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Online Research the Right Way
by Stephanie Suesan Smith, Ph.D.
Would you like to do all your research on the computer? No,
I do not mean looking at websites written by people of dubious
authority. I mean real publications, from your computer. The
federal government funds a program that makes databases of
magazines, newspapers, professional and scientific journals,
and some books available online. In many cases, the entire
text of the article is included.
LexusNexus databases cost so much they do not even put the price
on their website. You have to call them to get it. This database,
though, is free. You just have to get the website for your state
and the login information from your local librarian. Once you do
that, you can access most resources from your computer.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the federal agency
charged with ensuring the health of the nation’s libraries. They
fund a collection of databases by giving grants to each state’s
library commission. These commissions, in turn, subscribe to the
databases and give each local library a patron login code and
password. My librarian printed the codes and instructions to
access the databases on a handout she gives patrons. Some
librarians must be asked about the access information, but all
should have it available somewhere.
With libraries cutting budgets, reducing hours, and eliminating
periodical subscriptions, this database can be a life saver. If
you live in a rural area with a tiny library, as I do, it can
mean the difference between being able to look at the back issues
of a magazine or doing without. It certainly makes doing the kind
of thorough review of a potential market writers are advised to do
much easier.
In Texas, the TexShare Database has a collection of “child safe”
databases to help children with homework assignments, genealogy
and history information, science and technology, health and
medicine, books and literature, business, and general information.
You can specify full text only results or a mixture of citations
and full text. I generally search everything at once, which
takes a little longer, but gives results from both consumer and
academic publications.
There are some journals that return only the citation and abstract
for each article. This is generally true for the most current
month or issue of the journal. Older issues have the full text of
the article available. If you need the information right away, you
can often contact the first author and request a copy of the journal
article. They will usually send you a PDF file containing the
article and any tables, graphs, and photographs. As an added bonus,
you then have the author’s contact information to use later if you
need an interview with them.
Searches can be saved in the system. There is a way to pull out
the results you want and either read them online or download them
to your computer. The only downside I have found to this system is
that I go through a lot of printer cartridges and a lot of paper
when I print the articles out to file.
Ready to get started? Take your library card to your reference
librarian and ask for information on accessing the online literature
databases. You will need the url for your state’s system, the login
ID, and the password. Once you return home, pull up the URL you
have been given on your computer. Then plug in the login id and
password and you are in. Search away!
BIO
Stephanie Suesan Smith writes on gardening, pet, and other
nonfiction topics and illustrates articles with her photography.
http://www.stephaniesuesansmith.com
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