assignment 9: Search string

I chose CSA Illumina.

Illumina seemed to give me a very good range of relevant topics.

In Academic Search Premier, there were numerous ways to narrow down a search topic, like searching for only full texts, searching for images, by date, publisher, author, language, pages, and document types. In Illumina, there were fewer options to choose from. Illumina had an area where one could change the subject area, date created, and one could limit to “latest update”, “journal articles only”, and “English only”.

Because Wicca is a new religion, there is not a plethora of information in any of the data bases, so making a complex search string to get the best results was not necessary. Academic Search Premier gave me 73 results and Illumina gave me 74 results. However, I am not sure that all the results in Illumina were full texts, as there was not an option for limiting to only full texts.

The “FindIt” option did not provide anything for me. I must not understand how it works. I only gave me an option to order items that were not in the library.

Since I have been working with data bases in IM 204, the largest part of my research strategy that has changes is my new ability to search specifically. Coming up with a topic is a relatively easy assignment, but IM 204 has taught me to narrow down my topic and then be able to search for specific topics relating to my research. I have found that it is better to begin my research on a specific topic, then broaden and expand as need be, rather than begin broad and try to narrow it as I go. I now try to come up with a very elaborate and specific research question before I actually begin my research.