)
• Encyclopedia of Accounting Systems (HF5635 .E54 1994 v. 1-2)
• Encyclopedia of Operations Research and Management Science (T57.6. E53 2001)
• Encyclopaedia of Mathematics (QA5 .M3713 1988 v.1-10)

APA is the style most widely used to write research papers in business at CSUF. A copy of the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th Edition) is available at the reference desk in the library. Getting to know how to properly cite sources is an excellent way to avoid plagiarism.

FAQ:

• How do I cite using APA style?
• How do I document sources?

Handouts:

CSUF APA Citation Style

Other Resources:

• The Late Show: Academic Integrity Tutorial
• Student guide to avoiding plagiarism.
• Sample Paper

The Basics:

• Some valuable resources are available freely on the web but it is up to you to evaluate whether a particular site is appropriate for research purposes.
• Search engines (e.g. Google, Yahoo, Ask, Dogpile) search for and locate websites on the internet. Each search engine searches the internet in its own unique way, so using a combination of search engines, or even a meta-search engine like Dogpile, can prove better than sticking to just one.
• There are also directories (e.g. Librarians Internet Index, Internet Public Library) which are human compiled search tools that provide access to manually selected intenet resources.

FAQ:

• How do I evaluate my sources?

Handouts:

• 6 Criteria for Evaluating Websites

Resources:

• Decision Sciences Institute
• Decision Analysis Society
• BRINT