Search Engine and Library Database

Posted on March 31, 2012 by cj

Usually when i search for something on the internet i always use Google and Yahoo even though they both aren’t sources, they are still good search engine’s to me to look up information. Basically when i search for something on Google or yahoo they give me different results and take me to other different websites where i find a lot of articles on things. For my research project i used Google scholar as a search engine and it gave me some pretty good sources that i could use for my project being that i am talking about professional sports and steroid use regarding privacy. I found a lot of information on confidentiality and what it means, and how we as citizens have a right to this. As for the Library database i used the city tech library computer to search for information regarding privacy, i saw thousands of results on books, some magazines, and articles regarding my research paper. I was very shocked and surprised to see a lot of results because i know my topic is a little bit hard to find information on what i am going to be writing about for my paper.

The only difference between the two search engines is that Google Scholar did give me a lot more information than the library database, but the library database did gave me books and magazine results than Google Scholar gave me. Google Scholar gave me good results when it came towards articles. But overall i found very good results using the search engine and the library database, i just hope i will continue to find good information and sources to help me a develop a good research paper.

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Notes from today, and reading and blogging assignments for Monday, April 2

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Anne Leonard

Today we discussed strategies for locating articles in the library’s subscription databases. I hope you found some useful information sources while you searched, and don’t forget that you should continue to develop your list of Works Cited, even if you’ve already submitted the Annotated Bibliography. A few of you mentioned finding even better sources than the ones you’ve already described in the Annotated Bibliography. Check the course site later this week or over the weekend for the research paper draft guidelines, which I’ll distribute in class on Monday.

Slides for today are available here. The slide listing best databases for your topics may come in handy, as it also contains a link to off-campus access instructions and the link to the searchable list of e-journals.

The midterm evaluation period ends on Monday, April 2, so if you have any written work to hand in, please do so before that date.

Next week we’ll be discussing how and why to evaluate information in all formats. For Monday, April 2 please read Fister, “The devil in the details: Media representation of ritual abuse and evaluation of sources” and Grimmelman, “The Google Dilemma.” Whoa, we’ll be reading Fister and Grimmelman for Wednesday. For Monday, please review the following sites on information evaluation techniques: UC Berkeley and Cornell.

Please write one research journal blog post responding to the prompt below:

Do a search on your research topic in at least one internet search engine and one library database.
What words or phrases did you use to search?
What are the similarities and differences between the results of your two searches?

Enjoy the weekend!
~Prof. L.

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Notes from today, and reading/homework for Wednesday, 3/28

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Anne Leonard

Today we discussed library catalogs and reviewed the guidelines for the annotated bibliography, which is due on Wednesday, March 28, preferably as an email attachment sent to me before the beginning of class. We discussed using some browser add-ons such as LibX and Zotero. If you have questions about the annotated bibliography, be sure to get in touch, or review the guides from the OWL or the City Tech library. Be aware that you can access e-books from off campus just as you can articles from e-journals; review the off-campus access instructions if you need to.

For Wednesday, please read Badke, chapter 5 (pp.76-95 in 3rd ed., pp.94-120 in 4th ed.)

Slides from today are available here.

~Prof. Leonard

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journal 2

Posted on March 26, 2012 by David R

After settling on a good research paper proposal and establishing a good research question, I turned more focus towards finding useful resources. It seems most of my resources will come from the Internet, but it can be tricky finding peer reviewed and scholarly ones. Most good material that I come across on the Internet usually is a limited abstract of a bigger source yet requires purchase to access. Badke gives good examples of differentiating between scholarly and peer reviewed verses popular sources but again the payment issues aren’t totally resolved. I used controlled vocabulary and try to limit searches to two but no more than three keywords as Badke suggests in chapter 5, and throughout his book. So far it hasn’t been too bad but still requires some work.

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Research journal 2

Posted on March 26, 2012 by evortega

During our last class session, we discussed about our finding scholarly sources for our research paper. In class I was searching on Google Scholar for sources on my paper. My findings were interesting.  They were different from search on a regular search engine. My results differed because what I found was mostly articles and not websites about the topic. I didn’t face much difficulties in my search however, the only difficulty I found was find which articles were relevant to my topic. A search engine would gather the search results and sort them out by the order you chose. But then again some wouldn’t come out as articles

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Research Journal #2

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Michael.M

So on Wednesday we were trying out different ways to search for valid websites for information on our topics. We were more focused on using the advanced searches and searching through scholarly articles to do this as well and I didn’t find it too easy. I encountered problems because I could not think of a much more specific bunch of keywords to use for the search. I rather use the regular search engines such as Google and Yahoo to help me find my information because I have grown accustomed to it for almost 8 years when I really started using the internet to search for information on my topics in school. What I think would be better to know is how to use these other advanced searches so I know which websites are actually feeding me enough of the right information for my papers or self research.

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MY SCHOLARLY SEARCH DILEMMA

Posted on March 26, 2012 by ragoo8111

As I become more proficient at sifting through tons of information. And as I apply and master  the techniques as suggested by Badke. I am still lost . But I will become the smartest guy in the room on my topic, if its my only concellation. I am researching “What influences media on the web to become viral?” Ironically information pertaining to this topic is not availing itself at a viral rate. I have encountered such resources like www.articlecity.org. or www.bbsonline.org. a wealth of knowledge in pursuing information for my “Health Psychology” final paper. I have even found an “Open Access” resource called www.bioline.org.br.  Its like meeting and forming new alliances along the way. Still having problems with “zotero” so I copy my articles to “Microsoft Power Point” and save them as slides. Necessity fueling my  innovation so to speak. So I exit with this famous quote. “The outcome of any serious research can only be to make two questions grow where only one grew before.” —Thorstein Veblen . Just the facts folks. Just the facts…..

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The Search Continues…

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Suly Paredes

Using every scholarly search engine and website that I can find, even with a different amount of word changes, I’ve managed to get the same result in every scholarly search engine. It’s not easy to find exactly what you’re searching for, especially if what you’re searching for is still unclear. After thousands of key punching and mouse clicking, I’ve managed to come across a few great sources that relate to my topic, “How have the aspects in video games help adolescents face real life problems?”. I must admit, the research is quite remarkable from what I’ve found and read, but specifically finding the exact research was hard at first. So far I believe I am heading in the right direction!

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The Quest For Knowledge

Posted on March 26, 2012 by matty65

Finally we have reached the point where we get to put all of Badke’s research tips to the test. Badke makes it look simple… not! While attempting to find viable sources for my research question, “What makes cyber bullying so much more damaging to its victims than traditional bullying?”, I discovered the one thing that Badke didn’t mention, a focused question requires focused information to answer. What a bummer! perusing the web and gathering facts on cyber bullying wasn’t cutting it. Of course there are tons of sites that define, give accounts of, and discuss the subject but, that wasn’t helping me with an answer to my question. I resorted to Google Scholar. Even there I had to tweak my search considerably but, a last, I found the diamonds in the ruff. I collected excellent information from the Journal of Adolescent Health and The Educational Review. The information from these two sources steered me in a direction that I didn’t realize I would go. If you don’t know the path then you simply must follow the bread crumbs where ever they led. I also found Yahoo’s advanced search to be quite useful with phrases.

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Search Engines

Posted on March 25, 2012 by cruzanthonymark

Google scholar made it very easy to search for scholarly information over the internet regarding my topic. It was more concentrated in terms of the searches it gave out and left out irrelevant sources that would usually show up on the normal/original or all around search engine which gave everything that would relate to your keywords wherein the first page would be the top searched for. Google scholar made it so that it would give you exactly what you’re looking for which was plenty of help for me, although I can imagine people having problem with Google scholar if they do not know how to type out or even where to start with the correct key words and phrases.

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