Online Databases: Course Analysis

Prior to this course, I had no idea that there were so many different strategies, let alone strategies at all for doing searches in online databases. I was able to explore the databases, and learn about how search strategies were put to the test.

From reading the two articles, I learned three new ideas. The first one is that if you search something in one data base, it is not guaranteed that your exact same search will yield the same results in another data base. Prior to this, I had always assumed that every data base would yield the same results. This simple idea lead me to wonder that if I were to search something on Google, if I would find the same thing or not on Bing. The second thing I learned is that not all data bases will allow

In some databases they would search using several lines to get very specific, and on other data bases they were unable to search that specifically because that option was just not available. I always thought that all databases had a standard way of searching and that every database allowed people to search items in a set standard way that was the same for all search engines. The third thing I learned, which I believe is the most important an applicable to me, is that I should not use all my keywords and phrases in one search. I would typically throw all of my keywords and all my questions into one search. I thought that by doing this that I would find the most relevant information that I needed. I have found that by doing this I end up with too many results, and it takes me quick some time to click through all of them to obtain the information that I was seeking. As I read in the articles, I saw

This will make my searches more efficient and it will save me a lot of time. Not only do I find Boolean’s operators for searching very valuable, but I find that the vast amount of databases that I have access to can be very useful to me especially in my graduate school life. I had always thought that there were only two scholarly databases available. I did not know that there were many more that I had just not discovered yet. In addition to my new knowledge, I will be able to apply what I have learned to being more careful in selecting keywords in my future searches. As I had stated before, I had always searched everything at once. I now understand the importance and the significance of keywords, phrases and so on, and I am excited to try this out for my next research