Workshop 3 - Online Libaries and Databases

Lecture
The Topic was split into subtopics part one online libraries and part two online databases.

Main topics covered in part one and part two was there pros and cons, examples, limitations.
Components of part one online libraries I found, I learnt from and found interesting was:

Library

• Advantages: Journals are more up to date entries and the large, diverse range of information that can be found when searching for a certain topic.

• Disadvantages: Many materials are not accessible through portals e.g. Google which are mainly aimed at mass market, not the academic information supplied.

• Examples of online libraries gave me the knowledge that there are heaps of online library search engines I could use to retrieve information not just searching on Google all the time

Limitations of online libraries demonstrated to me even though the information is convenient and up to date you still need to be careful on choosing the material.

• Limitations that could prohibit me from choosing and using certain material that the information can only be used via subscription and the information might not be updated regularly either because of minimal profits for extended research.

Databases

Components of part two online databases I found, I learnt from and found interesting was:

• Disadvantages: lots of advertising, Difficult to navigate and sometimes an information overload.
  
• Example of the Proquest database gave me a fair idea of what the library database looked like and how to use some specific features which we would later expand on in the tutorial.
  

Tutorial

In the Tutorial we briefly went over with Gary the workshop task to use the Proquest journal library database. Once we had got to the ECU journal articles catalogue he taught us how to use the journal databse to search for particular topics. Once we knew how to start searching for Jounral articles our teacher then gaves us a couple of tips on how to reduce and specify what information we wanted from the journal article quantity , by using a number of effecint search terms and strategies. Then we were told to write down ten search tips to later to document in our Bloggs. The second tutorial activity was to then go to the Medline plus webpage and consider the many advantages of having a free medical databse for the public.

Workshop 3 - Online Libaries and Databases

The first task was to use the ECU library service.

• To get to the ECU library
  
• Type into internet explorer the URL of the ECU home website http://www.ecu.edu.au/

• Click the icon library on the home website
  
• Click the icon Journal articles
  
• Click the icon find databases by title
  
• Choose ABI Pro Quest Icon and click
  
• Type the name of the topic into the search field provided

The second task was to find and document ten ways in order to make your search more specific and reduce the amount of articles provided on the topic.

• Changing your search to from basic search to advanced search.

By choosing the advance search you are making your topic search more specific, increasing the search fields and expanding your topic question e.g. Nuclear Energy AND Other Renewable Energy sources .

• Using the advanced search field functionality fields and, or, and not.

When a multiple topic query has been typed into the advanced word search there are certain ways that this topic you may like it to be limited down more. Clicking AND will find all words, OR includes finding any of the words, AND NOT find the first word not the second word.

• Minimizing the amount of words such as and also not is not based on the topic.

Minimizing those particular words increases the chances of you finding the particular topic(s) you have searched, because it searches for every word typed in the search bar and you only want to see searches based on the topic.

• Limiting to results to full text documents only.

Firstly limits the search to the journals which are full article and excludes searches that only reveal the blurb of an article, therefore you receive all the information instead of a small section. Scholarly journals, including peer viewed limits the search to articles that have been viewed most putting them in front that have not been viewed as frequently.

• Adding quotations to the whole text.

Adding quotations to the whole text guarantees the search engine will find articles including the whole search topic typed in e.g. “Nuclear Energy”

• Limit the search to subject etc.

Limiting the search to subject confines the search to articles which only talk about what has been searched. There are much more types of ways that your topic can be limited down by going into the browser.

• Limit the database search to a specific database or a specific few.

Limiting the search to a specific database such as Accounting and Tax will increase your chances of finding the specific topic in this field as it specializes in it, rather than information displayed from other databases that show likely irrelevant information on the topic

• Putting * next to a word.

Putting * next to a word such as econom will search words such as economy, economics etc. This is useful tool because, it expands its search to not just finding the word itself but multiple words which you might not think of typing in and saves time in searching the words individually.

• The symbol? is used to replace any single character, either inside the word or the right end of the word.

Using the question mark within a word or right at the end of a word will help to also expand your word search for eg "wom?n" will find "woman" and "women.

• More Search options
  

If your topic still comes up with heaps of pages of articles and you have included the above tips to try reduce your search without any luck use the more search options section. Using the more search options you can choose or browse a certain publication title, subject, company/organisation, person, location etc you are likely to limit your topic search after this.

Task Three was to go on the MEDline plus website and browse through the search engine getting use to use to it. Then we chose a subject that we were interested in and used the search engine to find an interactive tutorial and watch it.

Task Four was to write about who you think might use the service and what you think they might get from it?

Who would use the medline plus website service?
The medline plus website is a United States medical encyclopedia free to the public and funded by the Government. The medline site contains a large range of medical information on symptoms, conditions, diagnoses with diagrams and video tutorials, drugs and supplements used to combat medical conditions, dictionary, directories and recent health news. The website is easy to navigate through, reliable information contributed, current and constantly updated.

• The people who would mostly use this website are people who live in rural areas who have limited access to medical practices and facilities.


• Doctors or nurses may also use this website because it is constantly updated they can use it for clarifying any information they are unsure on or research any new information on current conditions.


• Normal people may also use it as a useful source of information for research on assignment, studying for a test or benefit of knowledge.

What would these people get from using this site?

• People living in rural areas because of the limited medical practices and facilities and distance they might be able to treat themselves for there condition without going to a medical practice.
• Looking on the site for information on there condition or the certain symptoms they might have if the diagnosis is just to keep warm, take some panadol or bandage the injury etc they do not need to go the medical practitioner. Though if there condition does require medical attention then they must notify medical authorities.
• Doctors or nurses will be able to find evidence on a condition and be able to clarify any problems or process the new information on a certain condition.
  People may also learn from the site a bit of First Aid in case of emergency or in time of need.
  

Readings

The first week 3 reading is a BBC news report on finding what you want on the web http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think60.html.This article talks about how to research information on the web effectively and efficiently, finding credible resources. The article is about how Google itself does rank it webpage’s to the actual information itself. The money a corporation may put towards getting its name on the top of the list. Therefore this is now a problem, people have to look far and between many of search engines to find the most credible information relating to there topic, as Google should not be the only place to research information.

The second week 3 reading is the University of South Carolina library Bare Bone Lesson 7: Basic search Tips http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/pages/bones/lesson7.shtml. These search tips are basic effective search tips on getting what you want when you are searching the web for particular information. Some useful tips include using plus and minuses in your search to include or exclude e.g. +Jaguar –Car, Using Boolean searches to enclose your search e.g. campgrounds OR reservations.