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Conference Proceedings: A How-To-Find Guide

Techniques for locating conference papers and journal articles that were based on conference presentations.

What are Conference Proceedings?

“Usually, a scientific meeting, convention or conference covers a range of topics within a subject area. Attendees participate in seminars, discussion groups, lectures and/or poster sessions. The oral presentations at these meetings are called conference papers. The collective group of conference papers is called the conference proceedings. Other commonly used terms include symposia, colloquium, congress, discussion, institute, seminar, meeting, session, summer school or workshop.” (DeFelice, Barbara (ed.) Science & Engineering Conference Proceedings. Chicago: ACRL, 1995, p. 3)

“Conference papers are of two types: preconference or postconference. Generally preconference materials are the abstract or written text of the planned oral presentations. Postconference materials are the edited texts written for formal publication of the conference proceedings.” (Bell, Helen C. “Acquiring conference papers through interlibrary loan service.” IN Workshop on Conference Literature: Conference Literature: Its Role in the Distribution of Information, Proceedings, p. 118-147, 1982)

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