Week Three Using online libraries and Databases

Lecture summary:

online databases and libraries are an extremely important source of informaion, especially for Univesity students who have to be accustomed to nothing else but research. Online databases and libraries are useful in that they are accesible 24/7. Most of this online are free. online databases and libraries are also current.




Tutorial Summary: This tutorial will be focussing at how to use online library to research information. It will also involve finding tips which help to searh information which you want.




us (-) signs in front of words to force their inclusion and/or exclusion in searches.EXAMPLE: +meat -potatoes(NO space between the sign and the keyword)

· Use double quotation marks (" ") around phrases to ensure they are searched exactly as is, with the words side by side in the same order.EXAMPLE: "bye bye miss american pie"(Do NOT put quotation marks around a single word.)

· Put your most important keywords first in the string.EXAMPLE: dog breed family pet choose

· Type keywords and phrases in lower case to find both lower and upper case versions. Typing capital letters will usually return only an exact match.EXAMPLE: president retrieves both president and President

· Use truncation (or stemming) and wildcards (e.g., *) to look for variations in spelling and word form.EXAMPLE: librar* returns library, libraries, librarian, etc.EXAMPLE: colo*r returns color (American spelling) and colour (British spelling)

· Combine phrases with keywords, using the double quotes and the plus (+) and/or minus (-) signs.EXAMPLE: +cowboys +"wild west" -football -dallas(In this case, if you use a keyword with a +sign, you must put the +sign in front of the phrase as well. When searching for a phrase alone, the +sign is not necessary.)

· When searching within a document for the location of your keyword(s), use the "find" command on that page.

· Know the default (basic) settings your search engine uses (OR or AND). This will have an effect on how you configure your search statement because, if you don't use any signs (+, -, " "), the engine will default to its own settings.

· Know whether or not the search engine you are using maintains a stop word list (see "Stop Words" Lesson 6.) If it does, don't use known stop words in your search statement. Also, consider trying your search on another engine that does not recognize stop words.

Photoshot of Global warming search

I think prospective students who aspire to be orthopedics would find this page useful, it helps with general introduction to the topic.

Reading summary: Finding what you want on the web:

There is now enough reference material available online that one do not need to have a multi-volume encyclopedia. However finding the right information a wide web is difficult and therefore one also need to judge whether the information being presented is credible. There are also important blogs out there which illuminates stories, subjects and point to other important sources of information.

Reading Two Summary: Basic seach tips

Use the plus (+) and minus (-) signs in front of words to force their inclusion and/or exclusion in searches. Use double quotation marks (" ") around phrases to ensure they are searched exactly as is, with the words side by side in the same order. Put your most important keywords first in the string. Type keywords and phrases in lower case to find both lower and upper case versions. Typing capital letters will usually return only an exact match. Use truncation (or stemming) and wildcards (e.g., *) to look for variations in spelling and word form. Combine phrases with keywords, using the double quotes and the plus (+) and/or minus (-) signs. When searching within a document for the location of your keyword(s), use the "find" command on that page. Know the default (basic) settings your search engine uses (OR or AND). Know whether or not the search engine you are using maintains a stop word list.