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Finding conference papers: Home

A guide to finding conference papers.

conference seatsA conference paper is the text of a paper or presentation given at a conferences, seminars, symposiums or similar which has been organised by a society or an organisation. These are sometimes compiled together with other papers presented at a single conference, which are referred to as conference proceedings. Recent conferences in your subject may provide you with current research, or new methodologies in your field of interest. 

Conference papers are published in a variety of ways - they may be published as a book, or as a special issue or supplement to a journal. Some may not be published at all! This guide provides you with ways of keeping track of recent conferences and getting hold of conference papers. 

 

Finding references to conference papers

The following sources include references to conference papers.

Databases in your subject may also cover conference papers. To find key databases in your area, click the following link. 

Getting hold of conference papers

All the above databases link to our Item Finder, which shows you if the paper you need is available online. You can also automatically search our print holdings on the catalogue. Find out more about using our Item Finder in the link below. 

If the paper you need is not available online or in the Library we can try to get it for you via Inter-Library Loan. 

Conference papers

Elements to include:
  1. Author of paper
  2. Year of publication (in round brackets)
  3. Title of paper (in single quotation marks)
  4. Title of conference proceedings: subtitle (in italics)
  5. Location and date of conference
  6. Place of publication: Publisher
  7. Page references for the paper
Example:

Reference list: Jones, L. (2018) 'Polymer blends based on compact disc scrap', Proceedings of the Annual Technical Conference - Society of Plastics Engineers. San Francisco, May 6-9. Brookfield, CT: Society of Plastics Engineers. pp.236-254.

In-text citation: (Jones, 2018)

Need further assistance?

Academic Liaison TeamIf you need help with finding information, then please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian for advice.

Keeping up-to-date with conferences

Keep up to date with recent conferences by:

  • keep an eye on your social media accounts - most conferences now include hashtags in their branding, so that academics can follow conference proceedings and discuss papers or topics with others. 
  • browsing tables of contents of new issues of journals in your subject - try out BrowZine for this
  • using alerting features on databases - such as re-running searches and setting up email alerts to be notified when additional articles on a subject or by a specific author are entered into the databases 
  • using alerting services/newsletters from publishers

Further information, links, tips and examples are on our guide to keeping up-to-date: 

Finding out about upcoming conferences

Keep an eye out for upcoming conferences by the major institutions in your field by following them on social media. You can also find details using the following website: