Hoovers & History Resource Center

This blog post will cover two databases that I researched, beacuse I did not have time to make this post last night. The first database I looked in to is Hoovers Business database. This data base is really easy to use, and presents users with tons of helpful information. I searched the company that my dad works for and it brought up the business, background information, key people like the chairman and founders, locations, and the link to the companies website. You can not only search companies but peoples names as well. I did a search for Bill Gates and it brought up his bio, business address, and business phone number as well as links to businesses he is involved in. The site also has a folder option where you can store previous searches or information that you might want to refer back to in the future. I am not at all interested in business but I can deffinitely see how this database would be helpful to business majors!

The other database I researched for this blog post is History Resource Center: US. This database is really neat beacause it has so many search options. You can search an event in history or a person, and it brings up tons of results. I did a search on the Boston Tea Party and the first option it gave me listed important people involved in The Boston Tea Party, it gave a summary of events, as well as a futher reading list and a source citation. This database also has that tabs at the top that let you chose the type of source given, like biographies, news, maps, reference, and so on. This site also has a dictionary tab, that will define whatever word you type in. You can do a subject search, a person search, or a chronological search. The database even keeps track of your previous searches. This database is very user friendly, and could be very helpful.

Pop Culture Universe

Tonight I reseached the Pop Culture Universe Database. This is a really fun data base. It not only has a really cool look to it but the way it works is really neat. It is visually interesting as well as very user friendly. You can search by decade by persons name and by subject, even by place like Europe, Asia, or Hollywood. Some subjects you can search include food and drinks, fashion, sports, films and religion. When you click these links they will take you to articles about that topic then you can limit your search by year, people and place. It is nice becuase it can be a general or specific as you want which would really come in handy when a student is searching for topics to write a paper about. The database will even bring up entire books that include an index at the side where you can search different topics that are covered in the book. There is a decade search that will bring up any decade you chose from the present to the 1920's. It then gives you an overview of the decade and links to other things you would ever want to know about that decade, like what was happening in politics, what were the latest fashion trends, and what song was at the top of the charts. It is a really interesting site that it full of excitment and fun information.

Drug Information Portal

Tonight I researched the Drug Information Portal database. This data base is really amazing. I was shocked at how easy it is to use. I know very little about medications and I still could utilize the data base with out any problem. It is neat because you can enter a specific drug name into the search bar or you can search an entire category of drugs like histamines. Search results bring up the drug, what it does, information about clinical trials, manufacturing information, effects of the drug, and even references used in scientific journals. You can even view the drugs that have been searched the most in the last week. There are links that will take you to breaking news from the FDA and some that will give you refrences to medical and drug literature. There are even link that you can click that will show you the chemical make up of the drug. There is a link that translates prescription names into everyday terms, it really helps when navigating threw all the drug names. It even has a featured drug page where it features a drug and gives you the run down on all the facts about that drug for the week. This data base is really amazing, and super easy to use. Kinda makes me wanna be a pharmasist :)

Project Muse.

This is my first blog...how exciting!!! Today I spent the better part of an hour browsing through Project Muse. I was suprised by how user friendly this data-base is. Project Muse provides access to SO many journals, and then sub links on different topics that a user might be interested in. I did a search on french fashion. The data-base brought up many different articles and then had little sub-topics I could click on. From one search, after clicking on interesting sub-topics, I ended up reading an article about Avant-Garde Architecture. I thought it was really neat, and super easy to use. I also liked the options that drop down beside each search. I could type in a key word then I could limit the data base to looking for articles with that word in the title or search authors that had that word in their name and so on. That was really handy. One thing I thought was really awesome was the language option. There are over twenty-five languages you can chose from. Project Muse is really useful, and I am sure I haven't even seen the half of it.