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+ | # Evaluating and Managing Search and Retrieval | ||
+ | Hi Class, welcome to the week where we begin to discuss how to evaluate and | ||
+ | manage search and retrieval. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ## Readings | ||
+ | |||
+ | This week we have one reading: Chapters 11 and 12 from our book by Cheryl Knott. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In addition to this lecture, I'll post a short demonstration video about how to | ||
+ | apply some of what we've learned here. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ## Introduction | ||
+ | |||
+ | As we wrap up Module 1, let's quickly review the main topics we've covered: | ||
+ | |||
+ | - database terminology | ||
+ | - multiple available databases and types of databases | ||
+ | - paywalled databases | ||
+ | - academic search complete (EBSCOhost) | ||
+ | - ProQuest | ||
+ | - free to use databases | ||
+ | - Google Scholar, etc. | ||
+ | - e-journal titles, searching | ||
+ | - strategic information seeking | ||
+ | - systematic browsing | ||
+ | - browsing strategies | ||
+ | - subject browsing | ||
+ | - controlled vocabulary | ||
+ | - author browsing | ||
+ | - citation browsing | ||
+ | - combination browsing | ||
+ | - Boolean logic | ||
+ | |||
+ | In our final week for Module 1, we're going to quickly follow up on how to | ||
+ | review how to evaluate and manage search results via individual databases. | ||
+ | We'll go a littler further than what we did in an earlier forum, where we | ||
+ | looked at creating lists in databases and such, and I'll refer to two databases | ||
+ | as examples, but these tools are available on many databases. So, if you find | ||
+ | that you use one of these databases a lot, like one of the databases that | ||
+ | you've highlighted and have written about already, then create an account and | ||
+ | take advantage of what they have or it has to offer. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ## Review data about each source | ||
+ | |||
+ | Let's say I'm interested in articles about the Lincoln and Douglas debates or | ||
+ | about the Lincoln and Douglas style of debating, and I do a search for that | ||
+ | term: | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | When I retrieve results, not all of the results will be relevant. To identify | ||
+ | potential relevant results, without reading all of the original documents, | ||
+ | which would be a waste of time, I can use the information on the results page | ||
+ | to help decide what may be useful. Things I want to look at, as we've already | ||
+ | discussed in previous weeks, include: | ||
+ | |||
+ | - the title: titles often contain important information that signify what a | ||
+ | paper or document is about, and so I want to read the title | ||
+ | - page length: is the page length reported? Is it long? Is it too short? | ||
+ | - recency: we have to be careful with recency. All research depends on the | ||
+ | research before it. Some of today' | ||
+ | work. In those cases, the previous research is useful, even if it's a bit | ||
+ | outdated. But in other cases, research refutes previous research---shows that | ||
+ | it was wrong. In those cases, we might just want to select the most recent. | ||
+ | - the abstract: The abstract is designed to summarize information about an | ||
+ | original source and is incredibly useful because it saves us time. There are | ||
+ | different kinds of abstracts, but the most helpful are ones that not only | ||
+ | tell us what a piece is about, but also tell us something about the methods, | ||
+ | findings, and conclusions. | ||
+ | - the descriptors/ | ||
+ | not only are they helpful in query formation, but they should also signal to | ||
+ | us what a piece is about, and are thus useful in selecting works to save. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ## Create accounts to manage sources | ||
+ | |||
+ | Most major database platforms provide a way to create an account. This is super | ||
+ | helpful if we want to use these platforms for managing search results. In the | ||
+ | next module, we'll begin looking at other products that help us to this, | ||
+ | products that are database neutral, but we may still want to use what the | ||
+ | database platform has to offer for some tasks. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In this slide, I'm in EBSCOHost' | ||
+ | created an account and have clicked on the Folder link/icon at the top right of | ||
+ | the page. Here, on the left, you can see a list of the default folders. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ## Database folders | ||
+ | |||
+ | Let's go back to my search results. After reviewing the title, subject terms, | ||
+ | abstract, and so forth for this first item in my results, I've decided that I | ||
+ | want to save and read it later because I think it'll be useful for the paper | ||
+ | I'm writing. To save it, I click on the folder icon just to the right of the | ||
+ | title, and then click on the My Folder icon to save it there. You can see there | ||
+ | there' | ||
+ | a folder that I've already created and where I've saved articles that are on | ||
+ | that topic. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ## Add and review | ||
+ | |||
+ | And that's it. Once I've saved it to my folder, I visit that folder to see what | ||
+ | I've saved, and then go back to my search results and continue adding and | ||
+ | reviewing. If I create multiple folders, I can copy or move these bibliographic | ||
+ | records to new ones. I keep iterating through this process until I've decided | ||
+ | that I'm done. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ## Export citations | ||
+ | |||
+ | We'll cover this a bit more next week, but it's helpful to know that I can | ||
+ | export the bibliographic information as citations. Here you have a list of some | ||
+ | of the standard file formats. We'll come back to this next week, but I | ||
+ | want you to see that it's there. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ## Review previous queries | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once I've iterated through the results based on my initial query, I can re-run | ||
+ | new queries, perhaps based on some subject terms I've found, and then revisit | ||
+ | my search history. I can review my search history, edit any queries there I've | ||
+ | found, and merge them with other queries using Boolean logic. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ## Share results | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are a number of ways you can share the results of a search or of | ||
+ | individual records. In *EBSCOHost*, | ||
+ | options to share all the results of the search, create an email alert, or | ||
+ | create an RSS feed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The permalink function, shown in this image, is meant to provide you with a URL | ||
+ | that will always return these results. Depending on the database, if the | ||
+ | database offers this, I've found that this can be hit or miss. That is, | ||
+ | sometimes it doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | E-mail alerts are great. The system will save your search and re-run it | ||
+ | periodically. Whenever new results are found that match your query, you'll | ||
+ | receive an email about it. This is useful, especially, for projects that you | ||
+ | know about in advance. E.g., say you know at the beginning of the semester that | ||
+ | you'll have to write about *lincoln douglas debates* later on in the semester. | ||
+ | If you set up the query at the beginning of the semester, a big part of your | ||
+ | work will be done (that is, searching) by the time you have to begin reading | ||
+ | and writing the paper. In short, let computers do as much of the work for you | ||
+ | as possible. Save yourself some time. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ## Other databases | ||
+ | |||
+ | Lots of other databases offer these and similar functionalities. In an earlier | ||
+ | forum, I showed how you can do similar things in *ProQuest*, *Web of Science*, | ||
+ | and *Google Scholar*. That is, I showed how we can save search results and | ||
+ | create create alerts for specific queries, just like *EBSCOHost* does. | ||
+ | |||
+ | If you have a big project, it might be useful to create alerts across a few | ||
+ | databases. That way you'll have your bases covered. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ## Conclusion | ||
+ | |||
+ | In conclusion: | ||
+ | |||
+ | - Review all article/ | ||
+ | - Manage search results within databases. Many databases help with this. | ||
+ | - Next week we'll begin reviewing bibliographic reference software. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Stay tuned for an additional video to show some of this in action. | ||
+ | </ |