The subject I chose was biological warfare. I learned that there is a lot of worry in the world today about biological warfare and the possability of it being used against the US at some point. It is a very big worry for citizens around the US becasue of the mass destruction that it threatens to potentially unleash.
To begin my research i started with the first source on the list to make it easier to keep track of things. This source was the library catalog. After selecting the catalog i chose the section "words" and proceeded to type in "biological" AND "warfare." This produced a fair number of results that, with a quick scan through, were deemed adequate for the topic. I then chose the book "Biological warfare: Opposing Viewpoints," by William Dudley, figuring it would give me a good perspective for both sides of the issue. The book was produced in 2004, which is reasonably recent enough for a book with relevant information on a topic. The active link for the site is: http://libcat.csueastbay.edu/search?/Xbiological+and+warfare&SORT=D/Xbiological+and+warfare&SORT=D&SUBKEY=biological%20and%20warfare/1%2C94%2C94%2CB/frameset&FF=Xbiological+and+warfare&SORT=D&1%2C1%2C. After collecting the nevessary information and the call number to find the book I proceeded to Academic Search Premier.
To begin my search in Academic Search Premier i entered the same words that had proven successful before: "biological" AND "warfare." However, this search turned up a wide variety of results mostly not relating to my topic. I then revised my wording by placing both words on the same line, only to find that it made virtually no difference. After thinking for a while how i could narrow my search, i went back to each word on each line and then added AND "advancement." Luckily, this turned up with a much narrower results page and one of the first results proved to be useful. I chose "Technological advancements for the detection of and protection against biological and chemical warfare agents" which is an article by Lisa M. Eubanks,
Tobin J. Dickerson, and Kim D. Janda1 written in the chemical Society Reviews. I deemed this source credible based on the fact that it was from February of 2007, which is recent enough. The current link for this cource is: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=24198200&site=ehost-live. After finishing with Academic i went back to the "A-Z list" and found my specific database.
For my disciplinary database i chose "Biological Abstracts," because i figured it would have information relating to biological warfare. Fortunately i was right, but I ran into some of the same problems with unrelated results that surfaced in my previous search. I started by searching for "biological" AND "warfare" once more and received a similar result of many unrelated topics, one of them relating to a "flying squirrel!" I then decided that what worked before might work again, and tried adding "advancement" to the search terms. Unfortunately this was not nearly as successful as before and still popped up with many unrelated results. So i tried to think of another word i could replace advancements with and came up with the word "weaponry." This search was very profitable, coming up with a very limited number of results, but all of great relevance. From the results i chose "Terrorism from a public health perspective" which was published in 2002 and written by Gregory Evans, James crutcher, Brooke Shadel, Bruce Clements and Michael Bronze. I once again figured that the date would serve as a reasonable piece of criteria for the book, being unfarmiliar with the topic. The current link for the source is: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=boh&AN=BACD200300015268&site=ehost-live. I then proceeded to the broadest search which i saved for last so that i could use the specific information to narrow my search.
I headed over to the search engine Yahoo and typed in biological warfare. I was typing that in it came up with similar options and i noticed that one of them was "history of biological warfare." I decided to use this figuring it would give a different type of information to my mostly current forms of sources so far. The results for that were very vast as search engines usually are, but still contained many relevant links. I scrolled down a few and found one on "gulfwarvets.com." I figured having a firsthand account of the conception of these items would add a different side to all the sources with authors who probably had very limited first hand experience with them. After looking over the site I deemed it usable and gathered the necessary information. The link to the site is: http://gulfwarvets.com/biowar.htm.
To continue my research i would actually stick more to the databases just becasue they produced more relevant results. To my surprise the search engine was not the best way to find what i was looking for. While it provided my research with a different spin on what i had gathered so far it was far to general to find hard facts quickly on. The databases, after tweaking my search terms, was much more useful for finding facts and statistics. Two research questions i would use if i were to continue searching would be: how dangerous is biological warfare on a worldwide basis, and what countries are known to be studying biological warfare in some way? To try and find answers to these questions i would look towards the databases Science Direct, and Web of Science. Overall i found this random topic surprisingly easier than the one i chose to find relevant information on. This gives me the idea that i am being too specific with my search ideas and need to expand out on a topic, then use the results to narrow it down. I also suspect that I am more familiar with the procedure and avoided the delay of learning where to start and what to look for.
Bibliogragpic Information (also given in essay)
Library Catalog:
Biological Warfare: Opposing Viewpoints-
http://libcat.csueastbay.edu/search?/Xbiological+and+warfare&SORT=D/Xbiological+and+warfare&SORT=D&SUBKEY=biological%20and%20warfare/1%2C94%2C94%2CB/frameset&FF=Xbiological+and+warfare&SORT=D&1%2C1%2C
Academic Search Premier:
Technological advancements for the detection of and protection against biological and chemical warfare agents-
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=24198200&site=ehost-live
Specific Database: Biological Abstracts:
Terrorism from a public health perspective-
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=boh&AN=BACD200300015268&site=ehost-live
World Wide Web: Yahoo:
Gulf War Vets.com-
http://gulfwarvets.com/biowar.htm
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Self Assessment Essay
This course in information literacy has taught me many things so far this year. For the topic of "recognize and articulate an information need," i am much more cabable of doing this than before. I used to get kind of lost when it came to needing information and especially articulating it. I am also very adept at formulating research questions now thanks to the slew of assignments and in class exercises used for practice. I used to just start blankly and try to think of a question. Now, i start with a broad catagory and narrow it until i am satisfied with my research question. The part i still struggle with is picking a topic with no guidance but that just takes practice. Another key step that i am starting to get good at is applying the appropriate search strategies once i have my topic or whatever else i may be searching for. I used to try and search for phrases and sentences without much luck, but have since been using keywords with better results as well as databases instead of search engines all the time. In doing so i have become more farmiliar with how and when to refine my search. I used to just keep scrolling pages when i couldn't find what i wanted, but i have learned to change my keywords or the way I search if it's not successful. I still struggle with databases because of the options for wording and phrasing. Of all the topics i feel that I have come the farthest with my use of the library tools. I never even knew they were there until we reviewed them in class. They have proven to be helpful many times since discovering them. I probably noticed the least change in being able to describe my techniques for research. The main change is what i'm describing not how i am able to describe it. My judgement of ethics for sources has also been broadened widely with taking the course. I have realized many more things besides just date or author that must be considered when using a source.
There are many examples of my progress in the subjects of the course objective list. It is most evident in the viewing of my blog and the progress i have made in the few months i have been editing it. When i started i just used yahoo and google to search for things. By the end i was incorporating many of the things I have learned into one well rounded complete search. I was able to use the databases successfully and cite my results fairly well. Another example of my success is evident in my progress of the topic. I started out very narrow with limited results and by the end i knew what search terms to use and i was getting much more useful results. I also came a long way with my searching for books and titles. I honestly didn't know about the feature before so my progress is both easy and hard to show.
My biggest success was learning how to compile information from multiple sources. Prior ro the class i was limited to the internet and it's search engines for information. I have now learned how to look in databases and search for in print books, and then even jow to go out and find them. My biggest struggle still remains to be the databases but it is subsiding with each use. It is slow going simply because i find the search engines more fitting most of the time for my day to day searches. The class has overall proven to be very informative and helpful in a subject that it turns out i knew a lot less about than i thought. I especially found the books that were brought in and the discussions of how each one might be used for different types of research helpful.
There are many examples of my progress in the subjects of the course objective list. It is most evident in the viewing of my blog and the progress i have made in the few months i have been editing it. When i started i just used yahoo and google to search for things. By the end i was incorporating many of the things I have learned into one well rounded complete search. I was able to use the databases successfully and cite my results fairly well. Another example of my success is evident in my progress of the topic. I started out very narrow with limited results and by the end i knew what search terms to use and i was getting much more useful results. I also came a long way with my searching for books and titles. I honestly didn't know about the feature before so my progress is both easy and hard to show.
My biggest success was learning how to compile information from multiple sources. Prior ro the class i was limited to the internet and it's search engines for information. I have now learned how to look in databases and search for in print books, and then even jow to go out and find them. My biggest struggle still remains to be the databases but it is subsiding with each use. It is slow going simply because i find the search engines more fitting most of the time for my day to day searches. The class has overall proven to be very informative and helpful in a subject that it turns out i knew a lot less about than i thought. I especially found the books that were brought in and the discussions of how each one might be used for different types of research helpful.
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