Subject: Information Research FAQ v.2.6 (Part 2/9)
From: [email-masked] (David Novak)
Date: 12 May 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Newsgroups: sci.research,comp.infosystems.www.announce,comp.answers,sci.answers,news.answers

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 <[email-masked]> 

                        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:
    [email-masked]  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 [email-masked]
    (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 [email-masked]
    (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 [email-masked]
    (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 [email-masked]
    (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 [email-masked]
    (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 [email-masked]
    (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
    [email-masked]
    -----------------------------------
    David Novak - [email-masked]