Home - Institute of Design Research Guide - Research Guides at Illinois Institute of Technology

How to Use this Guide

So you're looking for business information? You've come to the right place. This guide will help you navigate the frequently confusing yet highly rewarding world of research. It is separated into the most commonly-requested business information:

Services for ID Students: Since the ID campus doesn't have a library, we offer the same services that area available to our distance education students. Use this tab to find out about document delivery and having items delivered to the Downtown campus library.

News & Ideas: Get the latest headlines from Fast Company, Wired, Metropolis and more.

IIT-licensed databases and websites are suggested on the following tabs:

General-Humanities

Art-Architecture-Design

Science-Technology

Business-Government

Reference Books: Handbooks, encyclopedias and dictionaries exist for a variety of subjects. View a few used by design students here.

Search Tips: Handy suggestions on how to make your searches return better results.

Create Your Library Accounts

We recommend creating your two library accounts before you begin researching to increase efficiency when researching. You'll need the accounts to request books and articles from other libraries.

Article Request
MyILL is the library's interlibrary loan system. Use this when the library does not have the articles you need. Articles typically arrive 3-7 business days later, sometimes faster.
How-to Guide for Creating Your MyILL Account (PDF version)
Book Request
Create an account to request books from the 76 other universities we share with in the I-Share catalog. Your barcode is your IIT ID number (A200...).
How-to Guide for Creating Your I-Share Account

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Read These Tips Before You Start

Librarians often find themselves repeating the same research tips when they meet with students and faculty. Taking a few minutes to read this list of helpful hints could save you tons of time when you are searching.

1. Always start from the library website or this guide when you want to access a database. Most databases need to know that you are authorized to access their materials. When you go to a database's web site it will not be able to identify that you are an approved user. When you go through an IIT library page you will be able to authenticate correctly and use the database right away.

2. Spend a few minutes test driving a database you've never used before. Check out the help guides, try a few searches, and see how this database may be different from ones you've used before.

3. Most databases don't search the way Google searches. Entering a long phrase such as "how computer automation is used in federal government" in one search box doesn't usually work in a database. Check the database's help section to learn how to best search that particular database.

3. There is no one perfect search. Try many searches in many places to find what you are looking for.

4. Take advantage of any "folders" or "lists" available in the database or library catalog. Use these to keep track of articles or books you will want to read later. The URL at the top of the page is often a session-specific URL, meaning it will only work that one time.

5. Does the library not have immediate access to the article or book you want? We can get you nearly every book or article you want to read using our I-Share catalog for books or MyILL for articles. These are fast and free services. Use the box above to create your accounts so you can begin requesting items.

6. Please let us know when you are having any troubles from choosing the best databases to fixing a dead link. We can't help or fix it if we don't know there's a problem. See our Ask a Librarian page to contact us by IM, email, phone or in person.

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