Trip Database

Today I researched the Trip Database. It is a database that is designed for medical professionals to find supporting evidence on clinal practice. It gives the user articles that review medical studies. It shares the outcome and any cmplication along the way. It is almost like an overview of medical experiments. You can filter your searched on the side bar. Filters include things like evidence based Synopses, Guidlines, Systematic reviews and more. This is a really easy database to use and the more I think about it, the whole idea of this database is brilliant. It is one big place where all kinds of cutting edge medical information is all stored. Its a great way for medical professionals across the world to get information of what other people are doing and what is working and what is not. This database also has a community notice board that users can sign up to use so that they can be updated in their area of intrest. It also has a facebook myspace and twitter to keep users updated. This is a great database.

ArticleFirst

Tonight I researched the database ArticleFirst. This database is mcuh like many other databases as far as it's features go. It's basic search includes a keyword search as well as a time limiter, you can also search by relevance and by date. It has an advanced search and expert search that gets a little messy with all the truncations and plural signs. I used the basic search and found just what i was looking for. I did a pediatric oncology search and and found a little over 10,000 articles which was a little overwhelming but it did do tha job. There are tabs at the top of the page that will search for articles, books, and resources. You can do interlibrary loans right from the database, and even search the Swosu database for articles that we hold in our library. ArticleFirst has a folder and account system that works very well and it also keeps track of your previous searches. You can aslo email and export articles which is a nice feature. I think this database is a little confusing and and it takes a little bit of time really sifting through it it figure out exactly how to seach and ise the features. All in all though it works pretty well.

Biography Reference Center

Today I researched the Biography Reference Center Database. I was really impressed by how easy this data base is to use. Basically all a patron does is type in a person of intrest then hit search and that persons biography comes up. I searched Cheif Roman Nose, and it brought up his biography. If I were writing a paper about him this database would be very helpful. It gives information about his physical appearance as well as a time sketch of his life and the big events that took place during his life time. It gives geological information as well, describing places he settled and so on. This database, like many others, offers a folder system. On the home page it has a featured biography section. Each biography gives you citations and the source that the biography came from. It isn't the most exciting database I have visited but it definately does the job!

Zoological Record

Tonight my research project was the ISI Web of Knowledge Zoological Rocord Database. The more data bases I research the more simularities I see between most of them. This on like many others has a very effective avanced search. There are many limiters a patron can add to his or her search which makes for very particular search results. You can limit the search by species or by the type of resource you might be looking for, like books, articles, chapters, and meeting papers. You can search by author, title, year, and subject area. This database also allows you to export articles to endnote. One thing I thought was super neat was the language limiter. You can limit your search results to only show results in a specific language. This site does not seem as high tech and savvy as some I have seen in the past but it does the job. It isn't really fun and it doesn't get me excited about aminal records, but if someone needed the information, it would do the job.

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 :)