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ENG 102

ENG 102. Finding Information. Martin J. Crabtree MCCC Library. Agenda. The College’s Card Catalog Electronic Searching Keywords & Boolean Searching Electronic Databases at Mercer What’s a database? Accessing the databases Databases available through Mercer Library Web Information

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ENG 102

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  1. ENG 102 Finding Information Martin J. Crabtree MCCC Library

  2. Agenda • The College’s Card Catalog • Electronic Searching • Keywords & Boolean Searching • Electronic Databases at Mercer • What’s a database? • Accessing the databases • Databases available through Mercer Library • Web Information • Searching • The Invisible Web • Evaluating what you find

  3. Using The Card Catalog • The catalog is available online. Used to find books, videos and other material both in the MCCC collection and the Mercer County Public (MCL) libraries. • You can have materials from MCL brought to the college. Deliveries arrive Tuesday and Friday afternoons. (DVD’s not available from MCL) • Link to the catalog is on the library’s web pages.

  4. The link to the catalog is on the library’s web pages.

  5. Searching Electronic Databases And The Web Too

  6. Starting An Electronic SearchKeywords • Keywords are used when searching electronic databases and web search engines • First step - Generate a list of words (keywords) that describes or is commonly used when discussing your topic. For example: • Ozone • Layer • Depletion • Atmosphere • Hole

  7. Starting An Electronic SearchBoolean Searching/Logic • Boolean searching - Connecting keywords with the terms • and • not • or • For example • eagles NOT football • (car or automobile) and exhaust • More Terms = Fewer “Hits”

  8. Searching More Than Just KeywordsPhrases & Truncations • To search for a phrase, use quotation marks • “survival of the fittest” • Truncations allow for searching related words all at once • The * is usually used (! For Lexis-Nexis) . For example: • “child*” would include: child, children, childhood, childproof, etc.

  9. Searching More Than Just KeywordsField Limiters • Field limiters allow you to specify your search within varied parameters for example: • Only full-text articles • Only peer reviewed publications • Limit your search to just the titles, abstracts, the full-text, etc. of an article • Date (or date range)

  10. Let’s take a quick look at how Boolean searching can help

  11. Electronic Databases at the Mercer Library

  12. What are electronic databases? • A collection of electronically searchable information (frequently, but not limited to, periodical articles) that is accessible via the internet • Access to this information is by subscription only, paid by the library. • It is accessible via the internet, but it is not truly web information.

  13. Electronic DatabasesIn General • Over 60 databases available • Not every article is available full text though many are • Abstracts (summary) is often available when full text is not

  14. Electronic DatabasesIn General • Accessible at any computer on the MCCC/JKC campus network • Most are available off campus, need to request a password. • Can print/e-mail/download articles

  15. Some Useful Databases • EBSCOhost - Academic Search Premier • Broadest of the databases covering everything from science to the humanities including many scholarly journals • Not every article full text • Need Acrobat Reader for some articles • Ethnic NewsWatch • A collection of “newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press” • Available in English and Spanish • Proquest Social Science Journals • Collection of periodicals in social science field • Includes the Journal of Popular Culture in full-text

  16. Subject Specific Databases • A number of subject specific databases are available covering: • business • art • architecture • criminal justice • education • mortuary science • more • Many contain full-text articles

  17. Non-periodical Databases.. • Literature Resource Center- Reviews, criticisms, and biographical info on a number of authors and their works. • AP Photo Archives - Photograph collection • Biographies Plus - Biographical information of noted people in a wide range of fields. • Oxford English Dictionary • Encyclopedia Britannica • College Source Online - College catalog info (Only avail. At W.W. Library)

  18. Searching the World Wide Web and Evaluating What You Find Brought to you by… &

  19. Searching the World Wide Web How can I find what I want?

  20. Some things to consider when searching the web • Everything is NOT on the web and may never be • No search engine covers the entire web • The “invisible web” is huge! • Though there has yet to be consensus, estimates put the size of the invisible web between 2 and 500 times bigger than the “visible” (or surface) web.

  21. Searching the World Wide Web Search Strategy • Searching the Web is much like database searching: • Use keywords and Boolean logic (and, not, or) to better define your search, use double quotes for phrases, etc. • When searching the web, also consider: • Different search engines yield different results. You may want to try using more that just your “regular” search engine • Use the search engine’s “advanced search” to select limiting parameters (language, date, domain, etc.)

  22. Searching the World Wide Web Search Engines & Meta Sites • Become familiar with your search engines features: • http://www.infopeople.org/search/chart.html • http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/features/ • http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/SearchEngines.html • Meta search sites (like Dogpile): • Allow you to search more than one search engines at once. • Can generate more “stuff” to sift through • Limited to only basic searches, can’t use advanced search features • Some results can be from “paid for listing” search engines

  23. Sample Web Search • Topic - Censorship in the field of Radio, NOT Television • Try search in: • Google (note Google’s “cached” feature) • Altavista

  24. The Invisible WebWhy is so much being missed? • When using a search engine, you are searching a database that represents what is known to be on the web • Spiders or crawlers roam the web from link to link generating this database • Works extremely well for static all text pages in the HTML language • The problem arises when pages are ever changing or not in HTML

  25. So where is all of this stuff hiding? • By far, a great amount is contained in databases (both paid and free) • Other places include: • Non-text information such as photos or audio • PDF formatted documents • Very new web pages • Password only access information

  26. Finding the invisible stuff • The key is knowing when you need “invisible” information and then where to find it. • Not every web search requires looking in the invisible web. • Search engines work best when looking for a narrow, focused topic.

  27. Some helpful invisible websites • www.lii.org - searchable annotated directory of Internet resources • www.freepint.com/gary/direct.htm - Direct Search, large listing of free databases • infomine.ucr.edu [NO www] - good for searching academic information • completeplanet.com [No www] blend of database, directory, & search engine information. • http://bubl.ac.uk/ - BUBL Link, listing of internet resources covering “all academic subject areas” • www.firstgov.gov - search federal government sites

  28. Evaluating Web Sites Is this stuff any good?

  29. Now Back to Our “Sponsors” &

  30. Evaluating Web Sites • Quality varies greatly from site to site • YOU are the sole evaluator of the quality of information a site provides

  31. Five Evaluation Criteria • Accuracy - is it reliable? • Authority - is author qualified on subject? • Objectivity - is the information biased? • Currency - is the information “new” enough? • Coverage - does the info completely cover the topic?

  32. Evaluating Web SitesHome Page & Site Extensions • Search engines may put you out of context, go to the home page or “about us” page to help you evaluate the site. • The site extension can help evaluate information • .gov - Governmental sites • .edu - Educational institution sites • .com - Commercial sites • .org - Not for profit organization sites • .mil - Military sites • Others are being creates that are less clear cut, e.g.: .net or .co.uk

  33. Evaluating Web SitesOther Considerations • Watch for information that is positioned to sell you something. • Altered web pages (either by accident or maliciously) • Links to other web sites DOES NOT necessarily mean that the site is credible. Evaluate each site separately.

  34. The Bottom Line… Buyer Beware • The web contains a vast amount of information…but not everything • Anyone can put information on the web, hence the quality of web information varies greatly • YOU will often be the only person to decide if the quality of the info you find on the web is good Now let’s visit a site…

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