Internet search vs Library database

Initially the first tool used to gather information for my research was the school’s library database. I guess some of Badke’s teachings are rubbing off on me. In using academic search complete(ebsco) I was surprised that the database only yielded a handful of results on my topic about Fair Use on regards to higher education. But using copyright in the boolean phrase was the total opposite. The phrase I used to search was, “Fair Use” AND “Higher Education.” Outside of Google scholar using the internet search engine for research had not occurred to me until this blog prompt. To my surprise using the words “fair use and higher education,” I was stunned by the amount of useful links to academic information sources. I think was because the topic of fair use is highly popular and has a great deal of controversy surrounding it. In addition some key Google scholar source links which I used for my research came up first in the results page. Although Academic search complete came up short against google search  in terms of quantity, we can argue that the database has information that is always reliable. For another database engine I used known as Lexis Nexis, which was flooded with newspapers and case studies with the same phrase. All in all I think that the internet search engine has it’s place in research in some cases. Now in the database side of things, you have to know how to properly utilize a database and also choosing the right one to look into.

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