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NEWSPAPERS AND NEWSPAPER INDEXES |
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Learning Objectives 1. To understand the role of newspapers in society and in bibliographic research. 2. To understand when to use a print newspaper index and when to use a computerized newspaper index. 3. To be made aware of bias in information sources, including newspapers, and utilize techniques to evaluate these sources. 4. To be able to
use the New York Times print index and the
PROQUEST computerized newspaper index. Instructions 1. Read Lesson eight and complete the accompanying exercises. 2. Turn in the completed lesson at the Reference Desk for grading. (Be sure to write in any hours spent working on the course on your log sheet).
THE ROLE OF NEWSPAPERS IN BIBLIOGRAPHIC RESEARCH The modern newspaper originated in 17th century England and is widely recognized as an important information source. They provide news, opinion, entertainment, advertising and other sorts of practical information. But more importantly, newspapers symbolize the idea of a free press in the United States. A free press is an essential component of participatory democracy and an important way for citizens to stay informed on the crucial issues of the day. No democracy can function effectively without a free press and the free flow of ideas that they facilitate. At the same time, readers must be aware that even newspapers contain bias in their reporting. The fact is, despite the journalistic ideal of "objectivity," every news story is influenced by the attitudes and background of its interviewers, writers, photographers and editors. Newspapers may earn a reputation for being more conservative or liberal in their coverage of events. Not all bias is deliberate. But we can become more aware news readers or viewers by looking for bias as we read the article. Find out as much as you can about a particular newspaper, magazine, or journal that has published the article. What company owns the publication? Who is the intended audience of the publication? Some of these questions may be answered in the book entitled, Magazines for Libraries (call # REF Z6941 .M23 PN4832 2000). Look up the publication name in the index at that back of this book for the entry number, then look for the entry number at the front of the book. There should be a paragraph description of the publication following the entry number. How are newspaper articles important in bibliographic research? The first and most obvious reason is that newspapers report on current events at the local, state, national, and international levels. Anytime you are doing research on current social issues, political events, or local/national/international news events, you should include newspaper articles in your reading. The second reason newspapers are important in bibliographic research stems from the invaluable historical perspective that newspapers offer. Newspapers allow you to go back in time and read descriptions and discussions of events written at the time they were happening. Historians refer to this as a "contemporary account" of an event, and few sources can match the historical insight these accounts provide. Furthermore, contemporary accounts in newspapers can be either primary or secondary source documents. (Recall from lesson six the definition of primary and secondary sources.) For example, the same newspaper on the same day in 1978 might have published a first-hand account of the 1978 Three-Mile Island nuclear reactor accident written by a reporter at the scene (a primary source), as well as an editorial urging greater nuclear plant safeguards (a secondary source). In addition to straight news coverage, newspapers are also important in research for other types of information they provide, including:
It is important
to remember, however, that newspaper articles are regarded as popular
publications -- not scholarly sources. In fact, because newspaper
publishers, editors, and writers face a variety of commercial
pressures and ideological conflicts, their articles must be carefully
evaluated for accuracy, objectivity, and fairness. LISTENING EXERCISE Using the Internet, listen to the archived radio program discussed below and answer the following questions. To listen to the radio program located on the National Public Radio website you will need a computer with speakers and the RealAudio software (RealAudio can be downloaded for free at http://www.real.com/player/index.html?src=404). If you do not have access to such a computer, the assistive technology computer in the Caņada Library is set-up with RealAudio and headphones. Follow the steps below to access a radio program called "Two Views of Media Bias":
__________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 2) POST YOUR ANSER TO THE QUESTION ABOVE ON THE CLASS DISCUSSION BOARD AND REPLY TO ANOTHER STUDENT'S POSTING ON THIS TOPIC! Use the discussion guidelines and phrases from the Discussion Board Lesson when posting a reply. NEWSPAPER INDEXES - PRINT AND COMPUTERIZED In order to find newspaper articles on a topic, you must use a newspaper index, which are available in both print and computerized formats. Print newspaper indexes are published quarterly (with annual cumulations), and cite news stories from only one newspaper. The year covered by each annual volume is printed on the spine. The citations within each volume are categorized by subject heading. The subject headings in each volume are in one long list, "A" through "Z." Below each subject heading you'll find citations to articles on that subject and sometimes cross-references. Each citation will contain the date, section, page and column number, and length of the article. Unlike periodical indexes, however, print newspaper indexes do not give the title or headline of the story. Instead, a brief summary of the article is given. Print indexes do not include the full-text of the article. Locating articles using print indexes is a two step process. First, you must look up your topic in the index and write down the citation information. Next, using that citation information you have to physically locate the article and make copies (usually the older articles will be on microfilm). Computerized newspaper indexes are significantly different from their print counterparts in terms of scope and features. Computerized versions have a broader scope (i.e. they cover several years instead of one year at a time), often index more than one newspaper, and sometimes offer full-text. In terms of features, they often offer keyword searching with logical operators, subject searching, and field searching. They also allow you to print, download, and sometimes e-mail citations and/or text. As with periodical indexes, it is important to know when to use a print newspaper index instead of a computerized version. In general, you will need to use a print index if the topic you're researching was in the news prior to 1985. Also keep in mind that if you're researching a topic from pre-1985, the newspaper articles themselves will probably only be available from your library's microfilm collection. One final point
about using newspapers and newspaper indexes. Nationally prominent
newspapers, such as the New York Times or Washington
Post,
publish different editions, i.e. versions, of each
day's paper. There may be regional editions (national, east coast,
west coast), or editions varying by time of day (morning, evening,
late). The edition you read depends on the edition of the newspaper
made available at your library. Newspapers usually indicate their
edition at the upper right hand corner of the front page, or, if
using a computerized index with full-text, in a separate field of the
bibliographic record. LOCATING ARTICLES IN THE NEW YORK TIMES Caņada Library carries the New York Times newspaper going all the way back to 1961. To search for articles in the older issues you must use the print index called the New York Times Index. This index is kept on top of the microfilm cabinets in the Reference area. Using the print version of the New York Times Index can be confusing so here are some tips:
To search for articles in the more current issues you should use the online index called Proquest . Most of the articles in Proquest are available in full-text. This means you can print the article off the computer rather than looking in the index for a citation and then going to the microfilm to view the article. To access Proquest from the Caņada Library homepage, click on Locating Articles and then click on On Campus. A list of databases will appear. Scroll down to the heading of Newspapers and click on Proquest. Some of the articles listed in Proquest are not full-text. To locate these articles you will need to write down the citation and look for the article on microfilm (like you did with the print index). The Caņada Library has current issues of the New York Times on microfilm but the delivery is usually about six months behind schedule. NEW YORK TIMES PRINT INDEX EXERCISE Now that you know about the importance of newspapers in research and the basic principles of using the print New York Times index, complete the following exercise (Ask the Librarian to escort you to the staff room where this index is kept). 3) Disco music and disco dancing were extremely popular in the 1970's. Assume that you're researching this aspect of 1970's popular culture and find one article that discusses this phenomenon. This article can discuss any aspect of the 70's disco craze. Use any of the NYT index volumes from 1976 to 1979. Article summary: (Quote from index. Use only part of summary if it's lengthy.) ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Date of article (include year): _____________________ Section:
______________ Page: _________ Column: __________ Article
Length:__Short _____Medium_____Long___(circle your answer) 4) The film "Amityville Horror" was released in 1979 and reviewed in the New York Times in the same year. Provide the following information from the citation for the review of this film: Date of NYT review (include year) : _________________________ Section:
________ Page: _________ Column: ________ 5) Find the citation for the New York Times review published in 1979 of a book entitled The Red Limit: The Search for the Edge of the Universe, by Timothy Ferris, and provide the following information: Author of the review: _______________________________________ Date of NYT review (include year): _____________________ Section: ______ Page: ________ Column: _________
PROQUEST is a computerized newspaper index available to subscribers only. It provides citations, abstracts, and the full-text of thousands of articles in selected newspapers. Caņada Library has a paid online subscription to 6 nationally prominent newspapers through PROQUEST:
These 6 newspapers cover regional, national, and international news. The San Francisco Chronicle is especially good for coverage of local and state news. Anytime you are doing research on recent social issues, political events, or national/international news events, you should search a computerized newspaper index such as PROQUEST. You will find the full-text of many, but not all, articles from these 6 newspapers going back to the early 90's. (Selected articles from the 1980's are included for some of the newspapers).
As with most bibliographic databases, you can search ProQuest by keyword or subject. On ProQuest, simple keyword searching is called "Search by Word - Basic." Getting to the Advanced search screen can be confusing. Follow the following directions careful. Advanced keyword searching is called "Search by Word - Guided." To use the Advance Search mode, click on Search Methods and choose Guided(do not choose Advanced). When using ProQuest, keep the following in mind:
To access PROQUEST you must use a computer on campus. Follow these directions to search Proquest :
6) Assume that you're looking for newspaper articles that discuss recent speculation among scientists about extraterrestrial life on Mars based on new evidence suggesting the presence of water in the planet's distant past. You've worded your topic as follows: What does recent evidence about water on Mars suggest about the possibility of life there? This topic can
be divided into three concepts. Identify them below: Concept #1: _______________________ Concept #2: _______________________ Concept #3:
_______________________ 7) Next, identify
synonyms or related terms for each concept and link them together
with the OR operator. Search statement
#1: _________________ OR _______________ OR ____________________ Search statement
#2: _________________ OR _________________ OR ___________________ Search statement
#3: __________________ OR____________________ OR ______________
8) How many hits did your search
retrieve? ______ 9) Choose one relevant news story (beware of false hits) from the results list and provide the following information for the article you've chosen:
Newspaper date:
__________________________________ Article headline:______________________________________________________________
In the previous assignment, you found magazine and journal articles on EBSCOhost by running an advanced keyword search using Boolean logic. The rest of this assignment asks you to use the same approach on PROQUEST and find a newspaper article on your topic. 10) Begin by writing below the exact wording of your research question.
______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________
Concept #1:
_____________ OR ______________ OR _____________ Concept #2:
______________ OR ______________ OR ____________ Concept #3:
_______________ OR________________ OR _________ (NOTE: Your topic should have at least 2 concepts and not more than 4. These should be the same concepts you used in Lesson 7.) 11) Write out your search statements (synonymous terms linked with OR) for each concept.
Search statement
#2: _____________________________________________________
[VERY IMPORTANT: When you're ready to begin your search, scroll to the top of the screen and click on "New Search" in the upper left part of the screen. If you're returned to the "Search by Word - Basic" screen, click on "Guided".]
12) How many hits did your search
retrieve? _______ IMPORTANT: If
ProQuest didn't find any relevant articles on your topic, please run
your search again by changing the date range on the guided search
screen from "Current" to "Backfile." If there are still no relevant
results, try "Deep Backfile." If you're still having trouble, please
see instructor. 13) Choose one news story
relevant
to your topic and provide the following
information for the article you've chosen: Newspaper title: ________________________________________________________
Does the full-text of the article accompany the citation? YES or NO (circle your answer)
LESSON 8: KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER
15) Briefly describe the two main reasons (given in this lesson) that newspapers are important in bibliographic research:
What do they offer instead? _____________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
21) For what length of time does Caņada Library keep these print newspapers? ________________________________ LESSON EVALUATION 22) What is the most important thing you learned from this lesson? _________________________________________________________________________ 23) What questions do you still have about the topics covered in this lesson? _________________________________________________________________________ |
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Adapted from LSCI 100: Introduction to Information Resources, Skyline College. Content by Dennis Wolbers, edited & designed by Eric Brenner, Skyline College, San Bruno, CA |