UNLV Libraries Resource of the Week

eHRAF World Cultures

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:34:05 -0800

The eHRAF World Cultures contains full-text information on over 100 cultures and ethnic groups. For each culture, all aspects of cultural and social life are covered, with topics ranging from religious beliefs, bringing up children, causes and cures of diseases, to economic and political behavior.
Two thesauri organize the collections. These thesauri are the OUTLINE OF WORLD CULTURES (OWC) and the OUTLINE OF CULTURAL MATERIALS (OCM). The thesaurus is a vocabulary ordered by regions and subregions of over 2,200 cultures around the world. HRAF uses the OWC thesaurus as the universe from which HRAF selects cultures to include in the eHRAF WORLD CULTURES collection. The OCM is a subject thesaurus with nearly 800 entries and over 10,000 index entries. Every paragraph in every document in the eHRAF Collection is indexed with OCM subjects.

Search tips:

For a basic search, enter a word(s) or OCM number(s) (Outline of Cultural Materials subject number) in the box. Words can be concepts and/or cultures or regions. Try to keep it simple to start with; you can Add/Remove later. Remember the two thesauri contain index terms for cultures and subjects mostly having to do with culture (you might want to Browse subjects and cultures first to get a better feeling for the two thesauri).

Examples:

* irrigat* (for irrigate or irrigation)
* "South America" art* if you don't put quotes around "South America" the eHRAF Search will try to look for South and America separately.
* Navajo weaving
* shaman* (for shaman, shamans, shamanism)
* 756 (the OCM number for shamans and psychotherapists)

Press eHRAF Search to execute.
To view results click on a culture. See Search Results for help.
If the results are not what you want you can modify them in two ways. First, you can return to the Basic Search page by pressing Search and set your Search Preferences. Or on the Results Page you can click Modify Search.

A Lookup Search tries to find index terms from the HRAF thesauri (OWC and the OCM) to match the word(s) or OCM numbers you type into the search box on the screen. Lookup Search differs from the Basic Search by showing you what index terms are suggested.
To do a lookup search, enter a word(s) or OCM (Outline of Cultural Materials subject number) in the box. Words can be concepts and/or cultures or regions. Try to keep it simple to start with; you can modify later.
Examples:
* art in Africa
* hunt* [for hunt or hunting]
* "south america" art* [if you don't put quotes around "south america" the lookup will try to look for south and america separately]
* Navajo weaving
* childbirth
* 844 (the OCM number for childbirth)

Press Lookup to get suggested index terms. You will see a three-part box that "mapped" to your entered words. On the left are the cultures (if any) that were mapped. If you put in no culture names or region names, the search will assume you want all cultures. In the middle you will find all the subject thesaurus terms that were found. On the right is a box that allows you to say you want to click to search for the particular words in the text of the documents (or, you can insert new terms in the empty text box). See What Words to Choose.
Examine the suggested search query and check the Boolean operators within each box and between subjects and text. Make sure to click in the box to the left of a term to include it in your search. If it is what you want, press Submit eHRAF Search. If you do not like what the map function found here are your choices:
1. Click Modify Search to return to the first search screen and retry from Step 1.
2. Click Add/Remove at the top of the Cultures box and/or the top of the Subjects box. A picklist will open for each box.
3. Choose Remove All to eliminate all choices in a box. and then click Add/Remove to find choices yourself from the picklists. See Using Picklists.
4. Delete unwanted choices by clicking on the box to the left of each item.
Submit your query by pressing Submit eHRAF Search. The search query will return all the paragraphs or paragraph level elements with your search. See Search Results.

Where is it :

Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter E and select eHRAF World Cultures.

Quick link:

http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://ehrafWorldCultures.yale.edu

Ebrary

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:25:51 -0800

Search and read the full text of more than 30,000 complete books, reports and other resources covering all academic subject areas, including business & economics, career & general education, computers, engineering & applied science, humanities, science, medicine & allied health, and social & behavioral sciences. Link to Ebrary books from the library's catalog or by browsing the database.

Search tips:

To begin using ebrary, it's best to install the ebrary Reader. Click on the blue tab that says ebrary reader, located withing your book selection, to start your installation. You must have browser cookies enabled. Also, if you have pop-up blockers installed, you may need to turn them off for ebrary.com, or the web site may not function correctly.

Create a bookshelf to allow you to save highlights, notes and bookmarks you may make while reading an ebrary book. To do this click on the words sign in located in the upper right hand corner of the page.

You may begin to search for books by typing in the box located under the words Search for on the left hand side of the page. To get an exact phrase, put the words in quotation marks. For example a search for "Thomas Jefferson" will retrieve books with the name Thomas Jefferson. A search for Thomas Jefferson without the quotation marks will retrieve every book with the word Thomas and the word Jefferson whether on not they are together to form a name.

Where is it :

Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter E and select Ebrary.

Quick link:

http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://site.ebrary.com/lib/unlv

America's Historical Newspapers

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:14:10 -0800

Search full text and view page images of newspapers from hundreds of American communities published from 1690 through 1922. Users can limit searches to items that fall into such categories as news/opinion, election returns, letters, poetry, legislative information, prices, advertisements, matrimony notices, and death notices. Over 1000 newspapers from all 50 states are available. America's Historical Newspapers enables researchers to explore virtually every aspect of America during the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.

Search tips:

To search names use the ADJ[x] operator. It finds documents where search terms appear within x words of each other and in the same order. Where x is not specified, this proximity operator defaults to 1. This is particularly useful for names since it allows for middle initials.

The search engine will return the portion of the page that contains your search terms. To view the entire page, click on the View Full Page link in the record . You may also view just the article by using the view article link.

Because this is an image database, expect some search results that do not match your search terms. The program may recognize the wrong term and retrieve a document that does not contain your terms.

Where is it :

Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter A and select America's Historical Newspapers.

Quick link:

http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/?db=EANX

Dissertations and Theses

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:06:51 -0800

Dissertations and Theses contains over 1.5 million entries, providing citations to North American and European doctoral dissertations from 1861 forward, with abstracts from 1980 forward. It also provides citations and abstracts for masters theses from 1988 forward.

Full text of UNLV theses and dissertations are available from 1996 to the present. Full text from all other institutions available are from 1997 to the present. Copies of many older dissertations can be ordered for a fee.

Search tips:

When searching for authors it is best to enter last name first. When using basic search, if you have difficulty finding an author, click on more search options near the bottom of the page. Type the author's last name into the box labeled authors and then click on look up authors. This will bring up a list of all authors in the database with that last name to select from. When you find the author you are looking for, click on add to search.

If you're searching for a specific phrase, place your phrase in quotation marks (" "). This lets the search software know that you're looking for documents where the words appear exactly in that order.

The * symbol is a right hand truncation symbol. For example econom* will find economics, economical, and economy. The ? can be used to replace any one letter either inside a word or at the end of a word. For example t?re will find tire, tore, tyre, etc.

Where is it :

Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter D and select Dissertations and Theses.

Quick link:

http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=REJTPTNiMGYmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=17675

Culturegrams

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:51:17 -0800

Culturegrams World Edition: Cultural reports for 187 countries and territories, each including 25 categories such as land and climate, history, personal appearance, greetings, gestures, family, diet, holidays, economy, education, health, and events and trends. The Kids edition and the States edition are aimed at children and provide information at a children's level.

Search tips:

To find country information select the World Edition box and click on the map to find your country or type the name of the country in the search box located near the top of the page.

To hear the national anthem, go to the country page and click on the link in the middle of the page.

To view data, click on the World Edition box and select graphs and tables from the blue bar along the top of the page. You can create your own tables and graphs--just select the countries and categories that interest you. Up to four graphs can be generated at one time. You can choose to download your tables as CSV (comma separated value) files, which are compatible with Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheet programs. The majority of data comes from the Human Development Report, published by the United Nations Development Programme, or the CIA World Factbook. Statistics from other sources (such as a government ministry) may be used on occasion.

Where is it :

Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter C and select Culturegrams.

Quick link:

http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://online.culturegrams.com

CQ Electronic Library

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:43:16 -0800

This resource provides access to the CQ Public Affairs Collection of primary sources, statistical overviews, and in-depth reporting on public policy; the CQ Researcher database of reporting and analysis of issues in the news; and CQ Weekly, which covers the United States Congress. These sources can be searched together or separately. The electronic library provides an excellent reference resource for research in American government, politics, history, public policy, and current affairs.

Search tips:

For the best search results, select advanced search. To narrow your search results select "search titles only." For example a search on abortion without narrowing the results will retrieve 1000 documents, narrowing will reduce it by more than half.

Another way to narrow search results further is to select search-specific topics. Using the specific topic search for social issues and policies with our abortion search from above narrows the results by half again.

To narrow the results even further, select some specific document types to add to the search above. Selecting floor vote, facts & figures, CQ Researcher and Primary Source narrowed our search down to 12 items.

Where is it :

Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter C and select CQ Electronic Library.

Quick link:

http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.cqel.com

Conference Board Research

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:38:22 -0800

A searchable database of full-text research reports on the latest issues in business management and U.S. and global economics. Proprietary, nonbiased research includes studies of Fortune 500 companies on business trends, leadership decisions, performance excellence, corporate governance, HR, productivity, CRM, and more. Economics material includes topline U.S. and global economic indicators, and analysis and forecasts of U.S. and international economic conditions by the Conference Board's chief economist.

Search tips:

Enclose search words in "double quotes" or separate words with: AND, OR, AND NOT. For example:
sustainable AND development or "sustainable development" matches both words.
Economy OR Economics will match either of the words.
Internet AND NOT html will match the first word but exclude results where it is associated with the second word.

To print one or more pages from a Conference Board publication, click on the Print button in the Acrobat toolbar. Acrobat launches a print options dialog box. For best results, check the boxes next to "Print as image" and "Fit to page." To minimize printing time, be sure to specify which pages to print; otherwise the entire report will be printed, which could be very time consuming.

Use an asterisk to replace any number of characters. Example: A search for inte* would find INTEGRAL, INTEGRITY, and INTERWOVEN.

Use a question mark as a single character wild card. Example: A search for ?ar?et would find CARPET and TARGET.

Where is it :

Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter C and select Conference Board Research.

Quick link:

http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.conference-board.org/ea/index.cfm

Columbia Granger's World of Poetry

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:20:09 -0800

Reprints the full text of many poems and indexes hundreds of poetry anthologies. Includes biographical information about poets and some commentary on well-known poems, as well as a glossary, a subject index, and indexes of first and last lines. The Granger's board of consultants has reviewed all the anthologies found in Granger's Online and has designated some anthologies as either "Recommended" or "Highly Recommended." It is possible to only search these anthologies. It is also possible to use audio files to hear the poems read with the Listening Room feature.

Search tips:

Use the bar across the top of the page to access the search options. The Quick Search and Advanced Search options only search the poems. To search for biographies, click on the Biographies tab. To search for criticism click on the history and criticism tab.

Words in Poem searching is available through the advanced search option only. Select words in full text from the advanced search page.

If you want to see American women poets from the 17th century through to the 21st, you should press down the control key on your keyboard as you select "American Poetry: 17th and 18th Centuries"; "America Poetry: 19th Century"; and "American Poetry: 20th and 21st Centuries." Use the control key on your keyboard whenever you want to select multiple categories within the same selection box. If you wish to see only poems with full text in your search results, click on "Only Poems with Text" at the bottom of the page.

To browse the Subject Index in sections, select the Subject Index and enter a letter of the alphabet in the search term box. Click on Start Search to see a list of all subjects that begin with that letter.

Where is it :

Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter C and select Columbia Granger's World of Poetry.

Quick link:

http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.columbiagrangers.org

College Source

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:08:43 -0800

College Source is a searchable image database of college catalogs, both graduate and undergraduate for United States two year and four year accredited colleges. It also covers many international schools. In all, 33,688 institutions of higher learning worldwide are covered. It is possible to search College Source by major, enrollment, degrees offered, affiliation, tuition, and state.

Search tips:

To search using more than one limit, select Criteria search under the advanced search feature. This will allow you to search by major, degree offered, state, tuition, and enrollment all in one search.

To search for international schools, select Country Search from the advanced search link. Lists of international schools are available with links to most college websites. Click on the PDF symbol when available to get a catalog. Catalogs are only available for English speaking institutions in most cases.

Use a catalog full-text search under the advanced search link to find information within specific catalogs, for example a faculty name. Use quotation marks around phrases for more exact searches.

Where is it :

Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter C and select College Source.

Quick link:

http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.collegesource.org/home.asp

Cochrane Library

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:03:17 -0800

The Cochrane Library is a collection of evidence-based medical databases. They are put together by clinicians, consumers, and researchers from around the world. It is a resource that can be used to support health care decisions, create care plans, and inform people receiving care. Among the titles included are the Cochrane database of systematic reviews and the Cochrane database of methodology reviews.

Search tips:

Using the browse feature to browse reviews allows you to access articles through an alphabetic listing of the contents of each database. This is only useful if you want an overview of the conditions covered in each database.

Use the search box on the first page to do a simple search. To assure proximity of terms, use quotation marks around the phrase you want to search. Searching back pain will search the words back and pain in any order and not necessarily next to each other. Searching "back pain" will look for the exact phrase.

Because the Cochrane Library is a full-text database, retrieval can be very large and include many references that aren't really relevant. This usually happens if you choose to search all text. One way to restrict retrieval is to use the drop down menu and select record title. This will restrict the search to only the record title, which contains the main emphasis of the article. It is also possible to restrict the search to only the title, abstract, and keywords.

Where is it :

Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter C and select Cochrane Library.

Quick link:

http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.thecochranelibrary.com

Children's Literature Comprehensive Database

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:55:57 -0800

The Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD) is a research and reference service including:

over 200,000 reviews of children's books from 33 review sources (all full-text searchable)

over 33,000 book jacket images

over 60,000 links to web pages featuring individual authors or illustrators

information provided by various Reading Measurement Programs such as Accelerated Reader, Degrees of Reading Power, Lexile and Reading Counts.

Search tips:

To initiate a search, the simplest approach is to enter one or more words into the Word Search field and click the SEARCH button. The best search strategy, generally speaking, is to enter a short phrase that represents a specific concept (e.g., days of the week). Alternately, you may wish to type in one or more terms that are commonly associated with the subject.

A single term, if it is not too common, frequently will produce good search results. However, a search using a common term such as "dogs" will return a large number of records. To narrow such a search, include another term related to the specific concept you are interested in (such as "hunting").

The word search, by default, includes both singular and plural forms of the search words entered. The word search can be made narrower by limiting the search to the exact words as entered, or to the exact phrase as entered. Alternately, the word search can be made broader by including word variants generated by a word stemmer and a table of synonyms. Click the radio button for the specific option desired, or accept the default.

The results of a search are first presented in the brief format, which provides a short list of matching records with up to 20 items per display page. The title of the item, its publication date, author, illustrator, and classification are displayed and the results are presented in relevance order as determined by the search engine. Click on the hypertext link on the brief display to view the full display for that item. The total number of items found by the search is shown at the top of the display. The full display also provides hypertext links based on:

subject headings
author names
illustrator names
awards
prizes
reading lists
reviewer names

These can all be used to automatically generate new lists of all works with a particular subject term, author, etc.

Where is it :

Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter C and select Children's Literature Comprehensive Database.

Quick link:

http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://clcd.odyssi.com/member/csearch.htm

Child Development and Adolescent Studies

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:46:51 -0800

This database contains references to the current and historical literature related to growth and development of children through the age of 21. The database includes all issues of Child Development Abstracts & Bibliography from 1927-2001, in addition to new coverage on child rights & welfare issues. Included are book reviews, journal abstracts, and a bibliography of technical reports, theses & dissertations, and book chapters.

Search tips:

To limit retrieval to journal articles that have electronic full text available, click in the check box for linked full text.

To select only some of the citations from your search, save them to a folder. To do this, click on the words add to folder next to the picture of a folder in the citation you want to save. Click on the folder icon at the top of the page to view, print or export your saved citations.

To create an account to save your search results in to come back to in a future session, click on Sign in to My EbscoHost on the blue bar at the top of the page. Then select I'm a New User and create an account. This allows you to save search results to be used later to create bibliographies etc.

Where is it :

Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter C and select Child Development and Adolescent Studies.

Quick link:

http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,uid&profile=ehost&defaultdb=fgh

Book Review Digest Plus

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:40:03 -0800

With coverage back to 1983, Book Review Digest Plus provides citations and excerpts of reviews of current English-language fiction and nonfiction books for children and adults. An abstract of each book is also provided.

To be indexed in Book Review Digest:

A book must have been published or distributed in the United States or Canada.

A work of nonfiction must have received reviews in two or more of the periodicals on the Book Review Digest selection list.

A work of fiction must have received reviews in at least three of the periodicals.

Reviews of textbooks, government publications, and technical books in law and the sciences are excluded.

Search tips:

To begin your search, select Book Review Digest from the database selection area at the top of the page.

If you are uncertain as to how an author's name may be listed, click on Browse on the bar at the top of the page, use the drop down menu to select author, personal and type in the author's last name. From the search results page, click in the box by any authors you are interested in searching and click on selected entries at the bottom of the page.

Another option for finding a review of a specific book is to search by title. To do this, type in the title in the search box and select title from the As drop down menu.

Where is it :

Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter B and select Book Review Digest Plus.

Quick link:

http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://hwwilsonweb.com/

Black Drama, 1850 to Present

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:32:14 -0800

Read or search the full text of 1,200 plays written from the mid-1800s to the present by more than 200 playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries. Each play is extensively and deeply indexed, allowing both keyword and multi-fielded searching. The plays are accompanied by reference materials, significant ancillary information, and a rich performance database. These materials include information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. The database also includes selected playbills, production photographs, and other ephemera related to the plays

Search tips:

A good way to start searching Black Drama is by using the browse search function by either authors or plays. These searches will give an alphabetical listing of everything in the database.

To search for lists of plays that fit a certain criteria, use theFind categories such as authors, plays, characters, etc. These searches will return a list of plays meeting the search criteria.

To search within the text of a play for specific words, use the Search categories of Simple Search and Multi-field Search.

Where is it :

Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter B and select Black Drama, 1850 to Present.

Quick link:

http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.alexanderstreet2.com/bldrlive/

BioOne

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:19:44 -0800

BioOne is a collaborative effort among scientific societies, libraries, the commercial sector, and academe to provide online access to high-impact journals in biology, ecology, and environmental sciences. Most of the content is published by small societies and non-commercial publishers and hasn't previously been available electronically. It now has 87 journals available, with coverage for most journals from the year 2000 forward. It is possible to browse individual titles or search all of the journals at once.

Search tips:

The search engine automatically determines a word's stem and uses it to make searches more inclusive and faster. Thus, different queries that contain the same stem give the same results-for example, searches for figure, figures, figured, and figuring have the same results as a search for figur.

Two wildcard characters are available-the question mark (?) and the asterisk (*). The "?" stands for any character and may appear anywhere in the search string except at the start of a word. The "*" stands for zero or more characters and must appear at the end of a word. No word used in a query may start with a wildcard. Wildcards do not work inside phrases enclosed in quotation marks.

b?nd finds bond, bend, band, and bind, as well as their plurals and "-ing" forms (because of stemming; see above)
19?? finds numbers from 1900 to 1999, as well as 19th
ana* finds anacoluthon, analogy, anaphora, and so on
*ism (fails because it begins with a wildcard)
verse ? (fails because the second "word" begins with a wildcard)
"inter* studies" (fails because the wildcard is used in a phrase enclosed in quotation marks)

Phrases to be treated as single search items must be entered in double quotation marks.

"modern poetry" finds articles in which the two words appear as a phrase
modern poetry
finds articles that contain both words, apart or together

Certain common words, such as "the," "and," "or," and "in," are ignored whether enclosed in quotation marks or not.

Where is it:

Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter B and select BioOne.

Quick link:

http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.bioone.org