Week 4, Class exercise #3: Database Navigation

AIS 101 Fall 2014

50 points. Exercise #3 due Monday September 22 nd at 5pm
Name: Dani Duffy
In the previous assignment you (mostly) used the OneSearch tool to search
across nearly all of NMUs databases for specific citations. As good as that
resource is, it doesnt search all databases. Sometimes you need to narrow your
source to one database and eliminate the confusion or narrow your focus. Also,
youll need to know how to navigate within the different databases.
The assignment: Pick any two of the six research topics below and select the
key concepts and synonymous terms that will help the search produce results.
1. Personal watercraft generate substantially more pollution than outboard
motors.
2. Low income is a strong factor in the incidence of domestic violence.
3. The trail erosion from mountain bikes is greater when compared to foot or
horse traffic.
4. Gender plays a large role in the attitudes regarding abortion.
5. Alcohol preferences by people in the United States change from place to
place.
6. Are there more conflicts between users on multi-use recreation trails than
on restricted use trails?
7. Ecotourism does more harm than good to fragile environments.
Topic 1: Low income is a strong factor in the incidence of domestic
violence
What did you consider to be the key concepts and synonymous terms?
Low income; poverty, underprivileged, impoverished, welfare
Domestic violence; domestic abuse, spousal abuse, child abuse

Topic 2: Personal watercraft generate substantially more pollution than

outboard motors.
What did you consider to be the key concepts and synonymous terms?
Personal watercraft; wave runners, Jet Ski
Pollution; contamination, toxins,
Outboard motors; boat motors
Now, run a search in each of the six databases listed below. Remember to
build your search around the key concepts and synonymous termsmix

and match how you search in the fields. Let me know what databases were
better (larger numbers of citations dont necessarily mean success, and some
databases will be poor for the topic you chosedont worry if you get nothing).
1. National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts (NCJRS). Two
to choose from here: our subscription version or the free version from the
Department of Justice.

Low income is a strong factor in the incidence of domestic violenceAt first I searched the terms violence and low income. I received 190
irrelevant results. I then changed the search to domestic violence and
poverty, with similar results. I then changed the subject from all to cause
of violence and poverty and crime. The results were narrowed to 29
results, most of which were relevant to my topic.
Example:
Benson, Michael L., and Greer Litton Fox. When Violence Hits Home:
How Economics and Neighborhood Play a Role, Research in Brief., 2004.
ProQuest. Web. 19 Sep. 2014.

Personal watercraft generate substantially more pollution than

outboard motors- No matter the combination of synonymous key terms I
could not get any results from this database.

2. Sport Discus

Low income is a strong factor in the incidence of domestic violenceAfter searching, domestic violence and poverty I received two irrelevant
results. After changing the search to just violence and poverty, I received
64 results and was able to narrow the results through relevant subjects. I
then had 12 articles worthy of using as relative information.

Personal watercraft generate substantially more pollution than

outboard motors- I searched the terms, personal watercraft and
pollution with outboard motors The first results were actually quite
relevant, however there were 101 results. After changing the subject to
pollution, it narrowed the results and I was able to find related information.
Example"PWC: Polluting Watercraft." Salt Water Sportsman 60.11 (1999): 42.
SPORTDiscus. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.

3. Google Scholar

Low income is a strong factor in the incidence of domestic violenceWhen I searched Domestic violence and poverty. I received over
500,000 results. The first page of results was extremely relevant to the
topic. However many of the articles were not available without paying for
them. When I changed the word poverty to the word welfare the results

were not only narrowed, but were also relevant to the topic.

Personal watercraft generate substantially more pollution than

outboard motors- I searched for, personal watercraft pollution versus
outboard motors. The results contained more information about Personal
watercraft than outboard motors, but I was able to find several articles
involving several studies comparing different types of watercraft and their
impact on aquatic habitats. By taking out the word versus and changing
the year the articles were written the results were better.

4. Academic Onefile

Low income is a strong factor in the incidence of domestic violenceI searched the terms, Home abuse and poverty. There were 120 results,
none of which seemed directly related to the subject. When I changed the
words to, Domestic abuse and poverty there were about the same
amount of results but they were more relevant to my topic. After refining
the search even more I found about 11 results which I could use for
research.

Personal watercraft generate substantially more pollution than

outboard motors- Upon searching for personal watercraft pollution
versus boat motors, I got no results. After changing the words around
several times I got a few results, however none were relevant.

5. WorldCat

Low income is a strong factor in the incidence of domestic violenceI found the actual search to be confusing, but the tabs made it easy to sort
through the different media forms. After attempting a combination of word
synonyms the best combination was, poverty line and domestic abuse.
There was ten results, 5 internet and 5 book results.

Personal watercraft generate substantially more pollution than

outboard motors- Upon searching for personal watercraft and pollution,
I initially got 15 results. Several were relevant, but the majority were not.
After attempting the search again but using the subject personal
watercraft, instead of all the irrelevant articles were sifted out/

6. PsycINFO

Low income is a strong factor in the incidence of domestic

violence- I initially searched, home violence and poverty with zero
results. I then realized I had misspelled the word violence, after
correcting it, I got many results. I received the most hits with, poverty
level and domestic violence.

Personal watercraft generate substantially more pollution than

outboard motors- I searched the terms, personal watercraft and
pollution with outboard motors and did not receive any hits. After
rewording several times I still received no results.

Finally, pick one of the two topics you chose and search for resources in
OneSearch. Elaborate on how that went compared to an individual database
(too many resources? Difficult to wade through the results? Much easier?)
Remember the post-search manipulations you can do in OneSearch.
I searched, Domestic violence and poverty and received 50,000 results. It was
very difficult to sort through all the results, but the different toggles did help.
However they still did not provide me with a manageable amount of results like
the several of the specific search engines. I did find that the first page of results
were all useful and relevant to my topic, which did not always occur with the
other engines. There were several articles that appeared on both one search and
the smaller search engines.
***10 pts Extra Credit***
Take this one topic you picked and choose a database NMU has access to that
you think will have resources that cover it (dont use any of the 6 listed above).
What was the database? __GreenFile_________________________________
Why did you pick it? __The description matched my topic in a way that I felt
would be more reliable and relevant than the six search engines above.
Did you find anything worthwhile compared to the above 6 and OneSearch?
(Elaborate a little bit)
I searched for, personal watercraft and pollution, and received 5 very relevant
hits. It helped that the search engine has the same basic topics as my research
goal. They both focus on the environment and the human footprint.