WEEK THREE

14.03.08

USING ONLINE LIBRARIES & DATABASES

Lecture
In the lecture for week three Helen told us to get into pairs and write what a Online Database is. I didn't know what one was. I learnt that they are a online program that stores information, book, pictures and articles. You can find books, journals, research and information on a Online Database. The advantages of a Online Database are:

• You have access to the database 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• The information is very currant
• You can order the information from the database through the library.
  
  The disadvantages of a Online Database are:
• Some databases are only accessed by subscription or password only.
• Some information is not updated. (usually on a database anything 5 years old is out of date)
• Sometimes its a information overload (if not your not specific with 'key words' when searching some topic can come up with 15000 or more findings.
  

Helen also explained that referencing any of the article's or journals used from the Online Databases is very important. The reference has to be accurate and in APA format. Tutorial Following up what we learnt in the

Tutorial
Task 1.
Gary showed us how to access to Online Journals and Article using the ECU Library Home Page.
Our task was to spend some time going through the search functions on the Library Home Page.

This is the screen capture of the ECU Library Home Page.

TASK 2.

Once we had accessed this, we were then given a task to search a topic. Before we did so, Gary gave us tips on how to narrow our search down by using a key term. Some tips were:

• Recognise the "key term" (ie. Global Warming)
• Type the key term with quotations " ........"
• Use AND not OR when using the advanced searching boxes (ie economic impact AND business)
• Use the drop down boxes next to then key words used in the AND sections. Change these to subject, title etc.
  
  

This is a screen capture of searching for a journal article.

We were then told to search the topic 'the economic impact of global warming on business'. Using the tips above was able to search 5 different findings on topic words I had typed in. The Online Database and tips given on how to do advanced searching will be a huge help for UPC0002 Research and Writing Processes.

This is a screen capture of some of the results from my search.


Task 4.
The next task was to visit the web site http://www.medlineplus.gov/ and spend time going through the health topics and drug information.

This is a screen capture of the Mediline Web site.

Task 7.
I believe anyone can use this helpful website. It covers a wide range of different health issues and topics that are easy to understand, and are very Insightful. People who may be worried about a certain issue who may not be able to afford to go to the local doctor might use this sight to get more of an idea what may be worrying them.

Reading.
Week three's reading was all about finding what you want on the web. It also included how it was important not to think Google was the only effective search engine.
It included how to also be a good online research and how to look for go good research.













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