Search Engines to find topics
Days 3 & 4
Using a database search engine to find a topic can be a relatively smooth running operation, or it can be frustratingly complicated. It depends on the topic for which one is searching. If I want to know about Lenin's Bolsheviks during the 1917 Russian Revolution, I could try a variety of different search calls. The name Lenin might seem promising, but when using that name I get hundreds of hits - far too many to handle. Most of the articles are not related to the specific topic I want. This means I have to refine the search. I might try something like the Russian Revolution or Lenin's Bolsheviks. I've discovered that Petrograd works well. Petrograd was the name the tsarist regime gave to Russia's capital city, St. Petersburg, in 1914. After the revolution the city was renamed Leningrad. Petrograd, then, was a term used during the revolution but not much beyond that. It narrowed my search tremendously.
There are other strategies that could pull up more specific articles. One might choose the search engine option that allows one to find Lenin or Lenin's Bolsheviks in the title of an article. Some databases also have options that allows one to search for keywords in article abstracts. This can certainly narrow a student's search. What I'm hinting at is that students will have to be somewhat creative when searching by topic.
Sometimes a bit luck enters the process. Not too long ago I wanted to find information on ancient Rome and its military history. I went to JSTOR and typed Roman Legions into the search engine. I did get some hits and I could use some of the materials, but it wasn't enough. I next used the same strategy on another database called Military and Government Collection. I got one hit - a cheesy article about the U.S. Marines and military fighting spirit. At the beginning of the article, though, the author mentioned an ancient Roman named Vegitius who wrote on military strategy. I had never heard of Vegitius, but I went back to JSTOR and plugged his name in. Voila! I got a whole slew of articles, including "The Face of Roman Battle" by Philip Sabin. There were many other articles as well, and I could generally find what I was after.
The upshot is that one has to play with the topical search engine a bit. As I said, it can be frustrating at first, but with patience you can find the correct string of words that will allow you to hit pay dirt.
Thus far I've discussed five databases. JSTOR, Academic Search Premier, Expanded Academic ASAP, Wilson Select Plus, and Project Muse. You should now be somewhat familiar with these databases. In the remaining messages I'd like to introduce a few additional databases. I'd also like to spend a little more time on JSTOR because it is a bit trickier than other databases.
JSTOR Day 3
Biography Resource Center Day 3
History Resource Center Day 4
Other Useful History Databases Day 4