Gary Handman

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Doing Research Online A Crash Course
Where do you plug this damn thing in?
Gary Handman ghandman_at_library.berkeley.edu 643-856
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What I hope you'll come away with...
1. The current lay of Information Land 2. A group
of basic moves and features common to many
online catalogs and indexes keyword
phrase searching truncation. Save/Mail
features. 3. How to develop search strategies 4.
How to select databases (and determine whats in
them) 5. Practice using these features in
selected databases.
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The Information Universe (Then)
The guy next to me is soooo hot!
Card Catalogs Contained Records for

• Books
• Journals/Newspapers
• Other stuff (maps, media, dissertations,
  manuscripts)

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The Information Universe (Then)

• Look stuff up by author, title, subject
• Get a Call

Kesey, Ken. One flew over the cuckoo's
nest. New York New American Library,
1962. Moffitt PS3561.E667.O5
Get da Book in da Stax
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The Information Universe (Then)
I know! Ill do my paper on Marilyn Manson!

• Indexes/Abstracts
• Annual/semi-annual print volumes
• Allow subject searching in a group of journals in
  a particular discipline or topical area.
• Some indexes also offer abstracts-- short
  description of article content

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The Information Universe (Then)
Wright, Robert. 'I'd sell you suicide' pop
music and moral panic in the age of Marilyn
Manson. Popular Music v19, n3 (Oct,
2000)365 (21 pages).

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The Information Universe (Then)
Wright, Robert. 'I'd sell you suicide' pop
music and moral panic in the age of Marilyn
Manson. Popular Music v19, n3 (Oct,
2000)365 (21 pages).

Get da call
Popular Music Music ML5.P66
Shelved Latest issue in Reading Room
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The Information Universe (Then)
Wright, Robert. 'I'd sell you suicide' pop
music and moral panic in the age of Marilyn
Manson. Popular Music v19, n3 (Oct,
2000)365 (21 pages).

Get da call
Popular Music Music ML5.P66
Shelved Latest issue in Reading Room
Get da Journal in da Stax
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The Information Universe (Now)
Online Catalogs
.
--Pathfinder --MELVYL (CDL cat)
Indexes Abstracts
Print
Online
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The Information Universe (Now)
Online Catalogs
--Pathfinder --MELVYL (CDL cat)

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The Information Universe (Now)
Books in Stax
Online Catalogs
--Pathfinder --MELVYL (CDL cat)

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The Information Universe (Now)
Books in Stax
Online Catalogs
--Pathfinder --MELVYL (CDL cat)
Full-Text Online (ebooks, ejournals but NOT
individual e-articles

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The Information Universe (Now)
Books in Stax
Online Catalogs
--Pathfinder --MELVYL (CDL cat)
Full-Text Online (ebooks, ejournals but NOT
e-articles
Indexes Abstracts

Journals in Stax
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The Information Universe (Now)
Books in Stax
Online Catalogs
--Pathfinder --MELVYL (CDL cat)
Full-Text Online (ebooks, ejournals but NOT
e-articles
Indexes Abstracts
Full-Text Articles Online
Online

Journals in Stax
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• Library Acquires Full-text materials in
• three ways
• 1. Subscribes to full-text journals (you can get
  to em via Pathfinder)

Animal genetics. lt1986gt Published
Oxfordshire Published by Blackwell Scientific
Publications for the International
Society for Animal Blood Group Research, c1986-
Format Serial Location BIOS
QP98.A1 A5 Electronic Location(s)
v.30(1999)- http//uclibs.org/PID/3382
Restricted to UC campuses

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Library Acquires Full-text materials in three
ways 2. Links from electronic indexes and
abstracts
From Expanded Academic Index
ME, MOM MARILYN MANSON. (Brief Article) BECKY
EBENKAMP.
Brandweek April 17, 2000 v41 i16 p28
View text and full content
retrieval choices
or 1 full page PDF
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3. Subscribes to searchable full-text
archives e.g. JSTOR, Project Muse
But remember...
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But Remember!!!!

• Not everything is online!!!!!
• Indexes Generally only go back 10-15 yrs
  online
• Not every publication is indexed
• Fairly small (but rapidly growing) subset of the
  books and journal universe is currently available
  in full-text
• The sciences currently have it better than the
  humanities and social sciences

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• Remember Also
• Not every topic has lots written about it, either
  in books or journal lit.
• --Research on very current topics
• --Research on topics off the beaten academic
  track or off the pop culture radar
• --The quirky, strange, and over the top.

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• What to do if nothing is turning up
• Broaden your topic / go for the more general /
  select a different angle
• Rethink your search strategy (new keywords, new
  concepts, etc.)
• Bail out and choose another topic
• What to do if too much is turning up
• Narrow your topic
• e.g. geographically, chronologically by race,
  gender, ethnic group
• Specific focus or aspect of the topic (e.g.
  ethical, social, economic, political aspects)

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The Information Universe (Now)
The Net Anarchy
Google Rocks!
LibraryLand (land of organization, control, and
sensibility)
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How to Begin? Before you click THINK

• Formulate a concise, concrete statement of the
  research problem
• Formulate your search in terms of
• keyword and key phrases

The impact of exposure of children to advertising
television and television violence on school
performance.
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How to Begin? Before you click THINK

• Formulate your search in terms of
• KEY WORD Searches
• --Look for words anywhere in record title,
  subject, abstract and full-text (if available)
• PHRASES
• --Looks for words in the exact order entered

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Keywords
e.g. -- Keyword Cold War Horror Film looks for
words Cold AND War AND Horror AND Film ANYWHERE
in the record You would conceivably retrieve
an article entitled At War With Your
Refrigerator? How to Avoid the Horror of
Moldy Film on Cold Cuts. --Phrase Cold War
Horror Film looks only for those 3 words in that
order would not find a book entitled


Depending on db --May be able to limit
keyword/phrase searching to specific fields
title, subject, or all fields.
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How to Begin? Before you click THINK

• Think of synonyms for key words/phrases

Children Youth Adolescents etc.
Commercials Ads etc.
The impact of exposure of children to advertising
television and television violence on school
performance.

Academic achievement Grades etc. Or television
psychological aspects
Media TVetc.
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Truncation
When appropriate, use truncation to scoop up
broader results or ? Depending on
db --e.g. Advertis will give
you advertise, advertising, advertisers,
advertisements


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Once youve found something that looks
promising, Check out the official subject
headings



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Choosing a database

Indexes/Abstracts come in various
flavors --from narrow discipline focus to
general/pop lit --citation only to abstracts to
full-text --links to library holding no links
(you need to look up the journal holdings in
another catalog)


--Some journals are indexed in multiple
databases --The same journal may be full-text in
one db and citation only in another
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Choosing a database

• Look at the alphabetical listing of indexes and
  abstracts on the librarys home page
  www.lib.berkeley.edu
• Listings of subject-specific electronic resources
  on individual branch library home pages
• CDL Searchlight

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Before we plunge...questions???

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What do you see on this page?





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The Keyword/key phrase Tango



Racially-motivated Violence in schools