Question 1. If this is your topic, which publication would give you the most information ?
"Discuss the history of the architecture and social importance of Gothic cathedrals in Europe."
A. The Encyclopedia of Architecture, Building and Construction.
B. A book: "The Cathedral: the social and architectural dynamics."
C. A journal article: "Elegant simplicity: the late Gothic design of St. Maclou in Rouen."
Answer:
B. is the best answer. The book includes the social and design aspects of cathedrals.
The journal article (C.) may be short, but it is very specific on the design aspects of only one cathedral, while the encyclopaedia (A.), although it will outline the architectural history, may not cover the social aspects in as much detail as the book.
Question 2. What is the most efficient way of finding recent journal articles on this topic?
"Outline current trends used in marketing fast food to youth."
A. Browse through the marketing journals in the library.
B. Search a print or electronic database that indexes journal articles.
C. Find a book on marketing to adolescents and look in the bibliography.
Answer:
B. is correct. Using a database, in this case a business database like ABI Inform, would be the best method for finding some recent articles on this topic.
Browsing (A.) through the print journals will take you too long. This is better for locating current trends eg. articles on the water crisis in Australia - in agricultural or environmental journals. C., bibliographies in books, will only list older articles, not current material.
Question 3. Which would be the best search keywords and combinations to use if you were searching an electronic database for journal articles on this topic?
"What is the evidence for and against the genetic engineering of food. Should the community support it?"
A. genetic engineering and community
B. food and genetic engineering and arguments
C. food and community and evidence
Answer:
B. is the best answer. It includes all the main concepts - food, genetic engineering and arguments (for and against).
A. ignores the food altogether ! and C. leaves out the genetic engineering aspects of the topic.
InfoTrekk main menu Trek 6: Finding journal articles Trek 7: Searching the WWW
