Mathematics Research Guide

Safari e-book Collection

For Computer Science, Math, and Technology research, a good place to start is with the Safari Books collection. This collection of eBooks provides access to over 300 O'Reilly programming and technology books and more.

Books will give you background information and an overview on what you are researching. You need this information in order to provide context.

Physical & online books available at CSUSM can be located in the following ways:

1. Search the Library Catalog (use dropdown left-hand side for search types: subject, author, etc.)
                                                     
2. Search for an e-book, by choosing an e-book database from the list and using the search bar to enter terms
   • Off-campus access requires log-in with CSUSM User ID and Password

Options to obtain books not located at CSUSM:

1. Order books through CSU+
   • If you locate a book via OneSearch catalog and it states "Print version not available in the library" you can order the book via CSU+, which is a library borrowing service that includes all 23 CSU campus libraries.  It takes approximately 2-5 days to receive books from CSU+.
                                                       
2. Order books through InterLibrary Loan
   • You can search the collections of libraries world-wide by using WorldCat.  If you find a book you would like to order and verify that you cannot get it through CSUSM or CSUSM, you can fill out an InterLibrary Loan request.  Materials will take 5-10 days to arrive and can be picked up at our Library.

amsrefs citations

For many CSUSM Mathematics courses, you need to use amsrefs to manage your citations. amsrefs requires LaTeX-specific formatting for the citations to appear correctly in your paper.

You can easily copy/paste the amsrefs bibliographic information directly from MathSciNet.

1. In the full MathSciNet record, select "AMSRefs" from the drop-down menu above the record information.
   

    

2. The resulting screen will display the markup code for the citation. Copy/paste the text into a text editor of your choice or directly into LaTeX.
   
   

    

3. If you found a source from a database other than MathSciNet, check MR Lookup to verify that you have the correct citation information to include in your bibiliography. Follow steps 1-2 to find the markup code for your citation.

More LaTeX and amsrefs help

For more help using LaTeX and amsrefs, refer to the following:

• Ethan Duckworth's LaTeX guides. These are very user-friendly and comprehensive. Especially helpful are the following:
  • How to write mathematics
  • How to format the page
  • How to make cross references
• The AMS has created the User's Guide to amsrefs, which includes detailed instructions on how to enter your citation information in LaTeX.
  • Refer to section 5.1 on different bibliography entry types. amsrefs supports the following types of materials: article, book, misc, report, thesis, and webpage.

Style Guides and Math Writing Resources

American Mathematical Society (AMS) Author Resource Center- http://www.ams.org/publications/authors/authors

American Mathematical Society Author Handbook- http://www.ams.org/publications/authors/tex/author-handbook

Mathematics into Type by Ellen Swanson (Updated 1999)- ftp://ftp.ams.org/pub/author-info/documentation/howto/mit-2.pdf

Author Resources for the Mathematical Association of America (MAA)- http://www.maa.org/press/author-resources

MAA Mathematical Communication- http://mathcomm.org/

Ethics in Mathematics

Proven theorems and mathematical definitions are considered part of the public domain.  This practice is necessary for the advancement of the field of mathematics.  Public domain status means these theorems and definitions are available for use by anyone.   Nevertheless, public domain status does not obviate the need to acknowledge the contribution of the original authors of the theorem.  Ethical practice demands that scholars acknowledge the work and contributions of others regardless of how that work is used.  

American Mathematical Society Ethical Guidelines- http://www.ams.org/about-us/governance/policy-statements/sec-ethics