Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news.kodak.com!news-nysernet-16.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!128.122.253.90!newsfeed.nyu.edu!news.idt.net!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!pln-w!extra.newsguy.com!lotsanews.com!news1.mpcs.com!news.iinet.net.au!not-for-mail From: david@cn.net.au (David Novak) Newsgroups: sci.research,comp.infosystems.www.announce,comp.answers,sci.answers,news.answers Subject: Information Research FAQ v.2.6 (Part 2/9) Followup-To: poster Date: 12 May 1998 00:00:00 GMT Organization: iiNet Technologies Lines: 849 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Message-ID: <6je20h$554$3@news.iinet.net.au> NNTP-Posting-Host: classic25.nv.iinet.net.au Summary: Information Research FAQ: Resources, Tools & Training Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu sci.research:17558 comp.infosystems.www.announce:22073 comp.answers:31284 sci.answers:8267 news.answers:130011 Archive-name: internet/info-research-faq/part2 Posting-Frequency: monthly Last-modified: May 12 1998 URL: http://cn.net.au Copyright: (c) 1998 David Novak Maintainer: David Novak Information Research FAQ (Part 2/8) This section of the FAQ contains a collection of heavily researched articles. These articles are also available from the Spire Project (including http://cn.net.au), & from our free shareware (see http://cn.net.au/tools/infokey.html). You may wish, for convenience, to reach for the webpage version of this information. If you have suggestions, leads or corrections, please do inform us: david@cn.net.au Note also, the disclaimer statement on Part 1 of this FAQ. Contents ----- Part 2 ----- 5. Information Research: Finding A Webpage 6. Information Research: Locating Books 7. Information Research: United Nations Documents 8. Information Research: Finding Articles 9. Information Research: FAQs & Newsgroups 10. Information Research: Theses & Dissertations ___________________________________________________ 5. Information Research: Finding a Webpage From the cn.net.au research site http://cn.net.au/articles/webpage.html Webpages are often of unknown age, of only guessed at quality and potentially the easiest information to retrieve. There are many points of entry into this field, but only a few are quick enough to be useful in serious research (as distinct from recreational surfing). This is not a definitive method of locating all webpages in existence, but rather a simpler, more research-worthy method. Global Search Engines If the question has a useful, specific name, use a broad search engines, or a fast meta-search engine. Place the Boolean + before each search word (+word1 +word2), or the "" to keep words together ( "word1 word2"). [1] Altavista[2], among other tools, has a very large, fast search engine. [8] Debriefing[8] is a swift meta-search engine particularly for specific names. [3] Webcrawler[3] has a rapid search engine, one of the earliest on the web. [4] HotBot[56] is a search engine reputed to have a particularly large spread.Hotbot also allows searches by region, by time, and more. all the wordsany of the wordsexact phrasethe page titlethe personlinks to this URLBoolean phrase [4] Excite[4] has another major search engine, also with a moderate directory tree, power search options[5] and Search Tips[6]. [7] If you are looking for more, consider visiting the W3 Search Engines[7] page at the University of Geneva. The Industry Research Desk also has a good search engines page[8], as does this site[9]. We also have a small script for searching search engines in succession[10]. Categorized Lists If the information lends itself instead to a particular category or topic, look at the sources which group information together in categories. [1] Yahoo[1] is the largest of this type of directory tree; the definitive site. [11] Infoseek[11] gets my vote for the next best directory tree. You need to visit their top page to use their directory. They also have a search engine. Reviewed Sites If you are seeking specific fields of study, and the answers are likely to be clouded with many related, low quality sites, seek the advice of others. Visit tools written by real people describing what is of value. [12] The Internet Scout Project[105], at the University of Wisconsin, is one of the oldest and most highly regarded services introducing new Internet resources. Residing at the University of Wisconsin, The Scout only describes important sites. The Scout Report Signpost[12] provides a quick search[13] of reviewed sites. [14][15] BUBL[14] is another site which reviews Internet resources, and here they index by dewey decimal number[16]. I prefer their dewey presentation, but the collection is not large (though the largest of the library projects I have seen). Here is their keyword search[15]: [17] AlphaSearch[17] is related site, this one indexes important nexus sites. Browse this site. [18][15] The Britannica Internet Guide[18] (as in Encyclopaedia Britannica) is one more site with reviewed information. This site also has a directory structure[18]. [3][4] The Argus Clearinghouse[4] is a vast collection of Internet guidebooks. We can search the titles & descriptions, but their subject oriented[4] directory is better. [1] FAQs[1] can be searched from an FAQ database like this one at Oxford University. See also FAQs & Newsgroups[19]. [20] WebRings[20] are a new form where an list of sites on a particular topic is maintained at an uninvolved site using software. Webring.com has a large list of many of them, though there are others. Specialist Tools If the issue you are looking for has a particular regional facet, or a government origin, consider these tools: [2] Altavista[2] allows you to search for webpages written in a particular language. Thus, if you are searching for a Japanese site, perhaps searching only webpages in Japanese? any language Chinese Czech Danish Dutch English Estonian Finnish French German Greek Hebrew Hungarian Icelandic Italian Japanese Korean Latvian Lithuanian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Swedish [21] GovBot[4], this one by the Small Business Advisor[5] is a search engine of a great number of US government webpages. This site has other searchable fields[6] in addition to the options here. [22] [23]Search Engines also exist for more regions and countries. On a separate page, I have collected various entry points here in Australia including search engines and government entry points. I have not, unfortunately, found a reliable way to locate these tools. Closing Note A more extensive search must extend beyond these resources, but first question why you are interested in webpages. There may be other, more appropriate resources. To seriously search the Internet, move through the various systems and structures on the Internet till you find the one most rewarding. A kind of focused surfing, if you will. Information clumps. Information does not exist in isolation but instead is developed in context, is reinforced, and develops into a trend. This is why an FTP archive may be the best place for Perl programming, The Copyright FAQ for Copyright, a directory the best starting point for women's studies and the HUD website for Housing research. Internet research is discussed further in the Advanced Research Training[24] article or our article on The Sociology of Internet Development[25]. If your interest is Search Engines. Consider reading A Higher Signal - To - Noise Ratio[26]: Effective Use Of Web Search Engines by Bob Bocher & Kay Ihlenfeldt, Sink or Swim[27]: Internet Search Tools & Techniques by Ross Tyner, our short notes on the Search Engine Industry[28], and the more recent The Search is Over[29] by Adam Page If you are still interested, look for Searching the Internet[30] a publication in the Scout Toolkit[31] and visit Search Engine Watch[32]. This post comes from The cn.net.au research site, a site devoted to information research. Advice welcome : email david@cn.net.au (c)Copyright Community Networking. (http://cn.net.au) --- footnotes for the above article --- [1] http://altavista.digital.com [2] http://altavista.digital.com/ [3] http://webcrawler.com/ [4] http://excite.com/ [5] http://excite.com/search/options.html?a-opt-t [6] http://excite.com/Info/searching.html?a-tip-t [7] http://cuiwww.unige.ch/meta-index.html [8] http://www.virtualpet.com/rbbi/links/sengine.htm [9] http://members.aol.com/PRHopper/Search.htm [10] http://cn.net.au/articles/note04.html [11] http://www.infoseek.com/ [12] http://www.signpost.org/signpost/ [13] http://www.signpost.org/signpost/quicksearch.html [14] http://link.bubl.ac.uk/ [15] http://link.bubl.ac.uk/isc1 [16] http://link.bubl.ac.uk/isc2 [17] http://www.calvin.edu/library/as/ [18] http://www.ebig.com [19] http://cn.net.au/articles/faqs.html [20] http://www.webring.org/#ringworld [21] http://ciir.cs.umass.edu/demo-cgi/V1.1/web_evaluate [22] http://cn.net.au/articles/note05.html [23] http://cn.net.au/articles/note05.html [24] http://cn.net.au/training/index.html [25] http://cn.net.au/cn/socio.html [26] http://nucphy.ph.msstate.edu/~pe/lw-tech/search2.html [27] http://nucphy.ph.msstate.edu/~pe/lw-tech/search.html [28] http://cn.net.au/articles/note03.html [29] http://www.zdnet.com/pccomp/features/fea1096/sub2.html [30] http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/toolkit/searching/index.html [31] http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/toolkit/index.html [32] http://www.searchenginewatch.com ___________________________________________________ 6. Information Research: Locating Books From the cn.net.au research site http://cn.net.au/articles/books.html Books are dense, factual and comprehensive. They also describe assimilated research and opinion a minimum 6 months to a year old by definition. Free Books Online There are a few books available on the Internet as full text. Don't spend long looking. There are two primary book archives[1] and a long list of specialist book archives. Thankfully most of these are indexed brilliantly by The On-Line Books Page[2] at Carnegie Mellon University. [3] Books Online also has a very effective subject directory[3]. Perhaps the more rewarding tool in this case. [2][4] free books online by title or author Author: Title: Government Publications Government Publications are singularly certain to be valuable, if one can be found. Luckily, it is not a big drama to search government publications. Three of the databases are free online! [5][6] Monthly Catalog of US Government Publications (MOCAT-1994+) Improved Professional Search Options[7] from the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)[8] ADJ AND OR NOT must be capitalized, ú * for stem ú ".." for phrases [8][9] Australian Government Index of Publications (AGIP 1992+) from AusInfo[10] (formerly the AGPS).There is an AGIP description[9] of the file here, but start here[8]. AGIP books can be ordered through AusInfo's purchase point[11], or their store in each Australian Capital. [12] The United Kingdom Official Publications database (UKOP), which includes references to publications from the UK Office for National Statistic, is available free through the sales point of the Stationery Office[13]. Use this Search Form[12] to browse UK Official Publications. Large Book Catalogues The next step is to check the large books catalogues to see if we can find a book to match your interest. We could start with the library catalogue in your state[14] or proceed to the much larger world-class library catalogues: The Library of Congress (LOCIS) has a very sophisticated experimental search system[15] which is preferable to their normal catalogue[16] (which closes every evening). [17][18] The British Library[17] has their very large catalogue online, though unfortunately closed 4 hours a day (their midnight to 4am), Sundays & English bank holidays. The British Library is comparable in size to the Library of Congress. [19][20] The National Library of Australia Catalogue[19] is also online. Search their full catalogue here[20] or their periodical catalogue here[21]. [22] Copac[22], a unified access to the online catalogues of some of the largest research university libraries in the UK and Ireland, has an author/title[22], a subject search[22] and a periodical search[23]. Book Databases Commercial Books in the world are organized by a collection of directories: [US] Books in Print[24] (R.R.Bowker) Whitaker's [UK] Books in Print (Whitaker) Australian Books in Print (Thorpe) Canadian Books in Print (University of Toronto Press) Les Livres Disponibles/French Books in Print (Electre) Italian Books in Print German Books in Print and more... These directories are available in isolation, as a database, or a few in a database called Global Books in Print (which is not really global). There may be recent editions in your library but don't bother. The directory is not user-friendly, as you will find yourself looking through each month's subject categories. A better solution is to borrow access from your favorite large bookstore. For about Au$4500/year, many bookstores subscribe to Global Books in Print on CD-rom, or one of the national books in print databases. There should be no cost for searching, but ask for the date and the database name so you have a clearer idea of what is being searched. These commercial databases and directories are not dramatically superior to the large library catalogues. In theory, every book published in Britain is supposed to be lodged with the British library. Thus, the British Library Card Catalogue (free online) should eventually list British Books, the Library of Congress should catalogue all US Books, and the National Library of Australia should catalogue all Australian Books. In practice there are substantial delays or omissions to the National Library catalogues. Other Book Resources True to the Internet, many more resources are emerging online to help people find the book they want. There are Book Reviews, Commercial Bookstores, Author Fan Clubs, and Book Discussion Lists. Many forums also occasionally review new books. [25] Further information on Book Reviews can be found with the help of Locating Book Reviews[25], thanks to Monash University Library. [26] The New York Review of Books[26] will eventually will become a paid subscription service, but currently is free. You can search their archives[27] or learn more[28]. Lastly, there are specialized Book finding services, which have access to specialized tools for those within the book industry. Books on Demand is a directory of out of print books which are available for reprinting. The directory include price and order addresses. There are additional directories for Large Type Books (called Large Type Books in Print), Children's Books (Children's Books in Print) and others Book Types Just as Internet information comes in different qualities and formats, books also come in different styles and flavours. Certain books are written by industry insiders and are characterized by personal stories and expert wisdom from an author telling all the secrets. These books are worth looking for, and the short bio may give a clue. Another type is written by the Journalist who writes about a relatively unfamiliar topic. I find such books often fall short of my expectations. Further types like Government books, far more factual than most, and frequently updated books, far more current than most, can be imagined. Try to find the style of book suited to your needs. This post comes from The cn.net.au research site, a site devoted to information research. Advice welcome : email david@cn.net.au (c)Copyright Community Networking. (http://cn.net.au) --- footnotes for the above article --- [1] http://cn.net.au/articles/note06.html [2] http://www.cs.cmu.edu/books.html [3] http://www.cs.cmu.edu/booksubjects.html [4] http://www.cs.cmu.edu/booksearch.html [5] http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/adpos400.html [6] http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/dpos410.html [7] http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/adposfld.html [8] http://www.access.gpo.gov/ [9] http://webpac.ausinfo.gov.au [10] http://www.ausinfo.gov.au/index.html [11] http://www.ausinfo.gov.au/tools/order.htm [12] http://www.national-publishing.co.uk/search_a.html [13] http://www.national-publishing.co.uk [14] http://cn.net.au/articles/library.html [15] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/resdev/ess/ [16] http://lcweb.loc.gov/catalog/ [17] http://opac97.bl.uk/Search?Action=New [18] http://opac97.bl.uk/ [19] http://ilms.nla.gov.au/webpac/ [20] http://ilms.nla.gov.au/webpac-bin/wgbroker?new+-access+top [21] http://ilms.nla.gov.au/webpac-bin/wgbroker?new+-access+nlaserials [22] http://copac.ac.uk/copac/ [23] http://copac.ac.uk/copac/journal.html [24] http://cn.net.au/cgi-bin/cd_find.pl?search=books+print [25] http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/hss/guides/fsreview.htm [26] http://www.nybooks.com/nyrev/index.html [27] http://www.nybooks.com/nyrev/search.html [28] http://www.nybooks.com/nyrev/archives.html ___________________________________________________ 7. Information Research: United Nations Information From the cn.net.au research site http://cn.net.au/articles/un.html "The United Nations is involved in every aspect of international life - from peace-keeping to the environment, from children's rights to air safety. ... The UN system generates an enormous amount of information on some of the most pressing issues the world faces. ... including press releases, video and photographic footage, publications, briefing papers, etc." Samir Sanbar, Foreword to A Guide to Information at the United Nations. United Nations documents are the recognized authority for any number of international issues: social, legal or political. You certainly will not be chastised for quoting United Nations statistics. If you want to know more about the UN, start with a US Dept. of State summary[1] and the UN website[118]. UN Internet Resources I am not a big supporter for surfing the web as research, and unfortunately, the UN website (http://www.un.org/[27]) is just a little too big for casual research. This site suffers from the same ailment of all large websites: lots of information but not enough answers. [2] If you do wish to investigate the UN online, start with UNIONS[2], the United Nations International Organizations Network Search. Unions is a multi-search engine of UN websites which does the job beautifully. Here is a simplified gateway: Unions Search of several UN Websites. All the words Any of the words The exact phrase and wait 30 seconds 1 minute 2 minutes Until Complete [3][4] You may also wish to visit the official web site locator[3] for the UN System of Organizations, or this alternative list[4] of UN related websites (with partial descriptions) [5] On the un.org website you will find a few real gems including current press releases, and the transcripts to the United Nations Radio: The World in Review[5]. The database section (really an archive) is also impressive and informative on topics like land mines and human rights. A Quick look at Sales Documents If you don't have time for detailed primary research (below), then it may be wise to search for a book or compilation, called a UN sales document, matching your interest. [13] As many UN sales documents are indexed into library catalogues, we can roughly search current UN sales documents with the help of the [US] Library of Congress Experimental Search System. To make this work, successively search under several publishers (the radio buttons). Keywords: United Nations World Health Organization World Bank Food and Agriculture Organization International Labour Organization International Monetary Fund (IMF) Now we get into the difficult, primary research. The UN publishes a vast amount of unbound information only found in UN depository libraries. S/1997/742/Add.1, Report of the Secretary-General on the situation concerning Western Sahara: a few loose pages providing a breakdown of the estimated costs for completing the voter identification process in Western Sahara. Most documents are stapled pages with little more than a letterhead as an introduction. Other documents have a wider appeal... E.96.I.5, The United Nations and the International Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda UN Blue Book Series S/1997/742/Add.1, Abortion Policies: A Global Review, Population studies No. 129. This is a three volume, 650 page country-by-country look at abortion. 300+ shelves of documents like these rest at each of the United Nations Depository Libraries. 300 shelves? The United Nations even had to develop a whole new cataloguing scheme to keep things in place! Even their printed Index, UNDOC - Current Index - subject guide was not cumulative and is no longer produced. So how do we find anything? Ways to Find Information The United Nations publishes documents in two formats. Firstly, there are the official records of the various bodies of the UN, unbound, brief, stapled pages which are the primary sources to events in the UN. We will call these the UNDOC Series (they have a UN document series number), or MASTHEAD documents. Secondly, we have documents the UN offers for sale: bound, compiled, more informative, descriptive. These are the SALES DOCUMENTS (they have a sales document number in addition to a UN Document number). UNDOC Series documents and UN Sales Documents; primary documents and secondary, compiled documents. Libraries catalogue some UN Sales Documents on the public shelves, but will keep other UN Sales Documents with the remainder of the archive. 1) UN-BIS and UN-BIS Plus CD-rom, The easiest to use, these are bibliographic databases of the United Nations Archive. The Plus refers to a collection of additional non-UN books included in the database. 2) UNDOC - Current Index - subject guide, Ceased publication at the end of 1996, to be replaced by the UN-BIS and UN-BIS Plus CD-rom. Available in Title, Author and Subject Indexes (and surprisingly well organized as subject too). These came out quarterly and were not cumulative. You will need to page through each quarterly index for however far back you wish to look. This is not as cumbersome as you may imagine, and if the subject is well defined, a quite rewarding way to spend 20 minutes. 3) United Nations Publications Catalogue 1997-98, This cumulative document describes only the UN sales documents, the bound, compiled documents with more depth and breadth. Organized by subject too, it is very simple and rewarding to use. If you seek an international comparison, I strongly suggest you start here. This is not a sales document, so ask for it by name from your librarian. 4) United Nations Periodicals, The Yearbook of the United Nations and the United Nations Chronicle (quarterly of 80+pages) summarizes the current activities by the UN. It also describes further documents which will provide more depth for each issue. These periodicals will lead you directly to the documents of importance for each issue - particularly if it is an issue which hits the media. 5) Focused Indexes, Not only are there annual indexes to the work of the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic & Social Council and Trusteeship Council, and occasional sales documents summarize resources in a particular field. If you are working frequently with UN documents, you may wish to focus on a particular UN organ (not my word, thank you). There are many UN organs, with considerable overlap, so this is probably unwise for most searches. A Guide to Information at the United Nations (E.95.I.4) describes each UN organ concisely. If you visit the UN website, you will encounter The UN Info Quest (UN-I-QUE[6]) database. This is much too simple a database to be useful. Try the Internet search above, or the commercial databases of UN documents: UN-BIS, UN-BIS Plus, and Readex CD-rom[7] Index to United Nations Documents and Publications UN Depository Libraries There are over 359 UN depository libraries in 141 countries. Please touch the map to locate the UN archives close to you. An alphabetical country list[8] is also available on the UN website. Trouble with Age United Nations publications do suffer time lags. The best documents appear well after the curve of public interest. Primary UNDOC documents will take up to 6 months before becoming available at a UN archive and the Sales documents are compiled after this. On the up side, UN archives frequently extend back to the 1950s. To find more recent information, consider the UN periodicals and the web. The Yearbook of the United Nations summarizes the year and the United Nations Chronicle at just US$20, is an upbeat quarterly magazine. Ms Bushra Jaswal, a UN Librarian in Pakistan, also publishes really good guidance on her website[29]. Further Assistance [9] The United Nations Documentation: Research Guide is online and designed for information professionals new to UN Documents [10] The United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library has more information too. [11] Lastly, each region in the world has a United Nations Information Centre[11]. This post comes from The cn.net.au research site, a site devoted to information research. Advice welcome : email david@cn.net.au (c)Copyright Community Networking. (http://cn.net.au) --- footnotes for the above article --- [1] http://www.state.gov/www/background_notes/united_nations_0997_bgn.html [2] http://www3.itu.int/cgi-bin/unions/nph-search.cgi [3] http://www.unsystem.org/ [4] http://www.undcp.or.at/unlinks.html [5] http://www.un.org/Depts/AV/radionews.html [6] http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/unique/index.html#search [7] http://www.readex.com/readex/govdocs/un/un1.html [8] http://www.un.org/MoreInfo/Deplib/ [9] http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/ [10] http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/ [11] http://www.un.org/aroundworld/unics/ ___________________________________________________ 8. Information Research: Finding Articles From the cn.net.au research site http://cn.net.au/articles/articles.html Articles hold a definitive value, a statement of quality and currency. Sometimes articles are long, unique and informative works. Sometimes articles are short, simple, trite; a rehash of common knowledge. There is a range of ways to access articles - though none are particularly inexpensive. We also have difficulties paying copyright - so most researchers are restricted to using certain expensive systems should you seek paid assistance. In all, articles are cumbersome, cumbersome and time-consuming to work with. There are three difficulties with article searches. 1_ Finding the articles which interest us. 2_ Getting our hands on a copy. Many articles you locate may be impractical to access in person while electronic access can be expensive. 3_ Copyright permission, which can be potentially simple or exceedingly expensive. Articles directly out of Journals. Of course, this is the main stay of article research. Find a library nearby which holds the journal then read or photocopy it then and there. These links to the card catalogues will help you find the information. The difficulty, of course, is that this does not help you discover what articles will interest you - they only work if you have a useful bibliography to work from. Databases of Full Text Articles A recent system of full text articles on CD-rom has a brilliant future. Up to 500 journals are updated frequently in this inexpensive format. And most Research Libraries have this station. I know Edith Cowan jumped ahead by buying one for each of their four campuses. (and they cost 10,000+). Full Text Articles on CD-rom I know of several CD-rom which include full text articles. These are never the type of services which individuals would consider buying, but all major research libraries, and increasingly major libraries, are purchasing these services for their patrons. A side note on these services... Research Libraries are often filled with research students. Odd coincidence really, but this means the best resources (read full text article CD-rom stations) are inevitably booked out. There may also be frequent computer difficulties - as the equipment is used heavily and may be old. Try to phone ahead to confirm too. Gale Directory of Databases (bi-annual) is the definitive source of information on databases (though cracks are appearing). Most important libraries will have a copy, though not often on the open shelves. Online and Printed Bibliography Databases. Yes, there are far more of these. These databases are just like the full text databases - just they only provide you with the bibliographic details. The alternative is a variety of printed directories. APAIS, PAIS, ERIC, all started life as a print directory of publications... and most still live on in this format. These can be found again at most research and state libraries. I have put the most important in the resources directory to draw your attention to them. Local Libraries and Inter-Library Loans. If you are not in the rush, local libraries provide a service which requests an article from a library somewhere else in Australia. It is dutifully posted back to the requesting library as a photocopy. The good news is it often costs you just the 45cent stamp they will use to notify you of its arrival. The downside is it takes a month over to arrive. You need to know the full bibliographic details to use this service, and you need to visit your local library (not state library), but it is available. Don't forget sometimes, as in Australia, there is a free telephone service to find holdings in Australian libraries. Direct Purchase There are always opportunities to purchase back issues of periodicals direct from the publisher. This is certainly a place to consider. CARL Carl Uncover service[1] (faxback articles) One of the great library groups in North America established a service to provide articles by post or fax. This is Carl. Carl promises to fax articles provided you use their system to check that one of their many libraries has the required document. They dutifully provide an Internet access point for this information. Northern Light Northern Lights[2] is a search engine of both the web (??) and their own database of articles available for purchase. The rates are cheaper than Carl (up to $4.00 per downloaded document) - and the articles are delivered over the Internet (not faxed) but the range is smaller. Online Databases of Full Text Articles. This really is the new wave of database access. Buying them online also simplifies the purchase of copyright (even copyright for multiple copies). There are more and more full text articles appearing in databases. It is unfortunate that pictures are not included (perhaps some day), but I would like to draw your attention to our articles on Commercial Databases[3] and Database Retailers[4]. The Future Many of the databases will begin to offer their services either as a pay-per-view, or through reasonable direct subscription methods through the Internet. For many years now, large database marketers have resold the wares of database owners at a considerable hike. The opportunity of direct, Internet access stands to dramatically reduce the cost, but is still some years off. I'll write more about this under databases. This post comes from The cn.net.au research site, a site devoted to information research. Advice welcome : email david@cn.net.au (c)Copyright Community Networking. (http://cn.net.au) --- footnotes for the above article --- [1] http://www.carl.org/uncover/unchome.html [2] http://www.nlsearch.com/ [3] http://cn.net.au/articles/database.html [4] http://cn.net.au/articles/d_retail.html ___________________________________________________ 9. Information Research: FAQs, Guidebooks & Newsgroups From the cn.net.au research site http://cn.net.au/articles/faqs.html The FAQ may be a brilliant informative document in itself, or the definitive pointer to further tools and resources. The Guidebook is another useful pointer to Internet tools and resources. Newsgroups, (also known as Network News or Usenet), are large discussion grounds where resources and ideas are shared, and sometimes discussed. This page contains the tools you will need to quickly locate what interests you from these resources. Searching FAQs by Name [1] FAQs[1] can be searched from an FAQ database at Oxford University. [1] FAQs and PIPS, can be search courtesy of Universiteit Utrecht (Netherlands) [2] If you know the newsgroup, consider using an html faq archive like this one[2] at www.faqs.org Internet Guidebooks If you are interested in Guidebooks, the Argus Clearinghouse (previously famous as the Internet directory Stacks) holds a very large collection of subject oriented Internet guidebooks. [3][4] The Argus Clearinghouse Their subject oriented webpage[4] is our preferred tool here. Searching : Network News If you are seriously interested in newsgroups, Digital's Altavista service does allow searches of recent newsgroup messages. Dejanews has an even larger archive (back past March '95). [5] Altavista[5] Search Network News. [6] Dejanews[6] Search of Network News Dejanews' power search[7] form is a must-see, and allows for author profiles and more. Newsgroup Databases [8] Liszt.com maintains a searchable database of newsgroups. [9] You can also get a list of newsgroups from your own computer (search for news.rc), but perhaps wiser is to undertake a word search of current discussion, then focus in on matching newsgroups. [10] Newsgroups are not carried everywhere; This webpage at Duke University will help you find additional newsgroups. Approach your Internet Service Provider to bring it in. This is a simple task for them, but for low volume newsgroups there is an email alternative. Closing Note An FAQ is created to enhance the discussion of a newsgroup. After a time, the initial members of a newsgroup would have discussed many of the standard topics to death, which newcomers will still find interesting. To prevent only discussing introductory topics (and annoying those who hope for progress) a document is created collectively to record answers to standard questions. Because one of the primary functions of a special interest group is resource discovery - and because FAQs are collectively created, they are valuable and generally reliable. I consider the Official Copyright FAQ[11] the best document in the world on copyright law. As an aside, many FAQs are also available as web pages. Trouble is, without an system to vet true newsgroup FAQs, you are far more likely to encounter FAQs which have not been vetted by the news.answers team. The Official Copyright FAQ is 70+ pages of topical and factual detail with links to further information. There are several other copyright FAQs with less than 10 pages, (and not particularly concerned with providing information). Access an established FAQ archive for your FAQs. www.faqs.org[2] has a small list[12] (but is elegant as a source of FAQs). Another longer exists midway down this document[13]. This post comes from The cn.net.au research site, a site devoted to information research. Advice welcome : email david@cn.net.au (c)Copyright Community Networking. (http://cn.net.au) --- footnotes for the above article --- [1] http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/Excite/AT-LAS_WWW_Serverquery.html [2] http://www.faqs.org/faqs/ [3] http://www.clearinghouse.net/searchbrowse.html [4] http://www.clearinghouse.net/ [5] http://www.altavista.digital.com [6] http://www.dejanews.com/ [7] http://www.dejanews.com/home_ps.shtml [8] http://www.liszt.com/news/ [9] http://cn.net.au/articles/faqs.html#snn [10] http://www.duke.edu/~mg/usenet/newsgroups.html [11] http://www.cs.ruu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/law/Copyright-FAQ/.html [12] http://www.faqs.org/#FAQHTML [13] http://www.faqs.org/faqs/news-answers/introduction ___________________________________________________ 10. Information Research: Theses and Dissertations From the cn.net.au research site http://cn.net.au/articles/theses.html Theses and dissertations are professional papers completed for higher degrees. They are long, dense and often very esoteric and convoluted. Trouble is, most theses and dissertations have no more than 12 copies ever - one always to the University Library, but the others scattered to the wind. We actually have very little to add here, so you must also read this Theses guide[1] by the Monash University Library. Electronic Theses Databases Dissertation Abstracts Online is the largest bibliographical database of theses. Produced by UMI, and available from several database resellers, this database covers doctoral and masters theses from primarily North American universities. This is the definitive site to search, though you will need the help of your library to see more than the abstract. Several other national databases do exist. Here in Australia, a list of theses available through University libraries was maintained from 1966 to 1991, but has not yet been replaced by another comparable service. Many larger topic-specific databases also include some theses. The Australian Education Index indexes Australian education theses abstracts, but is updated annually and is actually a smallish database, perhaps best browsed. (look for the print version if possible). AEI is bundled into Austrom, a common collection of Australian databases. Internationally, There is also a database for British Theses Dissertations and Theses of the ROC (Taiwan) THESA, 4000 theses at 50 French schools University Library Holdings As mentioned, all University Libraries hold a copy of past theses undertaken at their university. This gives rise to the unfortunate but necessary pastime of searching each local university library for relevant theses. The advantage here is that masters and honours theses will be found in this way. Most often, just undertake a search normally, but add "theses" as a keyword or type search. Future Development Some theses abstracts are emerging online already. Projects like the LA Theses Database (Landscape Architecture Theses Archive) have much promise, but poor coverage as yet. Full text theses presentation also have promise with the US Department of Education funding a National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations and Virginia Tech starting to request electronic submission of all theses. UMI (the producers of Dissertation Abstracts Online) has backed this move with a direct delivery service of electronic theses to US libraries for $26, but only theses held in their digital archives are available. Eventually, large digital theses archives will be the norm, but until then, very little will happen in this field. This post comes from The cn.net.au research site, a site devoted to information research. Advice welcome : email david@cn.net.au (c)Copyright Community Networking. (http://cn.net.au) --- footnotes for the above article --- [1] http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/hss/guides/fstheses.htm ___________________________________________________ This document continues as Part 3/9. __________________________________________________ Copyright (c) 1998 by David Novak, all rights reserved. This FAQ may be posted to any USENET newsgroup, on-line service, website, or BBS as long as it is posted unaltered in its entirety including this copyright statement. This FAQ may not be included in commercial collections or compilations without express permission from the author. Further permission requests please to david@cn.net.au ----------------------------------- David Novak - david@cn.net.au