Informal Databases Essay
Select 2 databases or other broad information resources and write a brief essay on their use (2 pages maximum). Take as broad a view as you can in the space allotted. Communicate the details of the searches you performed in the databases:
- search queries used (list the strings that were particularly successful or unsuccessful and say a little about why you thought they were.)
- Boolean and other search tools employed (truncation, adjacency, wildcards, etc.)
- nature of the information retrieved (citations, full-text, record structure, etc.)
- how the content was accessed (did you have to go to the Library stacks? did you have to use interlibrary borrowing?)
- What generalizations can you make about the process of searching for information from the experience of searching these 2 databases? What parts of your experience with these databases will serve you best when you transfer the principles to another search in other databases?
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