LEARNING OBJECTIVES

* To know what a Web database is and how Web databases are used to search the “Deep Web.”

* To be able to recognize different types of Web databases.

*To understand the different kinds of periodicals

* To know how to revise a search if results are not satisfactory.

1. PREFACE

In Lesson 2, we discussed the importance of books and library online catalogs. In this lesson, we expand our search for information sources to include information found in Web databases, in particular periodical articles.

2. WHAT IS A WEB DATABASE?

The Deep Web contains information – often of high quality – that Google, Yahoo, etc. cannot access. Here is a more formal definition: ”Material (text, files, or other often high-quality authoritative information) available via the Web that general-purpose search engines cannot, due to technical limitations, or will not, due to deliberate choice, add to their collections of Web pages” (Sherman and Price 57).

How much information is in the Deep Web? An estimated 50% of the total information on the Internet is contained within the Deep Web. In order to find information in the Deep Web, you have to know how to access it, and here is where Web databases come into play. Information stored within Web databases make up the lion’s share of the Deep Web. A Web database is an organized collection of information created and maintained by businesses, government agencies, professional and scholarly groups, and many other credible organizations. Examples include: PsychInfo (for paid subscribers) and PubMed (free).

3. TYPES OF WEB DATABASES

Thousands of Web databases exist on the Internet. Some are free and some are by paid subscription only. (In many cases, your local public or school library is a paid subscriber on your behalf.) Fee-based databases are called subscription databases, proprietary databases, or premium Web databases.

Listed below are the major types of Web databases and examples of each type:

Periodical databases
InfoTrac Expanded Academic ASAP (subscription)
Social Issues Research Series (subscription)
ProQuest Biology Journals (subscription)
ERIC (abstracts only – education journals) (free)
PubMed (abstracts only – medical journals) (free)
InfoTrac Newspapers

Government databases
California Legal Codes (free)
Thomas (federal legislative information) (free)
Bureau of Justice Statistics (free)

Statistical databases
US Census (free)
Counting Calfornia (free)
Statistical Abstract of the United States (free)

Media databases
Associated Press Photo Archive (subscription)
National Public Radio Audio Database (free)

Databases from non-profit and scholarly organizations
American Society of Microbiology Journals (subscription)
PsychInfo (abstracts only – psychology journals published by the
American Psychological Association) (subscription)
Public Policy Institute of California (free)
The Universal Virus Database of the International Committee on
Taxonomy of Viruses (free)

Primary sources databases
The Library of Congress American Memory Project (free)
National Archives and Records Administration (free)
North American Slave Narratives (free)

Web databases are essential to research because they provide an enormous variety of credible information, in particular carefully researched periodical articles written by journalists, scholars, or other experts. Periodical articles are normally selected and approved by publishers or editorial boards, thus enhancing their authoritativeness. In this lesson, we will take a close look at how to use periodical databases to find periodical articles.

It is important to understand that articles available through periodical subscription databases are usually not available for free on the Web. This is because these articles were originally published in print editions of commercial periodicals. These periodicals make money by selling copies and they own the copyright (legal rights) to all their articles. Database producers pay for the right to include these articles in their database and, in turn, they charge subscribers for the privilege of accessing their database. Libraries are willing to pay these fees because of the high quality information these articles provide.

4. PERIODICALS AND THEIR IMPORTANCE IN RESEARCH

A periodical is publication such as a magazine, journal, or newspaper. They’re called periodicals because they’re published at periodic intervals—that is, daily, weekly, monthly, etc. They are extremely important sources of information and are almost always included in research projects on any topic because:

* They offer the most recent discussions and opinions, especially on scientific, technological, and political topics.

* Topics too new or esoteric to be in a book or encyclopedia might be found in periodicals.

* Many periodicals represent or advocate a certain political or ideological stance. Searching for periodical articles, therefore, will expose you to differing viewpoints, especially on controversial issues.

* Periodical articles are more concise and narrowly focused than books. Viewpoints and discussions that don’t warrant an entire book can often be found in periodicals.

* Scholarly periodical articles offer references to other books and articles possibly relevant to your topic.

* Periodicals provide a historical record of past ideas, opinions, accomplishments, and social problems.

Periodicals are especially important to scholars because they facilitate what is known as scholarly communication. When researchers want to share their discoveries, scientific findings, or intellectual discussions, they usually publish articles in academic journals rather than books. Scholars and students, therefore, depend upon periodicals to share ideas and learn about recent advances in their field.

Skilled researchers are able to recognize the types of articles that appear in periodicals. The 4 most common types of periodical articles are:

News articles: a straightforward, objective account of a news event.

Example:

The New York Times, Oct 18, 2002 pA5(N) pA5(L) col 1 (18 col in)

Matching India's move, Pakistan will pull troops from border. (International Pages) David Rohde.

Editorials: views and opinions on important contemporary issues.

Example:

The American Prospect, Oct 7, 2002 v13 i18 p3(1)

No choice but war? (Comment). (US-Iraq relations)(Editorial)
Paul Starr.

Research articles: a formal report describing original research. The experimental methodology, data, and conclusions are fully discussed.

Example:

JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association, April 10, 2002 v287 i14 p1815(7)

Fish and omega-3 fatty acid intake and risk of coronary heart disease in women. (Original Contribution). Frank B. Hu; Leslie Bronner; Walter C. Willett; Meir J. Stampfer; Kathryn M. Rexrode; Christine M. Albert; David Hunter; JoAnn E. Manson.

Abstract: Women who eat fish on a regular basis may reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease, according to a study of 84,688 female nurses participating in the Nurses' Health Study since 1980. Fish contain oils called omega-3 fatty acids, which have been linked to a lower risk of heart disease in men. This is the first long-term study to confirm the health effects of fish oils in women.

Book Reviews: a summary and critical evaluation of the organization, content, and style of a book.

In the example below, a book entitled Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy, is reviewed in an article published in a journal called Mind.

Mind, April 2001 v110 i438 p430(3)

Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy. (Review) Mark Sainsbury.

5. TYPES OF PERIODICALS

There are 4 types of periodicals:

1) Scholarly and Research Journals
2) Professional Magazines and Journals
3) Popular Magazines and News Magazines
4) Newspapers

1) Scholarly and Research Journals – specialized publications intended for scholars and students of a particular discipline or subject.

Studies in European History
American Historical Review
Annals of Internal Medicine
Quarterly Review of Film Studies
Journal of the American Medical Association
Advances in Biochemistry

CAUTION: A periodical that has the word “journal” in its title is not necessarily a scholarly journal. For example, Ladies Home Journal is not a scholarly journal, even though the term appears in its title.

Articles in scholarly journals are written by highly educated people (often holding Masters or PhD degrees) who are often experts, practitioners and teachers in specialized academic fields. They write articles as a way to communicate with other scholars and add to the knowledge base of their discipline, always carefully citing their sources in footnotes and/or bibliographies.

Many scholarly journals will not publish an article until it has been reviewed by an editorial board to insure that it meets certain standards of scholarly quality. A publication that requires this formal review is known as a refereed journal or peer-reviewed journal. “Peer-reviewed” implies that one’s scholarly peers review your work. Both terms mean the same thing.

2) Professional Magazines and Journals – publications that report on news and developments in a particular profession, academic field, trade, or industry. Unlike scholarly journals, they do not publish original research. Instead, they concentrate on news and trends in a particular profession or industry. Examples include:

American Psychologist (covers the psychology profession)
American Music Teacher (covers the music teaching profession)
Legal Assistant Today (covers the legal assistant profession)
Automotive News (covers the automotive industry)
PC Week (covers the computing industry)
Paper Trade Journal (covers a specific trade)

3) Popular Magazines and News Magazines -- commercial publications intended for the general reader.

Popular magazines focus on popular culture, i.e. entertainment, cultural trends, sports, hobbies, etc.

Vibe
People

News magazines report on national and international current events, social and political trends, public opinion, and popular culture. They often offer valuable explanations and interpretations of events both at home and abroad.

Newsweek
Time

4) Newspapers – daily publications that provide local, national, and international news, editorials, entertainment, advertising and other sorts of practical information.

New York Times
San Francisco Chronicle
Washington Post

6. PERIODICAL DATABASES

More than 165,000 periodicals are published worldwide. Given this vast number of magazines, journals, and newspapers, how do you find articles on your topic?

The key to finding periodical articles is to search a periodical database. (A periodical database is a type of Web database.) They provide articles published in selected magazines, journals, and/or newspapers during a specified time period. Therefore, just as you can use an online catalog to look up books on a topic, you can use a periodical database to find articles on a topic.

No single periodical database covers all the periodicals being published. Instead, a periodical database lists articles from a specific set of periodicals, on specific subjects, for a specified time period. This is what’s called the scope of a database. Before using a database, it’s always a good idea to learn its scope. What subject(s) does it cover? What periodicals are indexed? For what time period?

Many periodical databases offer the full-text of some or all of the articles listed. (“Full-text” means the entire content of the article is there for you to display on the screen, print, download, or email.) This is a very convenient feature since it makes finding the actual paper copy of the publication unnecessary. If the full-text is not available, most indexes will offer an abstract (summary) with the citation.

Even though periodical databases have become a standard tool in research, it is good to know when you might need to use print periodical indexes. In general, no periodical database includes articles published before 1980. Therefore, if you are researching a topic that was in the news or widely discussed prior to 1980, your best choice would be a print index. For example, if you wanted a magazine article describing the moon landing written at the time it occurred (1969), you would have to consult a print index.

Periodical databases are produced and sold by commercial publishers and used nationwide. In other words, a periodical database is not based on a particular library’s collection of magazines and journals. Finding a citation in a database does not necessarily mean that your library can provide the actual issue of the periodical. You must find out if your library subscribes to that periodical. (This is less crucial if you are using a full-text or partial full-text periodical database.)

Truncation and "Wildcards"

It is common to find that several search terms identified for a single concept may begin with the same root. For example, for the concept economy, you may also want to include economic or economics or economist. Instead of listing all of these terms separately, many databases allow a search procedure called truncation. The truncation feature lets you use a special symbol to search for any words beginning with a particular root. The most common truncation symbol used by many databases is the asterisk (*), but some databases use the question mark (?), or the exclamation point (!). In our search example, we could use truncation to search for "economy" or "economic" or "economics" or "economist" by simply entering "econom*" in the InfoTrac or Gale databases. It is important to be careful when using truncation, because if you truncate after too short of a stem, you might retrieve words that you don't want. If you used eco* instead of econom*, for example, you would also retrieve records with the words ecology or ecosystem.

In addition to the use of truncation for words with same root but different endings, some databases allow the use of a special symbol, often called a wildcard, in the middle of a word to search for spelling variations such as adviser or advisor. The "wildcard" symbol would be used in place of the letter that may vary—e.g., advis?r would find either adviser or advisor.

7. REVISING YOUR SEARCH

If your search finds too few records:

• one of your concepts may be limiting your search too much and may have to be excluded

OR

• you might be missing important search terms for one or more concepts

If your search finds too many records:

• one or more of your search terms may be too broad

OR

• you may need to focus your search further by adding another search statement corresponding to an additional concept

Finally, if your search is retrieving too many false hits (irrelevant records), you should re-examine your concepts and search terms and make sure they accurately and completely cover the main ideas of your research question. False hits are a common problem when doing keyword searching, usually because your search terms are being used in an article in a context not relevant to your topic. For example, the term “dating” could pull up articles on radiocarbon dating as well as on relationships. The database does not know which you are interested in.

If you’re having a problem finding relevant records, you may want to contact the librarian who can review your search strategy and suggest other advanced search techniques—such as proximity operators or field searching—that might be helpful.

12. KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER

* Vast amounts of information that search engines such as Google cannot find are available in the Deep Web.

* Web databases are used to access information in the Deep Web. Thousands of Web databases exist.

* A periodical database is a type of Web database. They provide articles published in selected magazines, journals, and/or newspapers during a specified time period.

* A periodical is a publication—such as a magazine, journal, or newspaper—that’s published at periodic intervals, i.e. daily, monthly, etc. They’re very important sources of information for a variety of reasons and almost any research project should include them.

* The four most common types of periodical articles are news articles, editorials, research articles, and book reviews.

* There are 4 types of periodicals:

1) scholarly and research journals

2) professional magazines and journals

4) popular magazines and news magazines

5) newspapers

Lesson 3 Assignment

Please answer all of the questions below and then email your completed assignment to Dave Patterson at pattersond@smccd.net .

1. What is the Deep Web?

2. Why are we making such a big deal about it?

3. Give one reason that explains why periodical articles are almost always included in research projects.

4. TRUE or FALSE: In general, scholars and scientists publish their discoveries, experiments, and new ideas in scholarly journals rather than books.

5. Which type of periodical article is a formal report describing original research?

6. TRUE or FALSE: If the word “journal” appears in the title of a periodical, it is always safe to assume it is a scholarly journal.

7. TRUE or FALSE: A refereed journal is a journal that examines the role of the referee in sports.

8. Based on feedback you received from your instructor on Assignments #1 and 2, develop your final research question. The question should include two to four concepts. This is the research question you will use for the rest of this course. See “Guidelines for Choosing a Topic” in Lesson 1).

Write your research question below. (For example: How does violence on television news shows affect children?) (1 point).
.

Use Expanded Academic ASAP database to carry out an advanced search on your research question.

11. Type below the exact search statements you typed in each entry box for your search. Include truncation symbols if you use them. (5 points)

12. How many magazine and journal articles did your search retrieve?

How many news articles did your search retrieve?

Select 2 articles on your research question. Try to find articles that present two different perspectives on your question. (If you can’t find different perspectives, just find the two articles most appropriate to your research question.)

13. Copy and paste below the full citations of the two articles you selected. (Include author, title, periodical title, date & pages, NOT the abstract or full text.) (2 points)

Revised for Cañada College Library by Lynne Vieth and Dave Patterson, July 2006.

These materials may be used for educational purposes if you inform and credit the author, Eric Brenner, and cite the source as “LSCI 100, Introduction to Information Research.” All commercial rights are reserved. To contact the author, send comments/suggestions to Brenner@smccd.net .