ITT 181: Computing Technologies

Many images you find online are copyrighted and thus not available to be reused, although it is often hard to tell at a glance which images can be used and which cannot be. 

Some images CAN be used because they are in the public domain or because their creators have released them under a creative commons license. Public domain images have had their copyright completely waived by the creator OR the copyright has expired. Creators of images under a creative commons license retain the copyright, but grant users the right to use and distribute their work.

The resources below are just a small sample of the sources of creative commons images online. A more exhaustive list can be found at the University of Pennsylvania Libguide on Finding & Using Images, linked below.

There are many databases to choose form, which will provide you access to a wide variety of research on many topics. To explore databases on a specific subject, check out our Databases A-Z List, linked above, and select your subject from the drop-down. You can also limit your database search by resource type (Data, Images, Videos, Maps, and more) which will help you find the best database for your research.

Tips for searching in databases:

• Most databases allow for searching with Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT).
  • Use AND to focus your search and combine different aspects of your topic
  • Use OR to broaden your search and find sources that use different words for the same concept.
  • Use NOT to omit certain terms from your results.
• Use an asterisk (*) to truncate words if you want to search for all words with that root. For example, “environment*” would search for environment, environmental, environmentalism, etc.
• Put quotes around a phrase that you want the database to search as a phrase, rather than as individual words.
• Group synonyms inside parentheses using OR between each one

Example:

Below are just a few of our databases useful for technology research. For more databases with technology content, check out our Databases A-Z page, linked above, and select "Technology" from the drop-down.

Primary sources in the sciences are first-hand accounts of original research or projects, written by the researchers themselves.

Secondary sources in the sciences analyze, summarize, or discuss information from one or more primary sources.

For example, a journal article written by a group of researchers about their experiment would be a primary source. A newspaper or magazine article summarizing the journal article for a non-scientific audience would be a secondary source. A book or review article that summarizes the researchers' journal article plus many others about similar topics to draw broad conclusions would also be a secondary source.

Confusingly, primary and secondary sources are often found in the same databases, so you have to apply a little thoughtful analysis to the item you are looking at to determine if it is a primary or secondary source.

Examples of Primary Sources:

• Journal articles reporting on original research
• Conference papers
• Interviews
• Lab notebooks
• Patents
• Technical reports
• Theses and Dissertations

Examples of Secondary Sources:

• Books
• Review articles
• Textbooks
• Stories in popular media (newspapers, magazines, television) that summarize one or more research studies