Week Three - 10th March

Online Libraries and Databases

Tutorial
During the tutorial we accessed the ECU library website (http://ecu.edu.au/library/) and viewed online journal articles on different subjects ie. economic impact of global warming on business.

Click here to view Article.

10 Useful Search Tips for the ECU Library Site

1. Choose your keywords wisely, for example try using adjectives.


2. To get a more accurate result search for phrases by using the quotation marks. For example "Impact of Global Warming"


3. Use the + plus symbol while searching lets the search engine know that terms following the sign must appear in the result pages. For example Global Warming+Impact+Business


4. Make sure you check your spelling of each word used in your search. You may of spelt one of your words wrong and therefor it doesn't show you what you are looking for.


5. Check the grammar within your search, you may of used the incorrect grammar and therefor it won't show up with what you are looking for.


6. Make sure that when you come to the 'Advanced Search' you put in the main keywords and then the other keywords after the AND.


7. Depending on what you are trying to find (journals, articles, books etc) you have to click on the appropriate search engine.


8. When you have selected the appropriate search engine for the type of facility you are looking for then you have to select if you want to find it by subject, faculty, title etc.
   
9. Choosing which location to search for the journal, article, book etc is easy when you know the subject or author of what you happen to be looking for - for example if you are looking for global warming you may look under the environmental section.


10. Finally you can browse through many different journals, articles or books until you find the one you are looking for, look for keywords within the articles names.

After finding the online journal we were instructed to go on to the MEDline Plus website (http://medlineplus.gov/) and spend some time going through the health topics and the drug information.

MEDline Plus Screenshot-

After looking through the different health topics and drug information I decided to focus on Cystic Fibrosis as we were indicated to choose one that we were interested in.
Here is some interesting information I discovered from my search:

• Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an inherited disease of the mucus and sweat glands.
• It affects mostly your lungs, pancreas, liver, intestines, sinuses and sex organs.
• Some people have serious problems from birth.
• Others have a milder version of the disease that doesn't show up until they are teens or young adults.
• Until the 1980s, most deaths from CF occurred in children and teenagers.
• Today, with improved treatments, people with CF live, on average, to be more than 35 years old.

I then viewed the online tutorial - it included general medical information including causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and facts and summaries. They ask you questions and you must select a multiple choice answer.

I believe that people might use such a service as medline plus if they are worried about certain conditions or drugs and want to find out more without having to consult a doctor or health care professional. I think that families alike will use the service and get alot from it because they may have children or problems themselves that they may want to know more about and this website has a guide and tutorials to many of the well known and not so well known problems that can affect people.

Lecture
During the lecture we learnt the following things about online libraries and databases:

• Why we use online libraries and databases
• The disadvantages of online libraries and databases
• Types of online libraries and databases
• Limitations of online libraries and databases
• Referencing and copyright
• Search Results

Readings
Reading 1 -Finding What you Want on the Web
This reading explained that it's hard to find good information without the help of Google and how the man writing the article says we have to break our addiction to Google.

Reading 2 - Bare Bones Lesson 7: Basic Search Tips
This reading was very helpful as it explained ways in which you can find specific information you may be looking for without all the rest of the junk that you may find on the internet.