ENG 101

Finding Information

Martin J. Crabtree

MCCC Library

November 2004

Agenda• Finding books

– The College’s Card Catalog– Library of Congress vs. Dewey System

• Electronic Searching– Keywords & Boolean Searching

• Electronic Databases at Mercer– What’s a database?– Databases available through Mercer Library– Accessing the databases

• Web Information– Searching– The Invisible Web– Evaluating what you find

• Your turn to use the databases

Using The Card Catalog• The catalog is available

online. Used to find books, videos and other material both in the MCCC collection and the Mercer County Public (MCL) libraries.

• You can have materials from MCL brought to the college. Deliveries arrive Tuesday and Friday afternoons. (DVD’s not available from MCL)

• You will need to have your student ID card to borrow books or use the library’s computer lab

Finding Books

• Unlike school and public libraries, MCCC uses the Library of Congress (LC) system.

• The LC is an alphanumeric system, for example– HE9760-9900: Air transportation

[business focus] – TL500-780: aeronautics

[technology focus]• TL515-550: Aeronautics - History

The link to the catalog is on the library’s web pages.

Periodicals

• Periodicals include:– scholarly journals– newspapers– Magazines

• Periodicals represent the bulk of published scholarly information.• The library has a number of periodicals available in

print, on microfilm, and especially via electronic databases.

• The library staff can help determine if a specific

periodical is available from the library.

Scholarly vs. Popular Periodicals

Different publications targeted to different

audiences

Scholarly vs. Popular Periodicals

Scholarly• Purpose is to inform the

scholarly world of original research in a given field

• Has a serious format

• Contains many graphs & charts few photos

• Regularly uses footnotes and bibliographies

• Written by scholars or researchers

Popular/General Interest• Purpose is to inform,

entertain and/or sell to a wide audience

• Attractive/slick appearance

• Frequently uses photos and a few graphs & charts

• Rarely uses footnotes or bibliographies

• Written by staff or freelance writers

Scholarly vs. Popular Periodicals

Scholarly• Uses the terminology and

jargon of the subject, assumes reader knows it

• Published by professional or educational organizations

• Contains little if any advertising

• Examples: Annals of Microbiology, Journal of Abnormal Psychology

Popular/General Interest• Rarely uses subject

terminology or jargon, when used, contains explanation

• Published by commercial enterprises for profit

• Extensive inclusion of advertisements

• Examples: Newsweek, People, Psychology Today

Searching Electronic Databases

And The Web Too

Starting An Electronic SearchKeywords

• Keywords are used when searching electronic databases and web search engines

• First step - Generate a list of words (keywords) that describes or is commonly used when discussing your topic. For example:– Ozone– Layer– Depletion– Atmosphere– Hole

Starting An Electronic Search

Boolean Searching/Logic

• Boolean searching - Connecting keywords with the terms– and– not– or

• For example– eagles NOT football– (car or automobile) and exhaust

• More Terms = Fewer “Hits”

Searching More Than Just Keywords

Phrases & Truncations• To search for a phrase, use quotation

marks– “survival of the fittest”

• Truncations allow for searching related words all at once– The * is usually used. For example:

• “child*” would include: child, children, childhood, childproof, etc.

Electronic Databases at the Mercer Library

What are electronic databases?

• A collection of electronically searchable information (frequently, but not limited to, periodical articles) that is accessible via the internet

• Access to this information is by subscription only, paid by the library.

• It is accessible via the internet, but it is not truly web information.

Electronic DatabasesIn General

• Over 40 databases available• Not every article is available full text

though many are• Abstracts (summary) is often

available when full text is not

Electronic DatabasesIn General

• Accessible at any computer on the MCCC & JKC campus network

• Most are available off campus, need to request a password (forms available after this class).

• Can print/e-mail/download articles

Getting to the databases

• Use the library quick link at mccc.edu to get to the library’s homepage

• Go to the “Online Databases & Search Engines” link (in the left column) of any of the library’s web pages.

Databases with aviation information

• EBSCOhost - Academic Search Premier - Broad collection covering many subject areas. Not every article full text, some need Acrobat Reader to view

• Academic Universe (Lexis-Nexis) – News: Collection of newspaper information from around the US, nearly all full text

• Literature Resource Center - Reviews, criticisms, and biographical info. on a number of authors and their works

• Biographies Plus - Biographical information of noted people in a wide range of fields.

• N. Y. Times Historical Newspapers– Articles from 1851 – 2000

Searching the World Wide Web

How can I find what I want?

Some things to consider when searching the web

• Everything is NOT on the web and may never be.

• No search engine covers the entire web.

• The quality of the information on the web varies greatly.

Searching the World Wide Web

Search Strategy• Searching the Web is much like database

searching:– Put together a list of keywords describing the

information you desire– Use Boolean logic (and, not, or) to better define

your search, use double quotes for phrases, etc.

• When searching the web, also:– Consider which search engines/sites may best suit

your search needs. Different search engines yield different results.

– Use the search engine’s “advanced search” to select limiting parameters (language, date, domain, etc.)

Evaluating Web Information

Is this stuff any

good?

Evaluating Web Sites

• Quality varies greatly from site to site

•YOU are the sole evaluator of the quality of information a site provides

Five Evaluation Criteria1. Accuracy - is it reliable?2. Authority - is author qualified on subject?3. Objectivity - is the information biased?4. Currency - is the information “new”

enough?5. Coverage - does the info completely cover

the topic?

• Search engines may put you out of context, go the home page or the “about us” page to help evaluate the site

The Bottom Line…

Buyer Beware• The web contains a vast amount of

information… but not everything

• Anyone can put information on the web, hence the quality of web information varies greatly

• YOU will often be the only person to decide if the quality of the info you find on the web is good