Web+Research+10



=**Web Research 10: Specialized Databases**=


 * Aim:**


 * Common Core State Standards:**


 * CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.7** Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.


 * CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.8** Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation.


 * Objectives:**


 * Vocabulary:**


 * bibliographic database
 * commercial database
 * directory database
 * full-text database
 * hidden Internet
 * invisible Web
 * library catalog
 * multimedia database
 * numeric database
 * proprietary database
 * spam
 * specialized database
 * white page services
 * yellow page services


 * Introduction:**

Much of what is available on the WWW that is not accessible from the major search engines is to be found in specialized databases. This is known as the **invisible Web** or the **hidden Internet**.

Databases containing public information or material not proprietary in nature commonly appear on the Web.

These databases, many of which are maintained by government agencies and nonprofit organizations, can quickly provide you with a wealth of information that formerly was difficult or time-consuming to obtain.


 * Specialized databases** are indexes that can be searched, much like search engines.

The main difference is that specialized databases are collections on particular subjects or types of documents, such as books, journal article abstracts and citations, company financial data, court decisions, phone numbers, email addresses, maps, census data, patents, and so forth.

Specialized databases can also be limited to specific collections, such as a library catalog. You can find information in specialized databases that you often would not locate by using a global search engine. For example, if you want to know if your library has a particular book, you would search an online library catalog.

If you know there is a specialized database on the subject you are researching, using that database can save you time and give you reliable, up-to-date information.

The difference between a subject guide and a specialized database is that subject guides are collections of URLs in a particular area, whereas a specialized database contains the actual data or information you are seeking.


 * Discussion:**

There are several different types of specialized databases. A **bibliographic database** includes citations that describe and identify titles, dates, authors, and other parts of written works. It doesn't usually contain the full text of the works themselves, although if an article is available for free, a link will be provided to it.

Examples of bibliographic databases are PubMed and WorldCat, a **library catalog**. A **full-text database**, on the other hand, includes the entire text of the indexed works.

A full-text database can contain books, articles, poetry, and more, and is searchable by keyword.

The major difference between a bibliographic and a full-text database is that a bibliographic database describes an entity, whether it be an article, a book, a work of art, or any other product, whereas a full-text database includes a description //and// the work itself.

An example of a full-text database is Bartleby.com.

Another type of specialized database is a **numeric database**, which contains statistical data, usually in chart or spreadsheet formats. An example of a numeric database is the //Statistical Abstract of the United States//.

Another type of database is a **directory database**. Directory databases usually provide brief information about people, businesses, or places.

There are also databases that provide a mix of directory information with numeric information. Hoovers.com is one of these databases.

There are also **multimedia databases**, which index images, videos, podcasts, and more.


 * Proprietary Databases**

There are hundreds of **proprietary** or **commercial databases** on the WWW, but these are available only if you or your organization has purchased access to them.

Proprietary databases have certain value-added features that databases in the pubic domain do not have. Here are some examples of that enhanced content:


 * Proprietary, or commercial databases often contain information that is under copyright restriction. You will be prompted to pay or enter a password to see full-text. Your library may have the right to access the database, so it's important that you check with a librarian before you pay for an article that you need.


 * Proprietary databases allow you to download information easily. For instance, some of these databases include financial information that is commonly free to the public, but they charge for the use of their databases because they have made it much easier for the user to download the information to a spreadsheet program.


 * Proprietary databases often index material that others do not. The information is distinguished by its uniqueness, its historical value, or its competitive value (for example, private company financial information).


 * Proprietary database systems are more responsive to users. Because they charge fees to use, they are more apt to provide training and other user support, such as the distribution of newsletters that update their services. There are also databases on the Web that are free to the public but charge for the full text of the articles, for example, High Beam Research at http://www.highbeam.com/library/index.asp. Many newspaper archives work the same way. You can search the archive, but if you want a copy of the newspaper article, there is a fee involved.


 * Information in Specialized Databases is Often Not Accessible Via Search Engines**

The major search engines build their databases by collecting URLs that exist on the WWW.

The Web pages that are attached to the URLs are then indexed.

When you type a word or words in a search engine's search form, you retrieve a list of URLs that already exist in the search engine's database. To put it simply, a search engine typically cannot search a specialized database because of the following reasons:


 * A database usually cannot search another database without some very special computer programming. The search engine you are using may come across a specialized database but then may be stopped from going any further because the special database has a search form that requests information from the user. For example, you wouldn't look in Google to see what books are in your library; you'd look in your library's Web-based catalog.
 * Many specialized databases contain information that is retrieved dynamically every time a request is made, and the URLs that are generated are different each time. A search engine usually cannot build its database with URLs that may work today and not tomorrow. (Although we have seen that a search engine occasionally picks up information from a dynamic Web site and indexes the unstable URL. If you retrieved that page from your results list, your keywords would not appear).
 * While search engines such as Google have made great progress with their attempts to reach the invisible Web, by indexing PDF files and including some dyanically generated Web pages in it search results, there are still some types, such as audio and video files, that aren't always accessible in a basic search.


 * How to Find Specialized Databases**

There are thousands of specialized databases on the Web. How do you find them?

Sometimes you'll stumble across specialized databases while doing a keyword search in a search engine.

Occasionally, a Web page will have a hyperlink to a database, or a friend or colleague will tell you about a particular site.


 * You can go to a search engine and type in the kind of database you're searching for along with the word **database**. For example, each of these search expressions typed in Google's search form provides excellent databases in the areas requested:


 * medical database**
 * flags database**
 * "zip codes" database**


 * Directories are often the best sources to use when looking for specialized databases. Following is a list of some of the most popular ones:

Beaucoup http://beaucoup.com/

The Digital Librarian http://www.digital-librarian.com

Internet Public Library http://www.ipl2.org

Intute http://www.intute.ac.uk

LibrarySpot http://libraryspot.com

Open Directory Project http://dmoz.org

The Scout Report http://scout.cs.wisc.edu


 * Using Specialized Databases**

Just like search engines, specialized databases support different search features.

Most of these databases support many of the same search features such as Boolean searching and phrase searching. Many databases have search instruction pages, just as the major search engines do.


 * In-Class Activity:**


 * Activity 1**

We are doing research on the nutritional aspects of vegetarian diets. We need to find recent articles from medical journals that would update our general knowledge of the topic. We know that the National Library of Medicine publishes a database of research journal articles and we've heard that it may be available on the Web for free. How can we find it? Let's try the Internet Public Library at http://www.ipl2.org. After we find it, we'll search it and view the results. We will take the following steps:

1) Go to the home page for the Internet Public Library at http://www.ipl2.org. Click on **Health & Medical Supplies** from the home page.

2) Starting with the list of health and medicine resources, locate and select PubMed. You will see a listing of several health and medical resources from which to choose. (Scroll down this page until you find some general health resources listed. From this list, there are several resources that might provide the information you need, but we are looking specifically for article from the database that the National Library of Medicine provides. It looks like PubMed is what we want. Click on the hyperlink for PubMed.

3) Look at basic search help. (The home page tells us that PubMed "comprises more than 22 million citations for biomedical articles from MEDLINE and life science journals. Citations may include links to full-text articles from PubMed Center or publisher Web sites." PubMed is an extremely well-indexed database. Even though it supports many advanced search features, when you're doing a broad subject search, it is wise to keep it simple. The reason for this is that the terms you enter are mapped to other terms such as the subject headings that PubMed uses - called MeSH terms. If you use too many search features, such as phrase searching, you might not retrieve as many useful citations, because the automatic term mapping will be turned off.

4) Type in search terms and retrieve results. Our search has two facets, nutrition and vegetarian diet. We also want to limit our search to those articles that are in the English language, and we would like to retrieve citations to articles that are available for free. Click on **Advanced Search** at the top of the PubMed home page. Type **nutrition vegetarian diet** in the search form. Click on the boxes next to **Links to free full text** and **English** under the **Languages** section. Click search. Choose a citation from the list of results. Select one and click on **free article**.


 * Activity 2**

In this activity, we'll find information about a specific company. The company we'll be searching for is The Gap. Suppose you need to find a Web site, physical address, annual financial information, and recent news about this company. There are several company directories on the Web that would provide a starting place for this type of research. Virtual libraries and meta-search tools list databases by subject. In this activity, we'll use LibrarySpot at http://libraryspot.com, which is a directory. After we find a company database that gives general information that can be accessed from the page.

1) Go to http://libraryspot.com and find a company directory database. Along the left side of the LibrarySpot's home page is a list of subject categories. Click on **Business**, located under **REFERENCE DESK**. Click on **Hoovers Online**.

2) Search Hoover's (http://www.hoovers.com/) to find the company address, homepage, and other basic information. Type **gap** in the search form. Look for **The Gap, Inc.** in the results list. Click on it.

3) Find financial information and news about the company.


 * Activity 3**

WorldCat is an international bibliographic database that holds millions of library records. The great thing about WorldCat is that you can search for books, journals, multimedia, and other information and find out whether a library near you owns the material you need. In this activity, we will show you how to find materials on the topic of homebased business, and see if there is a library inn your area that has the material you want.

1) Go to WorldCat at http:/www.worldcat.org.

2) Search for information on your topic. Type **homebased business** in the search form and click on the button **Search everything**. Note that we are searching the entire catalog, including articles and multimedia such as DVDs and CDs. If we wanted to limit our search to books only, we would click on the **Books** tab. Click on the title **Ultimate homebased business handbook : how to start, run and grow your own profitable business**.

3) Find the material in a library near you. After reading about the book, we decide to see if it is held by our local library. In order for WorldCat to know where we are, we need to insert your zip code in the space provided.


 * Activity 4**

Bartleby.com is a Web site that contains a database of hundreds of resources, including books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and more

1) Go to http://bartleby.com. Let's ay you want to find the book //Origin of Species// by Charles Darwin. The easiest way to do this is to first select **Non-fiction** from the pull-down menu. Then type **Charles Darwin** in the search form. Click on **Go**.

2) To obtain the entire book, simply click on the link to the book. Note that because Bartleby.com is a full-text database, you can search the entire work by the words or phrases that you are interested in.


 * Activity 5**

The Statistical Abstract of the United States is an annual publication that consists of statistics from hundreds of U.S. government agencies and private organizations. It has appeared in print since 1878. It is a very useful tool for finding information on several topics, including labor, education, health issues, population, and more.

1) Go to http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab

We are looking for statistics about child poverty. You can find this information in two ways: by searching the site by keyword, or by accessing a table from the categories on the left side of the window.

2) Scroll down until you see the section entitled **Income, Expenditures, Poverty & Wealth**.

3) Click on the arrow and a sub-menu will appear. Click on the **Poverty** link. You will see several different table on the subject of poverty. One of them ins entitled **Children Below Poverty Level by Race and Hispanic Origin**. Note that you can view this table as a spreadsheet or a PDF.

4) If you wanted to search the site instead of browsing the table, you could enter keywords such as **children poverty** in the search form on the main page.


 * Homework:**

1. Do the following:

a. Go to PubMed at @http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed and do a search for //fibromyalgia//. How many results do you find? b. Following the instructions given at the site, limit the search to articles in English published during the last two years. How many articles are listed now?

2. Here is a specialized database on a completely different topic: the Internet Broadway Database, at @http://www.ibdb.com/. Let's look for some information about the production of //The Lion King//. Type the title into the search box, choose the proper category and hit **Submit**.

a. What date did the production open? What is the name of the theater? b. Who wrote the music for the show? Who choreographed all those dances in the production? Did he win andy awards for it? c. Look up the production of //Ragtime//. When did it open? When did it close? Who sang the role of Sarah on opening night?

3. Suppose you want to invest in the stock market and need information about a company or two you are considering in the food industry. Let's try a search for information about Mars, who you know makes the candy bars. You know you can search for the company at Hoover's Online. Access their site at http://hoovers.com and look for Mars.

a. What is the URL that is given for Mars? Is this a publicly traded company or a private one? What is the corporate address? b. Now try looking for Hershey Foods. What is the URL for the company? c. Is Hershey a publicly traded company? Go to their Web site. (//Hint:// Click on **map** to get to their URL). Where did you find their latest annual report? d. Does Hershey have a direct purchase plan for buying its stock? Where did you find this information?

4. You are doing some research on food and nutrition and want to find some statistical and other data. Go to Intute at http://www.intute.ack.uk and try to find some databases that cover this topic. How many did you find? How did you find them?

5. Go to WorldCat at http://www.worldcat.org and do an author search on the name **Charles Baxter**. See if you can find the title //A Feast of Love//. Type in your zip code and see if any local libraries own that particular book.

6. Go to the Internet Public Library at http://www.ipl2.org and find the Internet Movie Database. How did you find it?

a. Access the site, and search for the actress Adrian Booth. What was her real name? What other name did she use? In what films did she appear with John Wayne? b. Now look for The Lord of the Rings movies. If you just type **Lord of the Rings** into the search box, how many results do you see? Click on the 2003 film, **Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King**. On the left side of the page, click on **Awards and Nominations**. How many Academy Awards did it receive? c. Now click on **Trivia**. Give a fun fact about the film.

7. Another excellent government-produced database is Thomas at http://thomas.loc.gov. Thomas is the U.S. Congress Web site.

a. Access the site and search for bills currently in Congress about hate crimes legislation. How many results do you find? b. Ins the Congressional Record searchable as well? What about bills that are still in committee?

8. Go to FindLaw at http://www.findlaw.com. Click on **Learn About the Law**. See if you can find the rules for common law marriage in Pennsylvania.

9. Go to Yahoo!'s People Search at http://people.yahoo.com and to WhitePages.com at http://www.whitepages.com. Look for their privacy policies and compare them. Is it easy to find their policies? Is one more strongly protective of privacy than another? Can you remove your name from either listing?

10. Go to Switchboard at http://switchboard.com.

a. Find the address and phone number of the Ordway Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. b. Print a map that shows the location of the theater, and print driving directions from your location to the theater. c. Find the same information (address, phone number, map, driving directions) for the MacArthur Park restaurant in New York City.


 * Summary:**

Specialized databases are searchable collections on particular subjects or formats.

The difference between a specialized database and a subject guide is that a subject guide is a collection of URLs in a particular subject area, whereas a database contains the actual data or information you are seeking.

Many databases provide hyperlinks that take you from one related field to another.

The major types of databases are bibliographic, full-text, numeric, and directory databases.

You can easily find them by accessing directories such as the Internet Public Library.

Specialized databases are also found in subject guides.

These databases are like search engines in that they all support different search features.

Most databases have search instruction pages that you should read before you start searching.

This lesson covered the bibliographic database PubMed, and excellent resource for finding journal articles in the medical field.

Also covered was a directory-type database, Hoover's, which focuses on company information.

We explored searching a library catalog by using the bibliographic database, WorldCat, and showed briefly how to use a numeric database, the U.S. Statistical Abstract.

Full-text searching in Bartleby.com was also given as an example.

We listed several services that let you search for phone numbers, mailing addresses, and other information about individuals and businesses available on the WWW.

These provide electronic access to the white and yellow pages of a phone book.

Having rapid access to this type of information raises questions about privacy and ethical use of this information.

Most services have a hyperlink from their home page that provides policy statements regarding the issues.

You need to be aware of your rights and responsibilities when you register with or use these services.

Also, be sure not to give these services information that wouldn't be safe to share with a complete stranger.

Putting information on these services is like tacking it up on thousands of bulletin boards throughout the world.


 * Summary Activity:**


 * Source:**

Hartman, K. and Ackerman, E. (2010). //Searching and researching on the Internet and the World Wide Web//. Sherwood, OR: Franklin, Beedle & Associates.