L SC-311-02: Information Literacy
Hands-on #6: Searching Web Based Databases
Assigned: Monday, October 12, 1998
Due: Monday, October 19, 1998
Points: 30

Objectives

• To learn about the online electronic databases available at NMSU: ProQuest Direct and FirstSearch.
• To practice exploring different web-based research databases, using help screens and online guides.
• To practice specific search techniques for web-based electronic databases.
• To collect citations to articles for the "Annotated Bibliography" final project.

Part I: ProQuest Direct

UMI ProQuest Direct, "is a state-of-the-art information service providing online access to one of the most extensive collections of published material in the world. With ProQuest Direct, users can search for information in thousands of different journals, periodicals, dissertations, newspapers, and magazines in UMI's vast archives." (quote from the "About Proquest Direct" online documentation)

Currently, ProQuest Direct serves as the NMSU Library's primary general periodical index. It shares many features with other electronic databases:

• keyword and/or controlled vocabulary searching
• Boolean searching
• field searching
• truncation and/or wildcard searching
• proximity searching (especially useful in fulltext databases)

When doing searches in this (or any) online database, remember the techniques that will help you to balance RECALL and PRECISION. Recall means you retrieve ALL documents relevant to your search, but you may get a lot of irrelevant ones as well. Precision means you get ONLY relevant documents, but in the process you might miss others because your search criteria are too narrow.

ProQuest Direct has a built-in 200 hit limit. Any search that pulls up over 200 is probably too broad and you should try to make it more specific by adding in another term, limiting by date, etc. ProQuest Direct includes access to about 1,800 publications; about 600 of the titles include full-text from recent issues. The current three months of the New York Times is available on a rolling schedule (as each day's articles are added, the oldest day's articles are removed). The database is set to search only the "index fields" of the records (title, author, abstract, journal name). It is also possible to search the full-text of the documents by checking the box labeled "Search the full text of articles." This may be useful if you are looking for a very specific topic or word.

ProQuest Direct is accessed via the Library Article Databases web page: http://lib.nmsu.edu/resources/dbpqd.html. When you connect to this page, click on ProQuest Direct on the left of the screen. In doing the following exercises, refer to the HELP screens within ProQuest Direct and to the printed information provided in class. Also, use other things you have learned in this class. It is possible that changing a search slightly will prodice different results, so don't worry about precise numbers. Keep in mind that the contents of this database change daily.

Search by Word

The most common way of searching ProQuest Direct is to search for words that describe your topic and find articles in the database about that topic. The HELP screens provide a lot of good tips. I've provided printouts of some of these pages, but there's more available.

1. Look for articles on United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq. How many hits do you get?_______________________

a. Search Strategy:_______________________________

b. What is the date of the oldest article listed?________________

2. Use the wildcard character (*) to look for articles on women or woman in professional basketball. Then click on Search Wizard. Next click on Search by Date. Next, click on Past 30 days. Next, click on Search.

a. Citation for first article on the list:____________________

b. How many hits did you get before and after using the Search Wizard? Why are the numbers different?

3. Search for articles on snowboarding at the Olympics in Nagano.

a. Search strategy:______________________________

b. Number of hits:_________________

c. How many are available in full-text:________________

4. Use truncation (?) and a Boolean search to find articles on animal and cloning but not of sheep.

a. Search strategy:__________

b. Number of hits:______________

c. Now try the search animal and cloning and sheep. Number of hits:_______________

d. Now try the search animal cloning and not sheep. Number of hits:________________

e. Explain the difference between b and c and d.

5. Now do a keyword or word search that relates to the topic you are researching for your annotated bibliography in this class. Include AT LEAST 2 keywords in your search. Refine or limit your search, so that you have between 20 and 100 hits.
Write down your most successful search strategy and the number of hits you retrieved. If you used "Search Assistant" to refine the search, briefly describe what you did.

a. Search strategy:

 

b. Number of hits:

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Search for Publication

ProQuest Direct allows you to search for a publication to see if it is indexed in the database. Once you locate a publication, you can browse the contents of the issues that are online. Look at the help screens for "publication searches." This feature is useful for determining the range of scholarly publications in your area of interest included in the database. Searching by publication is strictly by keywords; not subjects. So, it's a good idea to truncate your searches, eg. crim? will retrieve criminal, crime, criminology, criminologist, etc. Any or all of these words might appear in a journal title.

6. Click on the "Search for Publication" button on the left hand side of the ProQuest Direct screen and type in: Criminal Justice and Behavior. Click Search.

a. Look at the most recent issue in the list. Are articles from this issue available in full-text?

b. Look at the OLDEST issue of this journal in the list. (You will have to click on the page numbers at the bottom of the page to go to the next screen.) What is the oldest issue listed? What level(s) of information is/are available for this issue?

c. Let's say you need an article from this older issue. What do you do to determine if NMSU Library has the journal?


d. Perform this search. Where will you find these issues of Criminal Justice and Behavior?

Field searching

8. Find newspaper articles (stype(newspaper)) on the recent mudslides in California.

a. Search strategy:_______________

b. Number of hits:_____________. Retrieve the page in a format suitable for email and email it to yourself.

9. Find reviews (dtype(review)) of the movie "Titanic"

a. Search strategy:________________

b. Number of hits:____________ Click on "Click here" in the peach box. On this "Tips for Narrowing Your Search" page figure out a way to narrow the search below 200 hits. How did you do it?

c. Now look for obituaries on Akira Kurosawa.

(Pssst: He made some great movies. For example Rashomon (by the way the spaghetti western, A Fistful of Dollars is a remake of it); Seven Samurai (the American movie The Magnificent Seven is a remake of this one); Derzu Uzala on which nothing is based but it has a great tiger scene...but back to your assignment)

Full text searching

When you get into ProQuest Direct, the default search mode is for the "indexed fields" of the articles, including title, author, abstract, journal title, subject. You can also search the full-text of the articles by clicking in the box, just under the search box.

10. Remember Washoe, the chimp who learned to communicate using sign language? Let's find out if ProQuest Direct contains any full-text articles on Washoe.

a. Do a keyword search: washoe and chimp? How many hits do you get?_________________________

b. Now click the box underneath the "Search by Word" box that says "Search the full-text of documents." Now conduct another search: washoe and chimp? How many hits did you receive this time? _____________________

 

 

c. Explain the difference between the two searches.

Part II: First Search

• Your search strategy
• The answer to the question. In most cases, although not all, you will need to write out the citation.

1. Search the Books in Print database and find how much the book Computer Desktop Encyclopedia by Alan Freedman costs.

Search Strategy:

Answer:

2. Search the Book Review Digest and find a review for Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. Provide a citation for the reviews. Give the name of the journal, vol., page, and number of words in review (if given).

Search Strategy:

Answer:

3. Search FactSearch and find information on sunscreen and skin cancer. Give the full citation for the information found.

Search Strategy:

Answer:

4. Search EventLine and find where the Brew and Beverage Technology annual meeting will be held in 1999?

Search Strategy:

Answer:

5. Search the AcxiomBiz database and find the telephone number to order coffee by mail from Batdorf and Bronson Coffee Roasters (or something like that) in Washington state

Search Strategy:

Answer:

6. Now search the AcxiomHome for your own phone number. (If you had your phone number less than a year, search for a family member who has had the same phone number for a long period of time)

Search Strategy:

Answer:

If you didn't find it, why do you think this happened?

7. Search World Cat and see if there are any books written by Clyde Tombaugh. Provide the citation for the works.

Search Strategy:

Answer:

8. Search the Biography Index and find a biography on Frank Sinatra. Provide the citation to the article or the book.

Search Strategy:

Answer:

9.Now choose a First Search database that you think would be especially useful for your final project research. Choose All Databases and select from that list.

Database Searched:

Construct a search on your topic and note your search strategy or search statement. Then write down a citation for ONE useful source.

Search Strategy:

Citation:

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by Susan E. Beck
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM

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