Author Archives: kr128919

1) The three things that have been most useful to us as a group was the focused research question, because it taught us how to narrow down our search topics. The second thing was the BEAM model, because it made it easier for us to know how to use sources in a research paper. Lastly, we now have a better understanding of how to use databases properly.

2) We would like to have spent more time distinguishing between peer-reviewed and non-peer reviewed articles.

1.  The things that have been most useful for me this semester are the focused research question, using the databases, and the and vs. or for basic search. Before I was not aware that the primary objective of a research question is not to just sum up information from various sources, but rather use this information to come up with a conclusion of my own. The research question must therefore be very focused and specific, and this class has taught me how to do this. The databases were helpful because I probably would not known how to get the most out of them by using all the different features they have, to find the exact article or book that I am looking for. The basic searches were also very helpful, seeing as how I now know what keywords to use and how to use them so that I can get the best possible results.
2. I wish we had spent more time on going over the differences between peer-reviewed and non-peer reviewed articles, because at times I could still feel myself get confused between them.

In November 2004 Google scholar was officially launched, and made searching scholarly literature such as peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports accessible to the public.

newspaper article

Benn, Oliver. “Worthy Adversary; Google Scholar gives Westlaw, Lexis a run for their money; Tools of the Trade.” The Recorder 8 March 2010

magazine article

Young J. “Google Unveils a Search Engine Focused on Scholarly Materials.” Chronicle Of Higher Education December 3, 2004: pA34-A34 . print.

journal article

 Mayr, Philipp, and Anne-Kathrin Walter. “An exploratory study of Google Scholar.” Online Information Review 31.6 (2007): 814-30. Library Lit & Inf Full Text. Web. 14 Nov. 2011.

book

Miller, William, and Rita M. Pellen. Google Scholar and More: New Google Applications and Tools for Libraries and Library Users. London: Routledge, 2009. Print.

Reference USA provides information on millions of US and Canadian businesses, as well as residents. The information found from the searches is  mostly in numerical format- such as how many sales the companies have carried out, all of its business expenditures,  all the way to how many employees the company has.  There is no controlled vocabulary in conducting searches. A unique feature about this search is that each company overview contains a Google map feature which helps to automatically locate the companies location instantly.

LexisNexis provides users with many newspaper articles, as well as business, legal and reference information. There is controlled vocabulary, in order to help users narrow their searches down, and get information that is more relevant to their topic. The information on this database is usually given in article form. What’s unique about LexisNexis is that it has a category box called source, where users are given the opportunity to choose where they would want their article to come from, in order to set the standards for what kind of information it would contain.

The Namesake
Lahiri,Jhumpa
PS3562 .A316 N36 2004
Baruch College
Regular Loan
The types of materials that can be found in the catalogs are the books themselves,their locations, their call numbers, authors, the dates they were published,genres,etc. The catalogs don’t show you the critiques or reviews of the book.