Blended Week 6 covers reviewing concepts, questions about databases, and a lesson on databases. The lesson discusses what databases are, why we use them, and how we use them. Key points include that databases are collections of stored information that can be searched, and that databases like Facebook and Amazon that students likely use already are examples of databases. The lesson emphasizes that academic databases are navigated similarly but contain published sources for research. Key database terms are defined, including record, field, subject heading, and limiters, and how these functions work in databases is explained. Students are reminded to pay attention to database descriptions and research guides for guidance on appropriate databases to use.

1. Blended Week 6!
1. Review of concepts
2. Questions?
3. Lesson: Databases!
4. Time to Work!
5. One Minute Write-Up

2. What do we look for to evaluate
info?
1. If we like it
2. If we agree with it
3. Currency, purpose,
and authority
4. Nothing, if it is
published it must be
ok.

3. A first hand source is….
1. Primary
2. Secondary
3. Popular

4. The citation style we use at
Harrison is:
1. APA
2. MLA
3. Turabian
4. Harvard

5. The capital of Canada is
1. Ottawa
2. Toronto
3. Quebec
4. Indianapolis

6. Wikipedia is….
1. The devil
2. Super reliable
3. Your mom
4. A good place to
start, if you verify
the info.

7. Erin’s favorite color is….
1. Pink
2. Blue
3. Orange
4. Brown

8. We need to evaluate ALL sources – websites,
articles, and books.
1. True
2. False

9. What does it mean if a source is
authoritative?
1. It is too long
2. You shouldn’t use it
3. That it is a reliable
source to use
4. It should be
destroyed

10. If a source is written for people in a
particular field it is….
1. Scholarly
2. Popular
3. Trade
4. Awesome

11. Q
uestions?

12. IntroducIng databases!
Week 6
What are they, why we use
them, how we use them.

13. Databases
Fact: You know
more about
databases than
you think.
Image: Creative Commons License, “Gamma-Ray Productions”
Fact: You know more about databases than you think you
do.
Fact: Databases are awesome.
Fact: Facebook is a database.
Fact: iTunes is a database.
Fact: Amazon is a database.
Fact: There are databases that Harrison College
subscribes to.
Fact: Subscription databases contain published articles,
business plans, court transcripts, & all kinds of other
info.
Fact: Databases are better than bears. But not beets.

14. Databases
Image: Creative Commons License, “Danielle Scott”
Fact: Databases are places where electronic information is
stored.
Fact: Some are available to anyone on the internet:
Ebay, Amazon, Census.gov, IMDB, Google, Target
Fact: Some are available to people with free membership:
Myspace, Facebook, Couponing sites
Fact: Some are available to people with a paid subscription:
Academic search premier, LexisNexis, Opposing Viewpoints
Fact: Harrison has paid for these subscriptions!!!
Fact: ALL databases are the same in that they contain stored
information that is retrievable by searching keywords.
What varies is the type of information.

15. Why search databases?
Smaller “bucket” to begin from.
Published = someone else reviewed
and edited
Access – you have to log in
because these are subscriptions!
Better sources – but you still need
to evaluate!
Database
Google

16. databases!
If you can use Facebook, you can use a database.
Facebook = Database
Facebook =
Giant collection of
information that you know
how to navigate
Academic Databases =
Giant collection of
information that you don’t
quite yet know how to
navigate.
(but you will!)

17. A list of records on Facebook.
Do you get
a lot of
informatio
n here?
How would I get
more information
on each person?

18. List of records in Academic Search Premier
Do you
get a lot
of
informatio
nhere?
How would I get more
information on each item?

19. Vocab Break!
Record

20. Vocab Break!
Record
Record = fancy way of saying
“basic information on a particular
item”
On Facebook, a record is a profile that contains
your basic information.
In an article database, the record is where you will
find the basic info on the book or article.
Think of the item record as the “Item Profile”

21. A Facebook Profile = an Item Record
You clicked on
someone, and
viola!
WAY MORE INFO!
Information
Available:
hometown, workplace,
languages, current town,
likes. These are Fields

22. A Facebook Profile = an Item Record
You clicked on and
item, and viola!
WAY MORE INFO!
Information
Available:
author, source, subject
terms, volume, issue,
pages. These are Fields

23. Vocab Break!
FIELD

24. Vocab Break!
FIELD
Field = fancy way of saying “piece
of info”
When you fill out a form, you fill out fields:
Name, marital status, address, phone number
In an article database, the fields are about the
article:
Author, journal, date, volume, issue number
This is the info you need to create APA citations!

25. A Facebook Tag = A Subject Heading
What’s a Tag?
What happens if I
click on a tag?

26. A Facebook Tag = A Subject Heading
What happens if I
click on a subject
heading?

27. Vocab Break!
Subject Heading

28. Vocab Break!
Subject Heading
Subject heading = fancy way of
saying “a way to group together
things that are alike”
When you tag on Facebook:
You clump together things on the same person
In an article database, subject headings
Clump together articles on the same topic
So if you find a subject heading on your topic and
click on it, you are taken to a whole list of potential

29. Facebook limiter = Databases limiter
How do you narrow down
search in Facebook?
What happens if I
click one of these
boxes?
Do more, or fewer
results show up if I
click one?

30. Facebook limiter = Databases limiter
What happens if I
click one of these
boxes?
Do more, or fewer
results show up if I
click one?

31. Vocab Break! Limiter/Filter

32. Vocab Break! Limiter/Filter
Limiter or Filter = a fancy way of
saying “ways to narrow your search”
When you limit on Facebook:
You look for people from JUST the same school or
work, or town
Whey you limit in a database:
You look for items that are JUST scholarly, or from a
certain year, or by a certain author
You reduce the number of items in your search, so
it’s easier to find what you’re looking for!

33. But Which one should i search?

34. But Which one should i search?
SO MANY DATABASES!
Pay attention to descriptions!
Research guides!
Ask!
We will get to know several Harrison databases over the next few weeks.
Familiarize yourself really well with 1 or 2, and make them your “go to”
databases.
My two? Academic search premier & Opposing Viewpoints.

35. But hoW do i get to them?

36. But hoW do i get to them?

37. But hoW do i use them?

38. dataBase demo

39. Your turn
Learning Activity!
YAY!!!!

40. One Minute Write Up
1. What would help your learning during online
only weeks? (for example… more videos?)
2. Thoughts on our class meetings? Are they
valuable to you? Anything you want from
them that I’m not providing?
3. Is there a concept you would like me to
review?
4. Comments/questions/other concerns?