CAMS 210: Social Histories of Computing

Most of these individual journals are indexed (sometimes with full text included) in one or more of the databases included below, but browsing or searching an individual journal that is highly relevant to your area of interest can sometimes be a useful strategy for exploring a topic and finding sources.

• Some databases search a relatively small amount of information about each source (what is often called metadata), rather than the full text of the source itself. This can be very helpful for relevancy (since you'll only get results in which your search terms are important enough to be included in the description), but it means the specific terms you choose become more important. Trying a variety of keywords is often essential to getting good results in these databases.
• Keep track of relevant keywords and subject terms that come up in your initial searches, and use those terms to find more. 
• Consult the Search Tips on the General Search Strategies page of this guide for search tips that work in most databases. Each database will also have some unique filters and other features to help refine your searches. 

The databases listed here are just a selection of what is available through Wellesley. See our Databases A-Z list and browse by Subject or Database Type to find other databases relevant to your research.