Gale Virtural Refrence Library

When looking through the options on the Gale Virtual Reference Library, I decided to check out the Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health under the Medicine Section.  There was an abundant amount of information.  I decided to check out acute kidney failure. The Related Subject suggestion within the search box was very helpful too.  It directed me to more specific areas within the subject.

For my basic search, I chose the holocaust.  I have a close friend in PA who has incorporated this powerful

subject into her 8th grade English class with amazing outcomes year after year.  Anyways, there was so much information available, with even more suggestions for more information and Further Reading.  I finally had to just stop looking and reading. :)   

      

ProQuest Challenge

The topic of interest I searched for on Proquest was Organic Food, which was a very general topic - 4063 documents.  Narrowing down the search by using the “Results” box and choosing Organic Farming from the suggested topics cut the results in half.  I continued to use the “Results” box until I found an area that I wanted to research more.  What a helpful tool when you have an idea in mind, but not sure in which direction you’d like to go. 

CHS Read – Your search for information on medical marijuana, and the importance of using different search terms or phases until you find the information you want is a great suggestion. 

For the Publications portion of this challenge, I was amazed at the amount of magazines available.  After reading the “Search Tip” section, finding a specific magazine was easy.  Just needed to use quotation marks to specify it was a title I was looking for.  I wanted to see if Consumer Reports was available, and it was, but was a little disappointed that there were only “abstracts” and no “Full Text” articles.  I also found that some of the publications were pretty current while others were delayed by years.  On a personal note, I realized that I prefer the PDF version of the full text article more than just the full text. The format reminded me more of a magazine and included pictures when I searched things like ceramics.

SIRS Discoverer and SIRS Issues Resarcher

SIRS Discoverer

Since I knew I wouldn’t be using SIRS Discoverer, I didn’t spend much time exploring its features, but does appear to be easy to find information.  I did however check out the new feature under database features called Science Fair Explorer.  What a fun tool.  It had many ideas for science projects using things around the home.  

SIRS Issues Researcher

When looking through the Leading Issues section I found many subjects that interested me.  I ended up choosing several subjects to investigate more.  The Overview Tool section was an excellent starting point and was very easy to navigate, from the pro/con section, which I personally find very interesting, to terms to be familiar with and additional resources.  I also liked the Timeline tool which seems to give a good, quick history of each issue I choose.  The tool that I thought could be very helpful in organizing ones thoughts when putting a paper or argument together was the Note Organizer Tool.    The “Find Similar” button on the right side of the Topic Overview area also directed me to what seemed like endless information.  Wow, what a valuable resource SIRS is.

For my search on Curriculum Pathfinders, I decided to pick “Health” as my course subject, and from there choose Environmental Health.  There was a large variety of information to choose from.  Instructors and students alike could benefit from this site.  I also liked the Graphic/Media button in the Narrow Your Search Area.  It brought up numerous pictures pertaining to the subject I was looking at, and could be an easy way to find pictures when creating power points.