Dear Reader:
This essay is for the final.
Here is a Boolean logic sting for the topic: "Does the expansion of ebook options impact how much people read?"
(ebook or "reading device" or technology) AND reading.
I used ProQuest for my deep web search. I input my search string. In the boxes below the search windows I clicked the box for full text so that I could be able to evaluate my source more easily. I clicked Last 12 months to increase the chances it would be timely. In the source type I clicked conf. papers and proceedings, magazines, newspapers, scholarly journals, and trade journals. In the document type I clicked article, with language being English.
The source I chose was an article in a scholarly journal, and is cited here:
McClanahan, Barbara, et al. "A Breakthrough for Josh: How use of an iPad Facilitated Reading Improvement." TechTrends 56.3 (2012): 20-8. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 1 Jan. 2013.
For my open web search I used good old Google Advanced Search.
I input the search string. I limited it to a source published anytime in the past year, in English, only use .com top level domain, and only in the United States. After the search was complete I looked for an article to cite. This is the one I chose:
Alter, Alexandra. "Your E-book Is Reading You." The Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal, 19 July 2012. Web. 31 Dec. 2012.
I evaluated the sources.
The first was from a scholarly journal. Within it were the credentials the author. There were sources cited throughout, and it was peer reviewed, which means I could use it as a primary source. It was also timely, and addressed the primary question of my search, to a degree, in that it addressed technology's roll in teaching and enhancing reading.
The second source was an article from the Wall Street Journal, a publication that is known for it's level of integrity. The author is a staff writer for the WSJ and has many articles under her belt. Her topic is well researched and very informative. The article is authoritative, very evenly written in it's coverage, and it's purpose is to inform.
The article entitled "Your E-book Is Reading You" is more relevant to me. I am an avid reader and have a sizable collection in my abode. I am thinking about purchasing an e-book or something of that nature. Just now I make-do, shall we say, with just my home computer. Be that as it may, this article had a lot to say about an aspect of e-books that I hadn't really thought of before: that the device allows others to see what you read, to an extent.
As to the original question above, this article does address it, but indirectly. This is probably the best one could hope for considering that the question was not asked of the author. The author's primary focus is initially on the Nook, an e-book by Barnes & Noble. She talks about the way the Nook can report the reader's level of interest by noting whether or not the reader has underlined certain passages, the speed the reader read, whether or not the reader read the book through and/or re-read passages.
The author is careful to stick to the facts and does not judge the merits of any brand of e-book. This is good for me because it allows me to become familiar with the various devices and some of their options. Overall I would say this author had done her research carefully. This is the sort of article that I look for when I do research for a writing project.
It is good to know that e-books can keep track of our reading habits in that an informed author is better able to target his or her work to the audience. This results in a more rewarding experience for both parties: the writer feels he or she is being appreciated, and the reader feels he or she is reading something that he or she really wants to read.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Unit 10 FINALLY!
Dear Reader:
It would seem somebody 'down there' is out to get me. It has been a rough term, but I'm almost done! (whew!)
Today I did a totally new (for me) thing: I created -- okay, I altered -- a web page!
You can view it here.
I have joined the world wide web! I have used the internet to put content on the web that I generated. How cool is that?!
However, this only goes to show you that anybody, with the proper knowledge, can put anything on the web. It doesn't have to be relevant, and it doesn't even have to be true.
Nobody is out there acting as web police. For the most part nobody is checking to ensure that what you can see on your computer is accurate, safe, tasteful, legal, moral, or aesthetically pleasing. In fact, some web pages are just there to fool you, take your money, misinform you, waste your time, and/or steal your identity.
The world wide web is not a safe playground for children, and a good many adults. It is up to us to become informed and then to use that information to our advantage.
In this valuable class I have learned what the difference between the web and the internet is, how to find the information I seek using Boolean logic, how to judge if the information I've found is sound, and ways to find verification for the sources I find.
The things I have learned here will help me be a more effective writer and a more savvy person as a whole.
Thank you, Professor Bullock, for your time and efforts on my behalf. I really do appreciate what you have done. You made an effort and allowed me to finish this class.
I really want to finish this degree. You have helped make that possible. Thank you.
-- Lori Kay Chamberlain Reed
It would seem somebody 'down there' is out to get me. It has been a rough term, but I'm almost done! (whew!)
Today I did a totally new (for me) thing: I created -- okay, I altered -- a web page!
You can view it here.
I have joined the world wide web! I have used the internet to put content on the web that I generated. How cool is that?!
However, this only goes to show you that anybody, with the proper knowledge, can put anything on the web. It doesn't have to be relevant, and it doesn't even have to be true.
Nobody is out there acting as web police. For the most part nobody is checking to ensure that what you can see on your computer is accurate, safe, tasteful, legal, moral, or aesthetically pleasing. In fact, some web pages are just there to fool you, take your money, misinform you, waste your time, and/or steal your identity.
The world wide web is not a safe playground for children, and a good many adults. It is up to us to become informed and then to use that information to our advantage.
In this valuable class I have learned what the difference between the web and the internet is, how to find the information I seek using Boolean logic, how to judge if the information I've found is sound, and ways to find verification for the sources I find.
The things I have learned here will help me be a more effective writer and a more savvy person as a whole.
Thank you, Professor Bullock, for your time and efforts on my behalf. I really do appreciate what you have done. You made an effort and allowed me to finish this class.
I really want to finish this degree. You have helped make that possible. Thank you.
-- Lori Kay Chamberlain Reed
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Unit 9: Evaluating Information
Dear Reader:
Okay, break out your hand held magnifying lens, slap on your deerstalker hat, and let's sit down and carefully examine the veracity of some information sources.
The metasearch tool I have chosen for today is Dogpile. After looking at it closely for an assignment and then playing with it just for the fun of it, I have decided I like it. Enough for this assignment, anyway.
Today I will be searching for information on federal or state laws involving assault weapons.
Into Dogpile's advanced search I entered the following:
In the "All of these words" box I entered "assault rifle*" OR "assault gun*".
In the "Any of these words" box I entered: federal, state, law*, regulation*.
I chose English because that's the language I am most comfortable with.
I will be limiting my search to four top level domains: .com, .org, .edu, and .gov. From resultant four searches I will select one website and evaluate it.
Please note: Dogpile does not declare how many hits it comes up with for each search.
1. For the first search I clicked the "Include Domain" button, and in the box I entered ".com".
At this point Dogpile returned so few results that it was obvious I needed to alter my search. There was a suggestion to include the number 22, so I tried that, but that gave me only references to .22 caliber weapons, so I went into the search box and removed all the inserted numbers and then hit search. That gave me the search results I was after.
The link I chose was to the New York Post article entitled: "New York can’t afford assault rifle buyback - it could cost the state $1B" cited here:
Dicker, Fredric U. "New York Can't Afford Assault Rifle Buyback - It Could Cost the State $1B." New York Post. New York Post, 24 Dec. 2012. Web. 30 Dec. 2012.
The author is one Fredric Uberall "Fred" Dicker, a longtime columnist and current state editor for the Post. He holds a BA in history from Long Island University and an MA in history from University of Massachusetts. From his credentials and awards, which are extensive, I would presume him to be a fairly good authority on his topic.
Fred's purpose in writing this article seems to be informative rather than inflammatory. He gives us his conclusion as an opening statement, and then states the facts that will back up his claim. His coverage of this topic is carefully even. He makes it clear that he has investigated city, state, and federal levels of government find out what is being done about gun control and who is responsible.
2. For the second search I input my search string and included only .org sites. This time Dogpile returned no search results. As before, in the suggestion below the search box the number 22 was inserted, so I gave that a whirl. Again I was treated to all kinds of links for .22 caliber weapons. When I went into the search box and deleted all the 22s and then hit search, I finally got what I wanted. I don't know why Dogpile has this problem, but there is a work-around.
The link I chose this time was to an article entitled "Obama Supports New Bid To Ban Assault Weapons, Close Gun Show 'Loophole'". It is cited as follows:
Memmott, Mark. "Obama Supports New Bid To Ban Assault Weapons, Close Gun Show 'Loophole'" NPR. NPR, 18 Dec. 2012. Web. 30 Dec. 2012.
This article is on NPR.org on a news blog entitled "The Two Way: Breaking News From NPR, National Public Radio". This blog focuses on breaking news, analysis, and compelling stories.
The post is written by Mark Memott, one of the hosts for The Two Way. Prior to joining NPR in 2009 he worked for nearly 25 years as a reporter and editor at USA Today where he focused on a range of coverage including politics, foreign affairs, economics, and the media.
This timely blog post was well researched and sources were linked to, such as to the Washington Post, Fox News, a recent Presidential speech which is also quoted within the blog, and other articles from NPR one of which can be found here.
The main purpose is obviously to spark debate on gun control, but in a respectful manner. Reading the comments under the blog post it is clear that conversations are indeed going on about gun control or the lack thereof, and some effective solutions are proposed.
3. The third search will be for a .edu site.
In order to circumvent the issues I've had before with Dogpile's search methods I made the least amount of change to the search string. I did not re-enter the search string, but only altered the top level domain. This time Dogpile returned valid sources the first time around.
For this search I wanted my main focus to be centered around finding something especially timely. Dogpile's advanced search does not have on option that allows one to specify when the source was updated or published so it is up to the searcher, me, to ensure the timeliness of the source.
My choice of link is to a blog post written by Sam Wang from the Princeton Election Consortium entitled "Did the federal ban on assault weapons matter?", and is cited here:
Wang, Sam. "Princeton Election Consortium." Princeton Election Consortium RSS. Princeton University, 14 Dec. 2012. Web. 30 Dec. 2012.
Professor Sam Wang holds a PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford University. He has published more than 40 articles on the brain in leading scientific journals and worked at Bell Laboratories and various universities before coming to teach at Princeton. He has published at least two books for the general public on the subject of the brain. Sam Wang is currently an associate professor, Department of Molecular Biology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, and is one of the hosts of the Princeton Election Consortium blog.
I would say he is a credible source.
The post's sources are also impressive. There are charts, tables, quotes, and links to other sources, all well cited.
It was written and posted on December 14, the very day of the Sandy Hook shootings, so it would seem to me to be very timely.
4. For my fourth and last search I will limit the search to .gov sites.
Again I went into Dogpile and, without re-entering the search string, made only one change by changing the top level domain parameter to .gov.
The site I chose for this top level domain is the one maintained by the Office of the Secretary of the United States Senate. It is the official website for Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, and can be found here.
The reason I chose it is this: in January, Senator Feinstein will introduce a bill to stop the sale, transfer, importation and manufacturing of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices, or magazines. The website is cited as follows:
"United States Senator Dianne Feinstein." The Official Website of Senator Dianne Feinstein. The Office of the Secretary of the United States Senate, 28 Dec. 2012. Web. 31 Dec. 2012.
It contains links so that a person can email Senator Feinstein, read her official biography, and read her voting record and so forth. This website is also referenced by other reputable sites, such as NPR.org.
Herein also can be obtained the full text of the bill she will introduce in January, as well as all the other bills she has introduced and their histories.
For my purposes, this website is authoritative, covers all aspects of Senator Feinstein and her efforts to introduce this bill, and is timely in that this bill could potentially help curb the manufacture and sale of assault weapons in the United States.
In conclusion, I would like to make a few observations. Despite the websites I found using Dogpile, in the future I think I'll try other metasearch tools because Dogpile showed me a tendency to be a opinionated as to what I should be looking for as opposed to what I really was searching for. Perhaps next time I'll use ProQuest. As to doing research on the web, it would seem to me that for my research purposes, my choice of top level domain does not matter so much as the content and trustworthiness of the websites I choose. The subject of state and federal laws and regulations concerning assault weapons continues to be one of politics and opinions. Yes, we all want to protect our children and vulnerable populations, but there are orders of magnitudes of difference in opinion when it comes to how we should be going about this.
In my opinion, the top level domain should matter most when you consider carefully what you are doing research on. Caveat emptor should always be foremost in your mind. Be aware of who is writing this stuff, who they are writing it for, why it is on the web, what it is that you are looking for, how it is presented, and how trustworthy it is.
Okay, break out your hand held magnifying lens, slap on your deerstalker hat, and let's sit down and carefully examine the veracity of some information sources.
The metasearch tool I have chosen for today is Dogpile. After looking at it closely for an assignment and then playing with it just for the fun of it, I have decided I like it. Enough for this assignment, anyway.
Today I will be searching for information on federal or state laws involving assault weapons.
Into Dogpile's advanced search I entered the following:
In the "All of these words" box I entered "assault rifle*" OR "assault gun*".
In the "Any of these words" box I entered: federal, state, law*, regulation*.
I chose English because that's the language I am most comfortable with.
I will be limiting my search to four top level domains: .com, .org, .edu, and .gov. From resultant four searches I will select one website and evaluate it.
Please note: Dogpile does not declare how many hits it comes up with for each search.
1. For the first search I clicked the "Include Domain" button, and in the box I entered ".com".
At this point Dogpile returned so few results that it was obvious I needed to alter my search. There was a suggestion to include the number 22, so I tried that, but that gave me only references to .22 caliber weapons, so I went into the search box and removed all the inserted numbers and then hit search. That gave me the search results I was after.
The link I chose was to the New York Post article entitled: "New York can’t afford assault rifle buyback - it could cost the state $1B" cited here:
Dicker, Fredric U. "New York Can't Afford Assault Rifle Buyback - It Could Cost the State $1B." New York Post. New York Post, 24 Dec. 2012. Web. 30 Dec. 2012.
The author is one Fredric Uberall "Fred" Dicker, a longtime columnist and current state editor for the Post. He holds a BA in history from Long Island University and an MA in history from University of Massachusetts. From his credentials and awards, which are extensive, I would presume him to be a fairly good authority on his topic.
Fred's purpose in writing this article seems to be informative rather than inflammatory. He gives us his conclusion as an opening statement, and then states the facts that will back up his claim. His coverage of this topic is carefully even. He makes it clear that he has investigated city, state, and federal levels of government find out what is being done about gun control and who is responsible.
2. For the second search I input my search string and included only .org sites. This time Dogpile returned no search results. As before, in the suggestion below the search box the number 22 was inserted, so I gave that a whirl. Again I was treated to all kinds of links for .22 caliber weapons. When I went into the search box and deleted all the 22s and then hit search, I finally got what I wanted. I don't know why Dogpile has this problem, but there is a work-around.
The link I chose this time was to an article entitled "Obama Supports New Bid To Ban Assault Weapons, Close Gun Show 'Loophole'". It is cited as follows:
Memmott, Mark. "Obama Supports New Bid To Ban Assault Weapons, Close Gun Show 'Loophole'" NPR. NPR, 18 Dec. 2012. Web. 30 Dec. 2012.
This article is on NPR.org on a news blog entitled "The Two Way: Breaking News From NPR, National Public Radio". This blog focuses on breaking news, analysis, and compelling stories.
The post is written by Mark Memott, one of the hosts for The Two Way. Prior to joining NPR in 2009 he worked for nearly 25 years as a reporter and editor at USA Today where he focused on a range of coverage including politics, foreign affairs, economics, and the media.
This timely blog post was well researched and sources were linked to, such as to the Washington Post, Fox News, a recent Presidential speech which is also quoted within the blog, and other articles from NPR one of which can be found here.
The main purpose is obviously to spark debate on gun control, but in a respectful manner. Reading the comments under the blog post it is clear that conversations are indeed going on about gun control or the lack thereof, and some effective solutions are proposed.
3. The third search will be for a .edu site.
In order to circumvent the issues I've had before with Dogpile's search methods I made the least amount of change to the search string. I did not re-enter the search string, but only altered the top level domain. This time Dogpile returned valid sources the first time around.
For this search I wanted my main focus to be centered around finding something especially timely. Dogpile's advanced search does not have on option that allows one to specify when the source was updated or published so it is up to the searcher, me, to ensure the timeliness of the source.
My choice of link is to a blog post written by Sam Wang from the Princeton Election Consortium entitled "Did the federal ban on assault weapons matter?", and is cited here:
Wang, Sam. "Princeton Election Consortium." Princeton Election Consortium RSS. Princeton University, 14 Dec. 2012. Web. 30 Dec. 2012.
Professor Sam Wang holds a PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford University. He has published more than 40 articles on the brain in leading scientific journals and worked at Bell Laboratories and various universities before coming to teach at Princeton. He has published at least two books for the general public on the subject of the brain. Sam Wang is currently an associate professor, Department of Molecular Biology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, and is one of the hosts of the Princeton Election Consortium blog.
I would say he is a credible source.
The post's sources are also impressive. There are charts, tables, quotes, and links to other sources, all well cited.
It was written and posted on December 14, the very day of the Sandy Hook shootings, so it would seem to me to be very timely.
4. For my fourth and last search I will limit the search to .gov sites.
Again I went into Dogpile and, without re-entering the search string, made only one change by changing the top level domain parameter to .gov.
The site I chose for this top level domain is the one maintained by the Office of the Secretary of the United States Senate. It is the official website for Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, and can be found here.
The reason I chose it is this: in January, Senator Feinstein will introduce a bill to stop the sale, transfer, importation and manufacturing of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices, or magazines. The website is cited as follows:
"United States Senator Dianne Feinstein." The Official Website of Senator Dianne Feinstein. The Office of the Secretary of the United States Senate, 28 Dec. 2012. Web. 31 Dec. 2012.
It contains links so that a person can email Senator Feinstein, read her official biography, and read her voting record and so forth. This website is also referenced by other reputable sites, such as NPR.org.
Herein also can be obtained the full text of the bill she will introduce in January, as well as all the other bills she has introduced and their histories.
For my purposes, this website is authoritative, covers all aspects of Senator Feinstein and her efforts to introduce this bill, and is timely in that this bill could potentially help curb the manufacture and sale of assault weapons in the United States.
In conclusion, I would like to make a few observations. Despite the websites I found using Dogpile, in the future I think I'll try other metasearch tools because Dogpile showed me a tendency to be a opinionated as to what I should be looking for as opposed to what I really was searching for. Perhaps next time I'll use ProQuest. As to doing research on the web, it would seem to me that for my research purposes, my choice of top level domain does not matter so much as the content and trustworthiness of the websites I choose. The subject of state and federal laws and regulations concerning assault weapons continues to be one of politics and opinions. Yes, we all want to protect our children and vulnerable populations, but there are orders of magnitudes of difference in opinion when it comes to how we should be going about this.
In my opinion, the top level domain should matter most when you consider carefully what you are doing research on. Caveat emptor should always be foremost in your mind. Be aware of who is writing this stuff, who they are writing it for, why it is on the web, what it is that you are looking for, how it is presented, and how trustworthy it is.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Unit 8: Search Engines and Web Sites
Post-Christmas Greetings, dear Reader! Here's hoping your holiday season is going well.
Today's blog post will concentrate on two misnomers: Search Engines and Web Sites. One sounds like a mechanical thing, and the other sounds like it should have a spider on it. Who names these things anyway?
Seriously, today's blog post will concentrate on the features of various methods of searching for information.
First up: The Search Tools. They are used by most people for everyday-type searching, like when you want a recipe for fried okra. Search tools have a huge list of websites that are found using a little program called a 'spider' or a 'bot' that 'crawls' around in the 'web' searching for new websites. This little spider program doesn't look to see how useful the website is to anybody. It's just looking for a website. Once found, that website is examined to see what it is all about. This is just a sort of once over. Key words from the website that describe what that website is all about and many of it's contents are stored in the Search Tool's database and linked to the website. That way, when you want to search for something, say, that recipe for fried okra, then the Search Tool can point you in the right direction. "The thing you are looking for might be in that website. At least, I think it's over there, because the words you are looking for are there. Click on that link and see if it's what you want."
1. One search tool that I had never used before but had heard about is Lycos. I decided to give it a try.
Interesting note: Lycos appears to derive it's name from a the genus name of the large wolf spider, Lycosa. I see a little geek humor, there.
Lycos can be found here. It does support advanced searching. However, to be able to do that you need to scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the 'help' link almost in the middle of the bar at the bottom. Once on the next page you will find the words, "advanced search" in tiny print above the search button on the upper right. Click on that, and an advanced search window will open.
Above the search window Lycos tells you that you can truncate or stem from your original term by using an asterisk strategically. Also, "+include or -exclude words with +/-". Lycos, by default, will put an 'and' between the words you input into the search box unless you stipulate otherwise.
If that's not easy enough, in the list below the search box you can click buttons that will allow you to:
2. The Metasearch engine I chose is again one I have heard about but never used: Dogpile. It can be found here. The difference between a search tool and a metasearch tool is, well, I'll let Dogpile explain it for you:
"What is Metasearch? Metasearch means instead of getting results from one search engine, you'll be getting the best combined results from a variety of engines, and not just any engines, but industry leading engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Yandex."
According to Dogpile, the information gleaned by search engines only overlaps about 1%, which means that searching with only one search engine might not get you the results you are looking for.
Dogpile has an advanced search option. It does not strictly allow you to use boolean logic, but it will allow you to search for:
However, neither a Search Tool nor a Metasearch tool can take you past the front door of websites that are password protected. That is, you have to have a password that works as a key to allow you to search within the site.
Today's blog post will concentrate on two misnomers: Search Engines and Web Sites. One sounds like a mechanical thing, and the other sounds like it should have a spider on it. Who names these things anyway?
Seriously, today's blog post will concentrate on the features of various methods of searching for information.
First up: The Search Tools. They are used by most people for everyday-type searching, like when you want a recipe for fried okra. Search tools have a huge list of websites that are found using a little program called a 'spider' or a 'bot' that 'crawls' around in the 'web' searching for new websites. This little spider program doesn't look to see how useful the website is to anybody. It's just looking for a website. Once found, that website is examined to see what it is all about. This is just a sort of once over. Key words from the website that describe what that website is all about and many of it's contents are stored in the Search Tool's database and linked to the website. That way, when you want to search for something, say, that recipe for fried okra, then the Search Tool can point you in the right direction. "The thing you are looking for might be in that website. At least, I think it's over there, because the words you are looking for are there. Click on that link and see if it's what you want."
1. One search tool that I had never used before but had heard about is Lycos. I decided to give it a try.
Interesting note: Lycos appears to derive it's name from a the genus name of the large wolf spider, Lycosa. I see a little geek humor, there.
Lycos can be found here. It does support advanced searching. However, to be able to do that you need to scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the 'help' link almost in the middle of the bar at the bottom. Once on the next page you will find the words, "advanced search" in tiny print above the search button on the upper right. Click on that, and an advanced search window will open.
Above the search window Lycos tells you that you can truncate or stem from your original term by using an asterisk strategically. Also, "+include or -exclude words with +/-". Lycos, by default, will put an 'and' between the words you input into the search box unless you stipulate otherwise.
If that's not easy enough, in the list below the search box you can click buttons that will allow you to:
- 1. find all words (default: the word 'and' is implied between search terms)
- 2. find any words (the word 'or' is implied between each search term)
- 3. find exact phrase (as if you had placed quotation marks around your whole search string)
- 4. by ID (this looks for a website by it's numeric ID)
2. The Metasearch engine I chose is again one I have heard about but never used: Dogpile. It can be found here. The difference between a search tool and a metasearch tool is, well, I'll let Dogpile explain it for you:
"What is Metasearch? Metasearch means instead of getting results from one search engine, you'll be getting the best combined results from a variety of engines, and not just any engines, but industry leading engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Yandex."
According to Dogpile, the information gleaned by search engines only overlaps about 1%, which means that searching with only one search engine might not get you the results you are looking for.
Dogpile has an advanced search option. It does not strictly allow you to use boolean logic, but it will allow you to search for:
- All of these words (which is the same as putting an 'and' between your search terms)
- The exact phrase (like you put quotes around it)
- Any of these words (as if you put an 'or' between your search terms)
- None of these words (as if you put a 'not' or a minus sign before each word)
- Language (search in a specific language)
- Include or Exclude domain (allows you to specify a certain domain, like any .edu site)
However, neither a Search Tool nor a Metasearch tool can take you past the front door of websites that are password protected. That is, you have to have a password that works as a key to allow you to search within the site.
One such type of website that can also acts as a kind of search tool is
a Subject Directory. A Subject Directory
is usually part of the deep web and contains things that cannot usually be
found on the web that is available to the public at large, but there are
exceptions to this rule. One such is About.com
which allows free access to its database.
For the most part, however, Subject directories are closed to the
general public. That is, they are not
easy to access. ‘Spiders’ or ‘bots’ from
search engines can’t go into these to find out what they contain. You have to have a password, and sometimes
you have to input characters that are displayed in unique fashions in order to
prove you are not a ‘bot’. Subject
Directories are generally run by actual people.
They choose what are in these repositories, and who gets access.
3.
One such that I chose is Digital Librarian. It has books available for browsing,
pictures, music, movies, maps ... in fact, most of the things you can access at
a normal public library. However, it
does not contain items that are not in the public domain. That is, it does not contain works that are copyrighted
because to do so would violate copyright laws. However, it does contain links
to other deep websites that require passwords and sometimes require membership
fees.
The Digital Librarian itself does not require the user to use a password. Only when you link to pages like the de Young
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco are you required to become a member and use
a password.
So there
you have it, the difference between Search Tools or Search Engines, Metasearch
Tools, and Subject Directories.Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Unit 7: Types of Information: Periodicals
Hello, Reader!
Next up, periodical articles: those pieces of publication, professionally or publicly positioned that are published and/or promulgated at predictable periods.
But first, I would like to say this about Twitter: I find it a largely non-essential form of social media. As a rule, I don't use it. There have been a few moments when I have given it a whirl. However, almost invariably someone tries to get chummy, then looks up my name on Facebook and tries to 'friend' me on the flimsy premise that we share an affection for cats or something, and I have to turn them down because that's nothing to base a friendship on. 5 minutes worth of interaction does not entitle just anyone to the privilege of viewing my private stuff. Yes, I know how to navigate the quagmires of life, but that's because I have lived twice as long as most of those who use Twitter. Nonetheless, I've gotta put those boundaries in place. I'm not a trained therapist.
Okay, I shall step off the soapbox and back into the assignment now.
In step 3 of the assignment is says, "Refer to the comment I left in your blog post for Unit 6." There was no comment so I am going to presume my research question and the Boolean logic string I proposed would be acceptable, at least for this initial try.
I shall give ProQuest my business this trip.
I entered "U.S. OR United States AND (federal OR state)" AND "(law OR regulation*)" AND "assault rifle* OR assault weapon*" in separate lines as indicated. I then went through the rest of the limiting fields and checked or unchecked blocks as I saw fit. I included full text, in English, in the Continental U.S., and the document type could be any one of a number of things such as biographies, editorials or interviews. I limited my initial search to magazine articles.
The search gave me "102135 results"* (no duplicates).
1. The magazine article I've chosen is as follows:
Andrew Cohen, The Atlantic. "The NRA is no Match for the Parent Lobby." National journal Dec 17 2012. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 26 Dec. 2012 .
By way of annotation I shall now offer edited quotes from the article itself .
"On Saturday afternoon, a grim state official, ... (stated) that the primary weapon used on the Sandy Hook school victims was not a handgun but rather a long gun, a Bushmaster .223 assault rifle, a formidable killing machine eschewed by most hunters, unwieldy for self-defense, similar to weapons used by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan ... Nancy Lanza loved guns, her friends told The Times, and would talk about her collection at local bars. * * * The shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary are first of all a tragedy of families, of the parents and grandparents who now are enduring the darkest moments of grief ... ."
I thought this article would be relevant given recent events. However, the emotionally charged language used by the author in this piece clearly is employed to bias the reader toward increases in gun control laws and regulations. The article is not primarily meant to explore the topic.
I shifted the focus of ProQuest to newspaper articles and got "315202 results"* (no duplicates).
2. The newspaper article I've chosen is as follows:
Higham, Scott, et al. "History of Gun Control in U.S. Portends a Bitter Fight Ahead." The Washington Post: A.1. Dec 23 2012. Los Angeles Times; National Newspapers Core; The Washington Post. Web. 26 Dec. 2012 .
Again I'll offer an annotation, but this one is gleaned from the abstract of the article.
"The ideological chasm was on full display in Washington on Friday when ...Wayne LaPierre held a take-no-prisoners news conference in which he called for a federal program to put armed guards in every school in the country, saying, "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." First comes a shocking event, then calls for action, then prolonged legislative battles, and at the end of it all a new law might come crawling out of Congress so enfeebled by exemptions that it has limited effect in the real world."
This piece is a little better researched than the magazine article, but again it would seem to be slanted toward inflammatory language. Nonetheless, it is carried in the Washington Post which has a reputation for accuracy and comprehensiveness. As such I would consider it a worthy candidate for inclusion.
I then reconfigured ProQuest's advanced search to look for a research article. It was important to click peer reviewed to ensure I had a good primary source that was approved of by others in the field. I changed the Source type to Scholarly Journal, adjusted the Document type to reflect what one could anticipate in a Scholarly Journal, and clicked on Search.
I was rewarded with "842 results"* (no duplicates).
Here I wanted to pay attention to timeliness. There were a great many good primary sources, but I needed one that was more recent to reflect the current state of the legal atmosphere.
3. The Scholarly Journal article I've chosen is:
Barlow, E. G. "United States v. Reese and Post-Heller Second Amendment Interpretation." Brigham Young University Law Review 2012.2 (2012): 391-406. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 26 Dec. 2012.
This would appear to be a very nice primary source. It is current, being published December 2012, it has been peer reviewed by those responsible on the staff of Brigham Young University Law Review, among others, the author's name and academic credentials are clearly spelled out at the bottom of the article, and it's sources are cited by way of extensive footnotes throughout. Further, for me at least, it is very relevant because it discusses domestic violence issues and the laws that appertain thereto in various states.
In conclusion of this blog post I would like to say that I am pleasantly pleased with the amount of learning I do in this course. This time I learned to differentiate between and evaluate various print and online sources, including newspaper articles, magazine articles, and scholarly journal articles. Boolean logic is nothing new to me, but using it to conduct a productive search has been fascinating. I look forward to finishing this course and doing further research into my future book projects.
Next up, periodical articles: those pieces of publication, professionally or publicly positioned that are published and/or promulgated at predictable periods.
But first, I would like to say this about Twitter: I find it a largely non-essential form of social media. As a rule, I don't use it. There have been a few moments when I have given it a whirl. However, almost invariably someone tries to get chummy, then looks up my name on Facebook and tries to 'friend' me on the flimsy premise that we share an affection for cats or something, and I have to turn them down because that's nothing to base a friendship on. 5 minutes worth of interaction does not entitle just anyone to the privilege of viewing my private stuff. Yes, I know how to navigate the quagmires of life, but that's because I have lived twice as long as most of those who use Twitter. Nonetheless, I've gotta put those boundaries in place. I'm not a trained therapist.
Okay, I shall step off the soapbox and back into the assignment now.
In step 3 of the assignment is says, "Refer to the comment I left in your blog post for Unit 6." There was no comment so I am going to presume my research question and the Boolean logic string I proposed would be acceptable, at least for this initial try.
I shall give ProQuest my business this trip.
I entered "U.S. OR United States AND (federal OR state)" AND "(law OR regulation*)" AND "assault rifle* OR assault weapon*" in separate lines as indicated. I then went through the rest of the limiting fields and checked or unchecked blocks as I saw fit. I included full text, in English, in the Continental U.S., and the document type could be any one of a number of things such as biographies, editorials or interviews. I limited my initial search to magazine articles.
The search gave me "102135 results"* (no duplicates).
1. The magazine article I've chosen is as follows:
Andrew Cohen, The Atlantic. "The NRA is no Match for the Parent Lobby." National journal Dec 17 2012. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 26 Dec. 2012 .
By way of annotation I shall now offer edited quotes from the article itself .
"On Saturday afternoon, a grim state official, ... (stated) that the primary weapon used on the Sandy Hook school victims was not a handgun but rather a long gun, a Bushmaster .223 assault rifle, a formidable killing machine eschewed by most hunters, unwieldy for self-defense, similar to weapons used by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan ... Nancy Lanza loved guns, her friends told The Times, and would talk about her collection at local bars. * * * The shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary are first of all a tragedy of families, of the parents and grandparents who now are enduring the darkest moments of grief ... ."
I thought this article would be relevant given recent events. However, the emotionally charged language used by the author in this piece clearly is employed to bias the reader toward increases in gun control laws and regulations. The article is not primarily meant to explore the topic.
I shifted the focus of ProQuest to newspaper articles and got "315202 results"* (no duplicates).
2. The newspaper article I've chosen is as follows:
Higham, Scott, et al. "History of Gun Control in U.S. Portends a Bitter Fight Ahead." The Washington Post: A.1. Dec 23 2012. Los Angeles Times; National Newspapers Core; The Washington Post. Web. 26 Dec. 2012 .
Again I'll offer an annotation, but this one is gleaned from the abstract of the article.
"The ideological chasm was on full display in Washington on Friday when ...Wayne LaPierre held a take-no-prisoners news conference in which he called for a federal program to put armed guards in every school in the country, saying, "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." First comes a shocking event, then calls for action, then prolonged legislative battles, and at the end of it all a new law might come crawling out of Congress so enfeebled by exemptions that it has limited effect in the real world."
This piece is a little better researched than the magazine article, but again it would seem to be slanted toward inflammatory language. Nonetheless, it is carried in the Washington Post which has a reputation for accuracy and comprehensiveness. As such I would consider it a worthy candidate for inclusion.
I then reconfigured ProQuest's advanced search to look for a research article. It was important to click peer reviewed to ensure I had a good primary source that was approved of by others in the field. I changed the Source type to Scholarly Journal, adjusted the Document type to reflect what one could anticipate in a Scholarly Journal, and clicked on Search.
I was rewarded with "842 results"* (no duplicates).
Here I wanted to pay attention to timeliness. There were a great many good primary sources, but I needed one that was more recent to reflect the current state of the legal atmosphere.
3. The Scholarly Journal article I've chosen is:
Barlow, E. G. "United States v. Reese and Post-Heller Second Amendment Interpretation." Brigham Young University Law Review 2012.2 (2012): 391-406. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 26 Dec. 2012.
This would appear to be a very nice primary source. It is current, being published December 2012, it has been peer reviewed by those responsible on the staff of Brigham Young University Law Review, among others, the author's name and academic credentials are clearly spelled out at the bottom of the article, and it's sources are cited by way of extensive footnotes throughout. Further, for me at least, it is very relevant because it discusses domestic violence issues and the laws that appertain thereto in various states.
In conclusion of this blog post I would like to say that I am pleasantly pleased with the amount of learning I do in this course. This time I learned to differentiate between and evaluate various print and online sources, including newspaper articles, magazine articles, and scholarly journal articles. Boolean logic is nothing new to me, but using it to conduct a productive search has been fascinating. I look forward to finishing this course and doing further research into my future book projects.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Week 6
Dear Reader:
This time around I am going to be playing with Boolean logic strings.
My statement choices are as follows:
1. Has the U.S. trade and globalization policy hurt the middle class?
(A potential Boolean logic string might look like this)
"U.S. trade*" and "globalization polic*" and "middle clas*"
2. What breeds of dogs make good therapy pets?
breed* AND dog* AND therap*
3. What are the similarities between the Great Depression of the 1930s and the current economic problems?
("Great Depression" OR "The Depression" AND *30*) AND ("recent economic problems" OR "current economic problems")
4. Is the current lack of sunspot activity affecting global warming?
sunspot* AND "global warming"
5. Are big box stores like WalMart and Target good for the economy?
("big box stores" OR Walmart OR Target) AND econom*
This next section deals with my revised research question:
This time around I am going to be playing with Boolean logic strings.
My statement choices are as follows:
1. Has the U.S. trade and globalization policy hurt the middle class?
(A potential Boolean logic string might look like this)
"U.S. trade*" and "globalization polic*" and "middle clas*"
2. What breeds of dogs make good therapy pets?
breed* AND dog* AND therap*
3. What are the similarities between the Great Depression of the 1930s and the current economic problems?
("Great Depression" OR "The Depression" AND *30*) AND ("recent economic problems" OR "current economic problems")
4. Is the current lack of sunspot activity affecting global warming?
sunspot* AND "global warming"
5. Are big box stores like WalMart and Target good for the economy?
("big box stores" OR Walmart OR Target) AND econom*
This next section deals with my revised research question:
"What are the federal laws and state laws in the US concerning
assault rifles?"
A boolean string for this query might look like this:
"U.S. (federal OR state)" AND "(law* OR regulation*)" AND "assault (rifle* OR weapon*)"
I know it's not required, but I went ahead and posted this on good ol' Google, just to see what would happen. It came up with 53 MILLION results. I might need to pare down my research statement should I ever research this topic. At this point I think I would need to limit my sources with a sit:.edu or a site:.gov sort of string.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Week 5, a few weeks late ...
Dear Reader:
Okay! Back at this blog after a hiatus. Abdominal surgery isn't fun. I wouldn't recommend it.
The assignment for this unit has to do with finding credible sources. To begin to understand what I would be learning I read through all the IRIS Modules and lessons, as well as one video on YouTube.
The video was interesting because the narrator's accent helped the material stick in my head.
One thing I learned from the IRIS modules is that there is a difference between 'natural language', and 'controlled vocabulary'. Natural language is used in the keyword search. It is term or phrase and results in a broader search. Controlled vocabulary is a term or phrase used in the subject field and is more specific. All controlled language comes from the Library of Congress Subjects Headings. It can be used to narrow the topic being searched for.
I am to be looking through databases for books or other resources with an eye to finding sources that would be applicable to my research.
I opened up the Clark College Library website. As far as I understand it, the 'search option' searches in the database of the library in order to help me find a book or other resource that will have information on the topic I am interested in.
In the search box I typed in, "military AND regulations AND female AND enlisted AND personnel". In the first drop down box after "Limit by: " I chose 'periodicals'. The second drop down box I left reading 'All Material Types'.
The results stated, "No Entries Found".
Hm.
I tried again, but this time I chose Circulating Items instead of periodicals. Still "No Entries Found".
Um-hm. Okay, this time I tried All Locations instead of Circulating Items. Still "No Entries Found".
That's odd.
I checked the spelling in the search box. No, that's not the problem.
Then I tried the advanced search option. This time I tried different keywords. I typed in "Women's AND Uniforms AND US Navy". I left the other options wide open so I could search through the whole database.
Yet again, "No Entries Found".
Alrighty then, perhaps the AND qualifier isn't needed. I'll try not using it.
I type in "military uniform regulations" in the advanced search options search box.
"No Entries Found". Every time that phrase is displayed there is a box accompanying it that suggests I try my search in SUMMIT.
I will try yet another keyword search, and then I'll try SUMMIT.
This time I type 'military regulations' in the search box.
Pay dirt! 10 Entries!
Here is the citation information on the one book that I thought looked promising.
Maddow, R. (2012). Drift: The unmooring of American military power. New York: Crown.
It's subject headings are as follows:
It contains bibliographical references and it is indexed, which would make it easier to fact check. It was published this year, so it's recent. I googled the author (is googled supposed to be capitalized, or not? ... not sure) and found that MSNBC claims her as a host for a top rated prime time show, "The Rachel Maddow Show". She has other credible credentials as well. Crown Publishing is a division of Random House Publishers, which is a well known publisher. Some of the authors that contract with Crown are President and Michelle Obama, Martha Stewart, Deepak Chopra, M.D., and other non-fiction writers of good reputation. Thus it is my hope that this would be a good reference for my work.
Thus far, lesson learned: keep the search options rather loose. Tighten only after you have a list to search through.
Now, let's see what SUMMIT has to offer.
In the search box I type in "military AND regulations AND female AND enlisted AND personnel", as I did for the previous catalog search.
The search took .32 seconds and resulted in 24 items, but none of them would suit my needs at all. I think I shall try the advanced search option which will allow me to specify the age of the material.
In the Advanced Search keyword box I type in "uniform AND regulations AND female AND enlisted AND Navy". I figure the word 'personnel' is adequately implied, and the word 'Navy' would be more useful. Under 'Narrow your search', in the 'Library' drop down box I chose Summit. In the 'Year' fields I entered '1978 to 1987'. In the 'Format' drop down box I chose 'Book', and for language I chose 'English'.
"No results match your search ..." Hm. Okay, we try a different tack.
I went back to the generic search field and typed in "women's AND uniforms AND US Navy", then I hit the search button again.
This time I was treated to 79 items in .70 seconds. Most of the titles presented only had a mere reference to my keywords, but there were some potentially good sources listed.
The book I chose was as follows:
Bradford, J.C. (2006). International encyclopedia of military history. New York: Routledge.
Subject heading, or in this case Related Subject, is: Military History -- Encyclopedias.
It can be found in 9 different libraries, the closest of which is Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. It is a reference work, so if I want to take a peek I would have to go to this library. However, the call numbers are: D25.A2 I58 2006 v.1 and D25.A2 I58 2006 v.2. Apparently this is an extensive work.
James C. Bradford is a writer of some renown. He has 79 works in 152 publications in 3 languages, all to his credit. He is an Editor, Compiler, and an Author of introduction.
Routledge, the publisher, is a global publisher of quality academic books, journals & online reference, and it says so right on the website which can be found here . They are well known as a publisher of textbooks for universities and colleges.
All these would lead me to think this would be another good reference work.
The next stop in this assignment is the IT Pro Collection of E-books. As instructed I entered "Home PC" as keywords in the search box. It brought up 2083 hits, the first of which really caught my eye. It is, "Computing for the Older and Wiser: Get Up and Running On Your Home PC!" As I approach the 'older and wiser' era of my life I'm thinking it might be wise for me to concentrate on this area of computer support. A lot of people senior to myself might feel more comfortable accepting advise from someone who is closer to their age group.
I began to explore the rest of this website, and found it very friendly to this user. The advanced search fields were very similar to the types of search fields mentioned in the Australian YouTube video. There were Additional Fields where one could make full use of Boolean logic words in order to narrow the search parameters.
"And last but not least we have ..." Google Books. Good old Google, who wants so bad to be everyone's favorite search engine. They do pretty darn good, too.
In the Google Books search field I typed in "US Naval Uniforms, female", and got quite a few interesting hits. The first one that caught my eye was as follows:
Collins, W. Q., Captain, US Navy. (1997) More Than a Uniform: A Navy Woman in a Navy Man's World. Denton: University of North Texas Press.
Google Books lists the publication page, which tells me that the author and co-author were recommended by none other than Arleigh Burke, a full Admiral in the US Navy, who wrote the forward for this book. He has a whole class of ship named after him. The Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers.
Admiral Burke's recommendation alone tells me that this book is worth my time.
The book is also indexed. It includes photos of the author before and during her career. This is a book I would dearly love to read, so you can bet it's on my 'to do' list.
The four search interfaces that I have explored today have informed me and surprised me, which was a fun ride! Cannell Library is probably not the best source for information on my topic, but that's not its fault. Summit is a better source, with Google following close on it's heels. IT Pro is only a little better than Cannell, though. All in all, I'd say this journal entry has re-energized my desire to finish writing about my time in the Navy.
Okay! Back at this blog after a hiatus. Abdominal surgery isn't fun. I wouldn't recommend it.
The assignment for this unit has to do with finding credible sources. To begin to understand what I would be learning I read through all the IRIS Modules and lessons, as well as one video on YouTube.
The video was interesting because the narrator's accent helped the material stick in my head.
One thing I learned from the IRIS modules is that there is a difference between 'natural language', and 'controlled vocabulary'. Natural language is used in the keyword search. It is term or phrase and results in a broader search. Controlled vocabulary is a term or phrase used in the subject field and is more specific. All controlled language comes from the Library of Congress Subjects Headings. It can be used to narrow the topic being searched for.
I am to be looking through databases for books or other resources with an eye to finding sources that would be applicable to my research.
I opened up the Clark College Library website. As far as I understand it, the 'search option' searches in the database of the library in order to help me find a book or other resource that will have information on the topic I am interested in.
In the search box I typed in, "military AND regulations AND female AND enlisted AND personnel". In the first drop down box after "Limit by: " I chose 'periodicals'. The second drop down box I left reading 'All Material Types'.
The results stated, "No Entries Found".
Hm.
I tried again, but this time I chose Circulating Items instead of periodicals. Still "No Entries Found".
Um-hm. Okay, this time I tried All Locations instead of Circulating Items. Still "No Entries Found".
That's odd.
I checked the spelling in the search box. No, that's not the problem.
Then I tried the advanced search option. This time I tried different keywords. I typed in "Women's AND Uniforms AND US Navy". I left the other options wide open so I could search through the whole database.
Yet again, "No Entries Found".
Alrighty then, perhaps the AND qualifier isn't needed. I'll try not using it.
I type in "military uniform regulations" in the advanced search options search box.
"No Entries Found". Every time that phrase is displayed there is a box accompanying it that suggests I try my search in SUMMIT.
I will try yet another keyword search, and then I'll try SUMMIT.
This time I type 'military regulations' in the search box.
Pay dirt! 10 Entries!
Here is the citation information on the one book that I thought looked promising.
Maddow, R. (2012). Drift: The unmooring of American military power. New York: Crown.
It's subject headings are as follows:
- National Security -- United States
- United States -- Military Policy
- United States -- Armed Forces -- Appropriations and expenditures
- Militarism -- United States
- Political Culture -- United States
- United States -- Foreign Relations -- 1989-
- United States -- Politics and Government -- 1989-
It contains bibliographical references and it is indexed, which would make it easier to fact check. It was published this year, so it's recent. I googled the author (is googled supposed to be capitalized, or not? ... not sure) and found that MSNBC claims her as a host for a top rated prime time show, "The Rachel Maddow Show". She has other credible credentials as well. Crown Publishing is a division of Random House Publishers, which is a well known publisher. Some of the authors that contract with Crown are President and Michelle Obama, Martha Stewart, Deepak Chopra, M.D., and other non-fiction writers of good reputation. Thus it is my hope that this would be a good reference for my work.
Thus far, lesson learned: keep the search options rather loose. Tighten only after you have a list to search through.
Now, let's see what SUMMIT has to offer.
In the search box I type in "military AND regulations AND female AND enlisted AND personnel", as I did for the previous catalog search.
The search took .32 seconds and resulted in 24 items, but none of them would suit my needs at all. I think I shall try the advanced search option which will allow me to specify the age of the material.
In the Advanced Search keyword box I type in "uniform AND regulations AND female AND enlisted AND Navy". I figure the word 'personnel' is adequately implied, and the word 'Navy' would be more useful. Under 'Narrow your search', in the 'Library' drop down box I chose Summit. In the 'Year' fields I entered '1978 to 1987'. In the 'Format' drop down box I chose 'Book', and for language I chose 'English'.
"No results match your search ..." Hm. Okay, we try a different tack.
I went back to the generic search field and typed in "women's AND uniforms AND US Navy", then I hit the search button again.
This time I was treated to 79 items in .70 seconds. Most of the titles presented only had a mere reference to my keywords, but there were some potentially good sources listed.
The book I chose was as follows:
Bradford, J.C. (2006). International encyclopedia of military history. New York: Routledge.
Subject heading, or in this case Related Subject, is: Military History -- Encyclopedias.
It can be found in 9 different libraries, the closest of which is Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. It is a reference work, so if I want to take a peek I would have to go to this library. However, the call numbers are: D25.A2 I58 2006 v.1 and D25.A2 I58 2006 v.2. Apparently this is an extensive work.
James C. Bradford is a writer of some renown. He has 79 works in 152 publications in 3 languages, all to his credit. He is an Editor, Compiler, and an Author of introduction.
Routledge, the publisher, is a global publisher of quality academic books, journals & online reference, and it says so right on the website which can be found here . They are well known as a publisher of textbooks for universities and colleges.
All these would lead me to think this would be another good reference work.
The next stop in this assignment is the IT Pro Collection of E-books. As instructed I entered "Home PC" as keywords in the search box. It brought up 2083 hits, the first of which really caught my eye. It is, "Computing for the Older and Wiser: Get Up and Running On Your Home PC!" As I approach the 'older and wiser' era of my life I'm thinking it might be wise for me to concentrate on this area of computer support. A lot of people senior to myself might feel more comfortable accepting advise from someone who is closer to their age group.
I began to explore the rest of this website, and found it very friendly to this user. The advanced search fields were very similar to the types of search fields mentioned in the Australian YouTube video. There were Additional Fields where one could make full use of Boolean logic words in order to narrow the search parameters.
"And last but not least we have ..." Google Books. Good old Google, who wants so bad to be everyone's favorite search engine. They do pretty darn good, too.
In the Google Books search field I typed in "US Naval Uniforms, female", and got quite a few interesting hits. The first one that caught my eye was as follows:
Collins, W. Q., Captain, US Navy. (1997) More Than a Uniform: A Navy Woman in a Navy Man's World. Denton: University of North Texas Press.
Google Books lists the publication page, which tells me that the author and co-author were recommended by none other than Arleigh Burke, a full Admiral in the US Navy, who wrote the forward for this book. He has a whole class of ship named after him. The Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers.
Admiral Burke's recommendation alone tells me that this book is worth my time.
The book is also indexed. It includes photos of the author before and during her career. This is a book I would dearly love to read, so you can bet it's on my 'to do' list.
The four search interfaces that I have explored today have informed me and surprised me, which was a fun ride! Cannell Library is probably not the best source for information on my topic, but that's not its fault. Summit is a better source, with Google following close on it's heels. IT Pro is only a little better than Cannell, though. All in all, I'd say this journal entry has re-energized my desire to finish writing about my time in the Navy.
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