W EEK 5: D ATABASE S EARCHING

R EAL Q UICK If you ever need census information (say you want to start your own business!!), use the government census site: If you ever need labor statistics, say unemployment rates or how many people work in particular industry, use Need health information for free? Use

W HAT THE H ECK IS A DATABASE ???

T HE D ATABASES While there are hundreds of databases you could use, it would be impossible to learn them all! My suggestion is to familiarize yourself with at least two databases that you can use as your “go-to” source when you need to find information. My two databases are Academic Search Premier and Gale’s Opposing Viewpoints.

The good news is that most databases are designed the same way so if you learn ONE or TWO databases, you can easily find your way around countless others. Each database you use will have a “help” section somewhere on the main page that explains how to use the basic functions as well as tutorials. You can also refer back to the LRC website and view the database tutorials listed under “HC Tutorials.” There are even guides to print and use as well.

R ESEARCH GUIDES Harrison College librarians have taken some of the guess work out of searching for specific subject material. Based on what subject you are searching for, you can select a guide to help you. Keep this in mind as you move along your career here at Harrison

How many of you have a Facebook account? You know what a database is because you use Facebook. Just like each article is a RECORD in a database, your account is a RECORD on Facebook. Each RECORD tells us something about the article or as in Facebook, the person. This is done by adding information into FIELDS. We can search records by these fields. In Facebook and on databases!

Just like Facebook, you would enter information into different fields. One field might be your age, where you went to college, where you live. For databases, someone has entered information into different fields to describe the article. (Just like you described yourself on Facebook!) In databases, you can limit searching by different fields like author, date, subject, and peer-reviewed. (just to name a few) Think about how you might search for someone on Facebook. Maybe you search by state, city, or employer. These are limiters that help NARROW down your search. (Otherwise you are searching through 27,000 “Bob Smiths”!) Additionally, each article in a database has subject headings that describe what the article is about. Usually this subject heading is determined by the author and/or the creator of the database.

Think of these subject headings like tags. When you tag photos in Facebook, you assign tags (words or phrases) so that you and someone else can identify who is in the photograph and where it was taken or perhaps what is happening in the photograph. The same is true for subject headings. Subject headings IDENTIFY the purpose of the article.

If you tag more than one photo with the same tag, you would pull up ALL the photos that are associated with that tag. The same principle applies to databases. If I click on the subject heading “heart disease”, the database will retrieve ALL the articles that mention “heart disease.” So when searching, pay attention to those subject headings. They will help you find more articles on your topic. And possibly give you more ideas!

D ATABASES BY N AME Each database has a focus. Some databases like Academic Search Premier will cover general topics. A database like Business Source Premier would be focused on the subject of business. The database Nursing Resource Center, would, you guessed it….have information about nursing.

T HE G OOD N EWS … You are not expected to have memorized what each database covers. At Purdue, we have over 450 databases to choose from! There’s no way I know all of them or am I expected to. Luckily, Harrison College and most other institutions, will list below the database name what the database is about and what subjects it covers. I suggest reading this information first before searching in the database to make sure you are in one that will cover your research topic. Remember we don’t want to waste our time!

L IKE THE I NTERNET Luckily, database searching is a lot like searching the Internet but with perks. You can still search by keywords and phrases. But with database searching, you can also limit your searching to specific date ranges, geographical locations, full-text, and peer-reviewed. This is important if you are needing SCHOLARLY articles for your assignment!! My suggestion would be to always click the “full-text” option in a database so that you can make sure you will have access to the entire article not just the abstract.

W HAT ’ S AN ABSTRACT ? An article abstract is a summary of what the article is about. It is not the full article but rather a quick overview. You can read the article summary to see if the article is something you want to include in your research. If it is, you can download the full-text of the article. (or save it, it…) If it’s not, skip it and move on.

S OMETHING ELSE … Another really cool feature of databases is that some will allow you to select only primary source documents. This takes the guess work out of you having to figure out what a primary source is for your topic! Who can tell me what a primary source document is?

C ITATIONS When you find an article you like, I would it to yourself. This way you can select the citation format you want. But err on the side of caution when using the citation generator. They are not always 100% correct!!  You could also print the article record so that you will have all the basic information handy. This will help you when it comes time to put together your annotated bibliography. &AN= &site=ehost-live

P UTTING YOUR KEYWORDS TOGETHER Using Boolean Operators: Remember AND will NARROW your search. While OR will BROADEN it. NOT will exclude a word or phrase. So it NARROWS your search. When doing database searching, you will usually have a few phrases linked together with these Boolean Operators. This is why we practiced coming up with keywords!

S OME H INTS If you want to search for a specific NAME or PHRASE, you would put “quotes” around it. This tells the database that it cannot break up your words and search for them separately. Example: “Abraham Lincoln” –if I did not put quotes around it, the database would search for articles that contained the word “Abraham” and the word “Lincoln” but not “Abraham Lincoln” as one unit. Same with “Live and Let Die” See the difference?

K INDA LIKE G OOGLING Using quotes around phrases is something you have probably done in Google. Ever search for song lyrics? “These boots are made for walking” You want the database or Google to search for that specific phrase, all together, as one thing not search for all the words at random.

A LSO … Capital letters do not matter. The database is not case sensitive. The only time you would use capital letters is if it mattered to the subject. For example “AIDS” not aids. You will probably get the best results if you search authors by putting their LAST name first. (King, Stephen) Using Boolean Operators and keywords will help you get more precise results.

I S THIS A S CHOLARLY J OURNAL ARTICLE ? When you start your searching, I would suggest clicking on the “scholarly article” box. While this tells the database to only pull scholarly articles, it does NOT mean that mistakes will not happen. So how do you tell if your article is scholarly? Here is how: Click on the title of the journal. This will give you information about the journal including publishing information and what TYPE of journal it is! (American Sociological Review, Aviation Week & Space Technology, Running & FitNews) =aph&AN= &site=ehost-live&scope=site

I N - CLASS ACTIVITY : DATABASE SEARCHING Today we will go over a few of the more commonly used databases. You will divide up into groups and take a look at a particular database. You will then introduce your database to the class. By the time we are done with this activity, you should all be familiar with FIVE different databases which should give you plenty of ideas on where to search for your topic!

Group 1: Academic Search Premier Group 2: Business Source Premier Group 3: Medline (Ebsco) Group 4: Proquest Newspapers Group 5: Gale’s Opposing Viewpoints Each group will complete the handout and then present to the class on their database. Teach us what this database does and how to conduct a search in it.

O NE MORE DATABASE TO KNOW … Learning Express Library I want you to be aware of this database because it has a lot of practice exams, resume help as well as interviewing techniques. This is a good place to start when you begin applying for jobs!

F OR N EXT W EEK There is no quiz for next week! For next week, you will need to complete “Research Assignment #6” which has you finding four articles on your topic. Two must be scholarly. If you are interested to see what is out there on the Internet about you, Google yourself. Make sure to put quotes around your name. If you have a common name, you could try adding the state you live in. For example: “Dawn Stahura” + Indiana You might be surprised by your digital footprint!

A NOTE ABOUT Z OMBIES.

O NE MINUTE WRITE - UP Please address/answer the following questions. 1. What did you think of the database exercise? 2. Which database will you use to begin searching on your topic? 3. Do you have any suggestions or concerns you would like to bring to my attention?