|
SOCIOLOGY
120
MLA
Style Manual.
Prescott College, The Library.
This site provides a quick reference for Modern Language
Association (MLA) style for documenting sources.
http://library.prescott.edu/mla.html The
welfare and care of aging individuals is an issue worldwide.
Attitudes toward, and treatment of, older adults differs
throughout the world depending upon many factors: historic, economic,
geographic, and cultural. Use
the Coastline Virtual Library (http://library.ccc.cccd.edu)
to find and review a minimum of five (5) articles that provide
information about attitudes and treatment of older adults in at least
two different countries/cultures. Articles
may include information about the health status of elders in these
countries or cultures. You
may use the following suggested approaches to beginning your search. In
the searches suggested below, you will notice that different search
terms are used for each resource. That
is because a librarian did not create the indexes and topic
designations; each vendor has organized the entries according to its
assumptions about the database’s users.
There is no consistency or agreement between the vendors as to
what vocabulary they will use in creating subject headings. Thus,
when you are searching for information regarding issues of the elderly
in different countries or cultures, you have to be creative, flexible,
and patient in finding the best words to use to get the best results.
You’ll want to start out with a list of synonyms and add to it
as you encounter useful terms. Some
synonyms for elderly people are older people, aged, old age, elder,
senior, and so on. Usually a subject search, as opposed to a keyword search, is your best bet for getting the most relevant and useful results. But finding the right subject words can be a real challenge. Fortunately, most of the databases have some form of subject tool (although it may be called "descriptor," "topic search," "browse," etc.). Go
to the library list of subscription databases, and select "Academic
Search Elite." The
username is s6222955 and the password is password.
Use the image above to guide you in creating your query, your search instructions that the program will use to find appropriate articles. The
query in the example above instructs the system to look for full text
articles with "Aged" and "Cross cultural studies" in their
subject fields. In addition, the system is instructed to look for
subject terms that are related to aged and cross-cultural studies. The
system is set to default to "Full Text" results only. At the
bottom of the page, an arrow points to "Also search for related
words." Always click on the full text option. Use the
related words option when you are having trouble finding enough useful
documents or you wish to find as many related articles as possible. If
you wish to further limit you search to journals and magazines, make a
selection in the "Publication Type" box. When
you are done creating your query (all of the instructions to the
program), click on submit. When
you are done with Academic Search Elite, return to the library lists
of subscription databases, and select "ProQuest."
The username is 000YGHP6XG and the password is WELCOME.
The
first arrow on the right points to a field search box that is similar to
the one in the Academic Search Elite, but when you click on it you will
notice that you can search many more fields. The
first arrow on the left points to the Boolean Operators (AND, OR, AND
NOT) that help you create a more focused query. The
second arrow on the right indicates where you can limit or expand your
search by selecting what type of publication you wish to find.
This is really great when your instructor wants to you to find articles
only from either newspapers or magazines! The
second arrow on the left indicates additional search options.
Always check full text. Use
the following country or continent names in the "Geographical Name"
field:
Use
the example above to create your query and then click on "Search."
This search structure will return articles that deal only with older
people AND (cross cultural studies that have been undertaken OR the
specified country). This query will yield more results than
either cross-cultural studies or the country name alone, because the
program is returning all of the hits for both that have anything to do
with the elderly. Note:
"Topic Finder" and "Browse Lists" are subject heading search
tools. When
you are done with ProQuest, return to the library lists of subscription
databases, and select "SIRS Researcher." The username
is CA42625H and the password is 92708. You will find that it is more difficult to create a precise query in SIRS than in the other database products. As a result, for the topic at hand, cross cultural comparison of elder care world wide, the best approach is to use the SIRS "Topic Browse" option at the main screen. When the topic list appears, select the "Family" heading.
At
the next screen, select "Aging." You will be presented with a
list of all the subheadings under aging. For this exercise, select
"Cross Cultural Studies." Coastline
has a small collection of electronic books. If you would like to
explore this resource, return to the library subscription database list,
and select "netLibrary." When
you get to the default screen, you may begin a search, or you may take a
minute to create your own personalized account – under the membership
of the Coastline Virtual Library. When
you are ready to search, select the "Advanced Search" tab (netLibrary’s
version of the guided search). Use the examples below to create
your queries. Note: the asterisk notifies the program that you want to find everything in the specified field that begins with that string of letters: aged, aging, ageism, and so on. You will get everything that includes "social conditions," and variations of " ag*." Thus, your results will include at least one reference to a book about the social conditions in the Middle Ages!
|
||||||||||||||||||||
