ETCS 106 Introduction to Computers 

The library maintains a Career collection book shelf of reference books and up-to-date career books that can be checked out for seven days. Spend some time browsing these excellent resources located on the first floor of the library near the ITS Student Computer Lab. One of the major resources for learning about the work demands and training needed for a range of careers is the Occupational Outlook Handbook, updated every other year, available in printed copy in the Career collection or freely accessible in PDF format through the Department of Labor Web site. See the link to it below.

Best-Bet Resource Overall

Occupational Outlook Handbook -

Coverage: 1996 to present Brief Description: The Occupational Outlook Handbook, the U.S. government's premier career guidance publication, provides essential information about prospective changes in the world of work and the qualifications that will be needed by tomorrow's workers. Describes what workers do on the job, working conditions, training and education needed, earnings, and expected job prospects in a wide range of occupations. Other IPFW Formats: IPFW library owns the current printed version, 1996 to present (Government Publications L2.3/4:). IPFW library owns the current CD-ROM version, 1996 to present (L2.3/4-4: CD-ROM version).

Note: Use the Occupational Outlook Handbook to search for job titles in broad categories (see choices under Management, Professional, Administrative, and other categories in the OHH menu). Or use the OHH search box (also on the left side of the search screen) to search for keywords in the title or full text of essays. Try the search comput* to locate fields that deal with computers or computing, for example. Each of these essays recommends further readings and quality Web sites.

Our Helmke Library Information Foraging Worksheet will help you master some of the following search-strategy tips and become a more proficient information forager.

Search for a single concept:

careers

Narrow your search by connecting two or more concepts with the operator AND:

careers and computers

Broaden your search by connecting concepts with the operator OR:

careers or profession or employment or occupation

Use parentheses to construct a logical Boolean search strategy that combines AND with OR statements:

(careers or profession or employment or occupation) and (computers or information technology)

Use a truncation symbol to retrieve all variants of a term:

(career$ or profession$ or employ$ or occupation$) and (comput$ or information technology) [Use the dollar sign $ in IUCAT Catalog]

(career* or profession* or employ* or occupation*) and (comput* or information technology) [Use the asterisk * in Academic Search Premier and many periodical databases]

Keep track of the search history that yields the best results:

(health or nurs* or medic*) and (career* or profession* or employ* or occupation*) and (comput* or information technology or infomatics)

Keep track of subject vocabulary to help focus and refine your search:

Career changes
Career development
Computer-assisted instruction
Computer literacy
Computer networks
Computer systems
Employee selection
Employees
Informatics
Internet in education
Job descriptions
Job hunting
Job satisfaction
Job vacancies
Knowledge workers
Labor market
Management
Occupational mobility
Personnel changes
Personnel management
Professional education
Vocational guidance
Vocational qualifications

Academic Search Premier -

Coverage: Indexing coverage varies, with full-text content for some titles beginning 1975 or earlier, and most titles indexed from the 1990s. Brief Description: Provides abstracts and indexing of articles in more than 8,000 popular magazines, scholarly journals, and major newspapers in all fields of study, with nearly 4,000 titles available full text. Tools Available: A complete list of titles covered is available.

Note: Start your search using broad keywords, and narrow your search in small steps. Use the Narrow Results By options on the left-hand side of the search interface to think of ways to focus your search by Resource Type or Subject Thesaurus Terms. When you find something of interest, notice the Subject Terms and the keywords in the Title or Abstract. These terms will help you find others like it.

Here is an example of an article in the popular magazine, Computerworld, which carries many stories about careers in computer-science fields:

Weiss, Todd R. 2008. "Wanted: Skilled Workers" [Cover story]. Computerworld 42, no. 35: 14-16. Accessed [on today's date] from Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost.

Here is an example of what this EBSCOhost database calls "Academic Journals" (which may include scholarly, peer-reviewed journals as well as the trade publications that are required reading in some fields):

McKinney, Vicki R. et al. "Women and Men in the IT Profession." Communications of the ACM 51, no. 2 (February 2008): 81-84. Accessed [on today's date] from Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost.

If you click on the Source link in the bibliographic record, you will find a useful description of the publication's purpose and scope. For example, Communications of the ACM publishes:

"Articles to advance the science and arts of information processing, to promote the free interchange of information among specialists and the public, and develop and maintain integrity and competence of individuals in the field."

Discover Helmke Library's most valuable periodical databases (Abstracts, Databases, & Indexes) for your particular major or degree program under Find Resources By... Subject > Subject by Category. Alternately, find all of IPFW's fields of study under our Find Resources By... Subject > Subject A-Z listing.

The following business-oriented database is among the top recommended Abstracts & Indexes for Organizational Leadership and Supervision (OLS) majors, for example:

ABI/INFORM Suite -

Coverage: Indexing coverage varies, with full-text content for some titles beginning 1971, and most titles indexed from 1990. Brief Description: Regional, national, and world-wide business information from scholary sources as well as news and trade publications. Tools Available: An online list of journals indexed is available. Information on search options

Note: Start with a simple search in this business- and management-oriented database, and notice the Suggested Topics that help to focus your search strategy. This strategy works well for many occupations or fields of study. For example:

nursing and computers leads to nursing and information technology

You can further narrow your search results to such subjects as:

Trends
Health care delivery
Wireless communications
Technological planning
Technological change
Education
Guidelines
Health care industry 

Google Scholar -

Brief Description: Google Scholar is a specialized Google search engine that limits your search to scholarly material combed from Web sites, databases, and publication lists of the world's major academic publishers, scholarly and professional societies, and university repositories. Tools Available: Google Scholar Help is available.

Note: Let's face it. Google is great and everyone uses it. But don't expect to be able to access everything you find in a Google search. You need to be an authorized user to be able to access most publishers' resources.

Because many scholarly materials are not freely available on the Web, IPFW now offers a handy tool called that works to deliver these valuable goods directly to your desktop.

Follow these steps to configure Scholar Preferences within Google Scholar, where appears as a hyperlink labeled FIND IT@IPFW.

What's the message? There is always high-quality information available to you as an IPFW student, and expert assistance at Helmke Library is yours just for the asking.

Don't be shy. Ask a Librarian by phone, e-mail, or IM. Or even better, schedule a half-hour appointment with a librarian for one-on-one instruction. Come prepared to learn more about effective search strategies, skills for distinguishing valid sources of information from less credible ones, and simple tools that will deliver resources when and where you need them. Just plan ahead, and plan on success. Think Helmke!

Academic Search Premier and many periodical databases now provide convenient citation tools to help format your references in proper style, whether it's MLA, APA, MLA, or the Chicago Manual of Style/Turabian. Choose the Cite This Article icon, and copy your preferred Citation Format into your bibliography.