1. Doing Research Online:
A Crash Course
Where do you plug
this damn thing in?
Gary Handman

2. The point of all this... Describes organization of library information
Introduce selected sources for finding books and journal topics online
Discuss how to develop search strategies
Discuss how to select article databases (and determine what’s in them)
Introduce a group of basic moves and features common to many online catalogs and indexes.
Practice using these features in selected databases.

3. The Information Universe
What Does It Contain?

4. The Information Universe
Books
Journals (Magazines) & Newspapers
Government docs
Maps
Media (video, sound recording, etc.)
Computer files (e.g. CD-ROMS, data files)
Dissertations
Manuscripts
& THE WEB…
The guy next to me
is soooo hot!

5. Not all books or journals are created equal
The Information Universe
Why/when books?
Why/when journals
Not all books or journals are created equal

6. The Information Universe
The guy next to me
is soooo hot!
…But how do you find this stuff?

7. Indexes (article databases)
The Information Universe
Library Catalog(s)
Journal/Newspaper
Indexes (article databases)

8. An inventory of what the library owns Search by Author, Title, Subject
Library Catalog(s)
Pathfinder: UCB Library holdings only
MELVYL (CDL cat): All 9 UC Campuses
An inventory of what the library owns
Search by Author, Title, Subject
Whole books and print and electronic journals, NOT what’s inside of those publications

9. Call # Get da Book in da Stax The Information Universe: Books
Look it Up in Pathfinder or MELVYL by Author, Title, or Subject :
Doherty, Thomas Patrick.
Teenagers and teenpics: the juvenilization of American movies in the 1950s
Philadelphia : Temple University Press, 2002.
UCB Main PN U6 D
Call #
Get da Book in da Stax

10. Article Databases (Indexes/Abstracts)
The Information Universe: Finding Articles
Article Databases (Indexes/Abstracts)
Produced by different commercial publishers; often look/act differently from one another.
Regularly updated (yearly, etc.)
Many come in both print & online
Allow subject/author searching in a group of journals in a particular discipline or topical area.
Some indexes also offer abstracts-- short description of article content
I know! I’ll
do my paper on
Marilyn Manson!
Yes!
Print Indexes Live!

11. full text!
links to UCB holdings

13. But Remember: Not everything is online!!!!!:
The Information Universe (Now)
Online is Cool
But Remember: Not everything is online!!!!!:
Article Databases: Generally only go back yrs online (some exceptions – e.g. Historical Newspapers)
Not every publication is indexed
Fairly small (but rapidly growing) subset of the books and journal universe is currently available in full-text

14. The Information Universe
Remember Also:
Not every topic has lots written about it, either in books or journal lit.
--Research on very current topics
--Research on radically specific topics
--Research on topics off the beaten academic track or off the pop culture radar

15. What to do if nothing is turning up:
The Information Universe (Now)
What to do if nothing is turning up:
Tweak your topic: Broaden it / select a different angle
Rethink your search strategy (new keywords, new concepts, etc.)
Bail out completely and choose another topic

16. The Net LibraryLand A few cautionary words about research on the Net
Google
Rocks!
The Net
LibraryLand

17. Choosing an Articles database (index)
Look at the alphabetical listing of all article databases available via the library
For Humanities and Social Sciences: check out FIND ARTICLES pull-down on the Doe/Moffitt Library page:
Listings of subject-specific electronic resources on individual branch library home pages

18. How to Begin? Before you click: THINK
Formulate your search in terms of
keyword and key phrases:
Reflection of the fear of uncontrolled science and technology and nuclear annihilation in the science fiction and horror films of the 1950’s

19. 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

20. 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
Cold War Fantasy and Horror Films

21. Once you’ve found something that looks promising,
Check out the “official” subject headings

22. Where and How to Look?
Asian new immigrant and second-generation American adolescents and assimilation, 1960’s-90’s (and the relation to the development of the “model minority.”
Development of the video gaming industry and ratings system in 1990’s in relation to youth
Popular connection of Chicano youth and the “gang” 1960’s-70’s
Youth activism and battles around desegregation in Oakland and in San Francisco’s Chinatown
Beauty culture and the adolescent girl in the post-war era
Psychiatric treatment of adolescents in mental health clinics in California, 1920’s-50’s.

23. Common Search Features:
Basic and Advanced Search Screens
Trunction: “wild card” that allows you to scoop up broader results:* # or ? Depending on db
--e.g.: Advertis* will give you:
advertise,
advertising,
advertisers,
advertisements
Search by keyword or by phrase
Search specific fields (e.g., SUBJECT, TITLE)
Use of AND, OR, NOT
<Bob Dylan and Robbie Robertson>
< Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen>
< Bob Dylan not Bruce Springsteen >

24. Common Search Features:
--Save list of good stuff
--Mail Articles/Citations to yourself

25. Connecting from off-campus
PROXY Server!

26. Before we plunge...questions???