Re: (no subject)

["Bonne of Traquair" <oftraquair@hotmail.com>]

Poster: "Bonne of Traquair" <oftraquair@hotmail.com>




>To: atlantia@atlantia.sca.org
>Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 16:32:12 -0700
>From: "Michael Jeffrey Looney" <barderic@mailcity.com>
>Subject: Re: (no subject)
>Reply-To: "Michael Jeffrey Looney" <barderic@mailcity.com>
>
>
>Poster: "Michael Jeffrey Looney" <barderic@mailcity.com>
>
>Anotehr problem I have with the libraries, with the new computer data 
bases that they have, is if you do a key-word or a subject search, and 
you get a list of 500 books, and you go throug them all jsut to find 
that MAYBE 5 of them actually ahve anythong to do with your subjest 
beyond a minor mention of like 3 words.

Some search engines indicate that you should enter multiple keywords, 
but they don't really explain that the system is going to return 
everything with ANY of the keywords, not just the items with ALL. 
Instead of searching for a set of key words, you need to enter one or 
two major keywords, and then search the results using more keywords.  
Alternatively, enter the most specific word, and if those results are 
good enough, go back and add more and more words until you get a 
collection of hits that satisfies you. Doing this sort of thing ought to 
at reduce the number of hits to a couple of dozen if not fewer.  If you 
expect a much more specific list than that, you are expecting too much!  
The database is only meant to provide general assistance, not expert 
guidance. 

>Or the books that you REALLY need at "loaned out" at the time, and I
>always have teachers that think that you can write a complete essay 
>over a 2 day period, with something like 5 news articles, 3 
>encyclopedias, and numerious other accurate sources.  

Are you saying you have too much to process in just a few days? YOu 
can't be saying too little, and including the phrase "numberous other 
resources"!   So, skim the materials, pick and choose what you want, and 
write. Keep in mind that the teacher wants what can be done in 2 days, 
not a term paper.  Don't over do the assignment.  


>I've actually had more of those than I can count on my fingers and 
>toes, and you go looking for this stuff, and, SURPRISE, it's never 
>there, not what you need!
*sighs*

The librarian is your friend. 

Bonne







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