Andre S.

Dvila MEDT 7474 Fall 2013 Index & Abstract Reference Logs

Academic Search Complete. (2013). Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/search/advanced?sid=e1d56f5b-3ce5-4796-a4b56fb7a2321352%40sessionmgr13&vid=1&hid=14. "EBSCOhost is a powerful online reference system accessible via the Internet. It offers a variety of proprietary full text databases and popular databases from leading information providers. The comprehensive databases range from general reference collections to specially designed, subject-specific databases for public, academic, medical, corporate and school libraries." (EBSCOhost, 2013) With more than 12,500 publications indexed and more than 8,500 in full text, EBSCOhost is one of the top four comprehensive multidisciplinary databases mentioned in our course text. Besides indexing periodicals, it has abstracts, case studies, interviews, letters, poems, speeches, and other types of reference. "A scholarly, multidisciplinary database providing indexing and abstracts for over 10,000 publications, including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, and others. Also includes full-text access to over 5,000 journals. Offers coverage of many areas of academic study including: archaeology, area studies, astronomy, biology, chemistry, civil engineering, electrical engineering, ethnic & multicultural studies, food science & technology, general science, geography, geology, law, mathematics, mechanical engineering, music, physics, psychology, religion & theology, women's studies, and other fields." (WorldCat, 2013) Academic Search Complete would be a tool for high school and beyond. The basic search screen includes main tabs for New Search, Publications, Subject Terms, Cited References, and a More tab for Images and Indexes. There is an alphabetical or subject & description option on the Publications tab. The16 Subject Terms to browse include the following databases: General/News, Arts/Architecture, Business/Economics, Commerce/Media, Computer Science/Engineering, Earth/Environment, Education, Gender//Sexuality, Health Sciences, History, Law/Political Science, Life Sciences, Literature, Performing Arts/Theatre, Philosophy/Religion, and Psychology/Sociology. Subjects can be searched by "Term begins with", "Term contains" or "Relevancy ranked". Cited References can be searched by Author, Title, Source, Year or All of those fields. The six other smaller tabs on the home screen are Folder, Preferences (General Settings, Result Display options, and Print, E-mail, and Save/Export options such as citations listed in particular format, like APA style), Languages (29 available), New Features, Ask a Librarian (this link didn't work), and Help (detailed description of areas where users might need assistance). Under the tabs, other search options included "Boolean/Phrase", "Find all my search terms", "Find any of my search terms", and "SmartText Searching". A teacher or media specialist could lead a demonstration on the interactive white board on how to search for information on this index database. The students could practice the skills as they were being introduced as well as use the source in the future for a variety of assignments. Grades: 9th and older. Subject(s): All. Overall rating: 10.

SIRS Discoverer. (2013). Retrieved from http://discoverer.prod.sirs.com/discoweb/disco/do/frontpage. I had never heard of SIRS Discoverer until this course. In reviewing the demo site, I was able to learn about the content and the features of the database. For example, the articles are in full-text and include summaries. There are over 40,000 subjects as well as high-quality images and illustrations and over 9,000 monitored educational weblinks. Biographies, current and historical maps, kids' world almanac, dictionary, thesaurus, and Compton's Encyclopedia (by Britannica) all make the rich content so appealing to the elementary student user. The teachers have the benefit of resources being aligned to Common Core standards as well as the variety of leveled reading options with varied text complexity. Media Specialists could use this database to show how to easy click and save citations in MLA format for research. Critical thinking and information literacy skills are promoted within the high-interest non-fiction magazine and newspaper articles along with graphs, tables, etc. Among the special features is Skills Discoverer, which includes activities that practice skills in curriculum-based subject areas. "SIRS is truly different than any other provider. As the only resource for materials targeted to student research, SIRS provides safe and current content for students with varied reading abilities. All content is hand-selected and indexed from over 2,100+ reliable high-quality sources. SIRS Discoverer is created with special care to provide for differentiated instruction and information literacy requirements in aligned with curriculum, popular research projects and homework help . Discoverer is much more than the typical dumbed-down collection of resources behind a graphical interface." Grades: K-5. Subject(s): All. Overall rating: 10.

Kids Search. (2013). Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/srck5/search?sid=df454031-383e-4a9c-95f0d0f25ee2c269%40sessionmgr15&vid=5&hid=14. EBSCOhost's K-8 database information and title lists index includes Primary Search, Middle Search Plus, Newspaper Source, Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, and Book Collection: Nonfiction. Primary Search is useful for the elementary school level (K-5) as a full-text database with information back to 1990, "covering more than 80, popular elementary school magazines; EBSCO's Middle Search Plus, with the full text of more than 140 popular, middle school magazines." There are also photos, maps, flags, and historical essays. These resources have journal content and "supplementary reference material useful to students such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, and biographical sources." (Bopp & Smith, 2011). "Newspaper Source provides cover-to-cover full text for more than 40 (U.S.) & international newspapers. The database also contains selective full text for 389 regional (U.S.) newspapers. In addition, full text television & radio news transcripts are also provided." This is an enormous amount of information, however it is an easy process to search for what's needed with simplistic hyperlinks, etc. New World provides over 25,000 entries to support the student research index. "Book Collection: Nonfiction is a rich research database for school and public libraries. It contains informative abstracts and searchable full text for more than 4,100 popular nonfiction books. The database includes full text entries on core subject areas, as well as information on careers, health, sports, adventure, technology, life skills and more." "Book Collection: Nonfiction is a cross-curricular research database that contains abstracts and searchable full text for more than 4,000 popular nonfiction books for youth on core subject areas, as well as information on careers, health, sports, adventure, technology, life skills, and more. It provides content representing a wide spectrum of works, including popular series from top book publishers such as Allosaurus Publishers, Bess Press, Inc., Branden Publishing, Capstone Press, Compass Point Books, Fulcrum Publishing, Lerner Publishing Group, Mason Crest Publishers, Morgan Reynolds, Inc., Morning Glory Press, Oliver Press, Rourke Publishing, LLC and Stackpole Books." The abstracts are a very helpful resource for a "kid" as they learn to research. Some materials might not be appropriate for the course of study, while others are right on target. The keyword search alone often times is too inclusive, but after Boolean searching, etc. the abstracts would serve as an additional discriminator. Teachers and media specialists could use these collected databases with this population to teach research skills. Both the faculty and the students could be the audience on different occasions, the former to learn the search tricks (hints for more relevant hits) and the latter for initial instruction and/or review. Grades: K-8. Subject(s): All Overall rating: 10.

Ethnic NewsWatch. (2013). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/ethnicnewswatch/advanced?accountid=15017. Ethnic News Watch offers a "full-text collection of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press." There are 18 formats for search retrievals on this index by ProQuest. Searches can be made for the following: Artistic Works, Audio & Video Works, Blogs, Podcasts & Websites, Books, Conference Papers & Proceedings, Funds, Grants, Fellowships & Awards, Encyclopedias & Reference Works, Dissertations & Theses, Evidence-Based Medical Resources, Government & Official Publications, Historical Newspapers, Magazines, Newspapers, Pamphlets & Ephemeral Works, Reports, Scholarly Journals, and "Other". "My Research is an area of ProQuest where you can store and save documents and searches. You can add documents and view your search history for the current session. However, nothing is saved when the current session ends unless you create a My Research account. A My Research account also provides a place for you to manage any alerts or RSS feeds that you might create, as well as create shared lists and tags." Students in high school and above, as well as any adult who wanted to research news stories from an ethnic index of databases, have an updated and reliable place to find information. The six divisions of ethnicities are arranged as follows: African American/Caribbean/African, Arab/Middle Eastern, Asian/Pacific Islander, European/Eastern European, Hispanic, Jewish, Multi-Ethnic. As well, the foreign language options for the news comes in Cherokee, Danish, English, Estonian, French, German, Hindi, Hmong, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Tagalog, Yiddish. Grades: 9th and older. Subject(s): News and Current Events (ethnic, minority & native). Overall rating: 10.

ERIC- Educational Resources Information Center. (2013). Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/search/basic?sid=4c0bc74c-928b-461f-9c76-8f46f1b1bcb5%40 sessionmgr10&vid=1&hid=16. "ERIC (at EBSCOhost), Educational Resources Information Center, database covers all aspects of education and educational research. ERIC provides access to education-related resources, including journal and nonjournal bibliographic information." High school and college students and general adult users would be able to use this index to find a numerous subject terms. The search options allow for intended audience and educational level. As well, all of the Boolean and other helpful advanced search options are included as it's layout mirrors the other EBSCOhost databases that I reviewed. "Types of non-journal materials indexed in ERIC include books; conference proceedings and selected presentations; literature reviews and bibliographies; Congressional hearings and reports; reports on federal/state standards, testing, and regulations; research reports; U.S. Department of Education and contractor reports; and working papers from established research and policy organizations." Materials indexed through July 2004 also included lesson plans. Thesaurus and Index are the two main tabs on the home page. As a student studying Elementary Education for my B.S. and M.Ed., I often had ERIC mentioned in classes. Reference librarians had to help me retrieve articles that I would need or show me where particular books were located. Teachers in classrooms today can find information at a glance with ERIC whenever they need scholarly resources for their classroom lessons or any of the above mentioned hot topics (standards, testing, etc.). Grades: 9th and older + General audience. Subject(s): Education & Education Research. Overall rating: 10.