English 1120 Nevins Fall 2009

From SubjectGuides

[edit] Session 1: Introduction to Database Searching

[edit] General Database example:

Academic Search Premier

Remember:

asterisks *

OR's

AND's

If you can't link to an article from a database:

Try these:

European Journal of Pediatrics, Jun 2009, Vol. 168 Issue 6, p655-665.

Behavior Research Methods, May 2008, Vol. 40 Issue 2, p563-574, 12p, 13 chart.

[edit] Session II: Discipline and Specialized Databases

[edit] Review

a. Remember truncation ~ wild cards ~ stemming. * $ ?

b. Remember to OR near synonyms or similar concepts to retrieve more material.

c. AND is supplied for you by some databases but not all.

[edit] The Bleeding Hearts (Sociological Abstracts)

Directions: Go to the library homepage www.lib.auburn.edu

Hover over Find

Choose Articles and Databases

Databases by Subject

Sociology

Sociological Abstracts

Do the search pictured above. Then improve it, using what you learned in Session I. Be prepared to report to the class what you did.

[edit] The Bean Counters: Statistics (LexisNexis Statistical)

Directions: Go to the library homepage www.lib.auburn.edu

Hover over Find

Choose Articles and Databases

Databases by Subject

Statistics - Data (not the plain Statistics subject)

Choose LexisNexis Statistical

Click on Find a Table

Do the search as shown above.

Choose a table that is relevant. Then go to the Internet to find the organization/source that produced the data, to see if something newer or better was to be found. It may or may not happen, depending on the date of your original table and other factors.

Be prepared to report to the class what you found.

[edit] The Engineers

Directions: Go to the library homepage www.lib.auburn.edu

Hover over Find

Choose Articles and Databases

Databases by Subject

Engineering

Then Engineering Village.

On the search screen, find Autostemming off and click on it.

Notice right above it you can choose to sort your answers by most relevant or by more recent first (date). Choose one or the other.

Using truncation (* or whatever the database needs), near synonyms or related concepts to make "ors," and combining concepts with "ands," find articles on crime related to social networking. (Hint: Concept 1: crime or fraud or......)(You may think of better terms.) (Hint: Concept 2: in addition to using social networking as a term, what are specific examples of social networking sites or services?)

Try the search again after unclicking autostemming. Did it make any difference?

Be ready to tell the class what you did and what you found.

[edit] The Tree Huggers

Directions: Go to the library homepage www.lib.auburn.edu

Hover over Find

Choose Articles and Databases

Databases by Subject

Environment

Choose Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management.

Using truncation (* or whatever the database needs), near synonyms or related concepts to make "ors," and combining concepts with "ands," find articles on using Web 2.0 technologies so that activists or scientists can work together to accomplish political goals or scientific research related to the environment or ecology.

Be prepared to report what you did and what you found to the class.

[edit] Actual Books and Such (The Catalog)

Use the catalog to find books, reports, and other "whole" things."

Use the limits to specify year, type of material, and language.

[edit] Session III: Your Specific Databases

Find your name on the following list. (If your name isn't there, consult with the librarian or with your instructor.) Use the subject in the leftmost column to start your search.

In exploring "your" databases, try to answer these questions:

What are the truncation/stemming/wildcard symbols?

How do you do ANDS and ORS? (Do you type them in yourself, or use the boxes supplies, or both, or?)

Is the database you are using and index or abstracting service, or is it just a publishers collection of full-text journals? (Hint, many indexes or abstracting services have some full text in them from a variety of publishers. They are still basically indexes or abstracting services.)

Is the database you are using broad, say, covering all of life sciences, or narrow, such as only molecular biology?

How to you email or download what you've found within the database?

How do you/can you link to full text outside the database?

Marilyn Christianson chrismc@auburn.edu 334-844-1740