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Research Guide for Issues in
California

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Developed by Kathie Lewis
March 24, 2010
Background Information:
Gale Virtual
Reference Library : provides access to
200 reference books. All the books are full-text and cover a wide variety of
topics including art, science, literature and much more. All 200 titles can be
searched simultaneously or individual titles may be selected.
CredoReference : This
databases provides the full-text of articles from reference books.
Newspaper and Magazine
Articles:
Fresno Newspaper : This
database contains the full-text of articles from the Fresno Bee from 1985 to
present.
The Los Angeles Times: This database
contains the full-text of articles from the LA Times
ProQuest National Newspapers Core: This database contains
articles from 4 National newspapers; Washington Post, New York Times,
Wall Street Journal and Christian Science Monitor
The COS Library does not
subscribe to a database that provides full-text articles of the Visalia Times
Delta or other Tulare County Newspapers; however, Tulare County Library
does have access to a Newsbank database containing the
Visalia Times Delta. You must have a county library card to access this
database.
The
Visalia Times Delta does have an online
archive search at its web site; however, there
are restrictions.
Expanded Academic ASAP (Infotrac):
Choose the Basic Search option and type in
California and your search
term(s) Example:
California and prisons and overcrowding
ProQuest:
This database will find magazine and newspaper
articles.
Use
the same search terms that were used in the database listed above.
Searching Techniques
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Here are some general guidelines to
think about before typing
anything in the search boxes:
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Allow plenty of time for searching, depending on your topic
getting good results may take longer than you think.
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Allow time to read the article before emailing or printing,
especially, when doing a key word search, because you may get false
hits.
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Focus on getting precisely what you are looking for, not how many
results you get.
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Use Boolean operators: and,
or, not, whenever appropriate or allowed by the
software. This option is often available in advanced search.
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Identify key words
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Keyword Searching
Every electronic
database is made up of words and although the computer does
not think the way we do, it is terrific at recognizing
words. When you type words into the search box the computer
will look in the databases for those words and bring back
all the records/entries that contain the words you
requested. In keyword searching you want the most important
words that describe your topic.
Example 1:
Has space exploration brought many benefits to the public?
Key words
would be “space exploration” and benefits
Example 2:
Should animals be used in medical experiments?
Key words would
be animals and medical and experiments
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Searching for a
phrase Sometimes keywords include
a phrase instead of single words. Some
examples include: gun control, human
cloning, endangered species, National
Rifle Association. Put quote marks
around phrases so the computer will
search for it as a phrase and not as
individual words. Example: “baseball
fans”
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Truncation
Truncation lets
you find all forms of the root word. The symbol used
is an *. Example:
educat* will find educate; education; educating;
educated |
Some examples of key word searches:
music and education and California
OR music and schools and
California
California and costs and colleges
OR California and tuition and
California
California and "standardized testing" OR
California and testing and "high schools"
California and homelessness
California and teen* and alcohol
California and "home schooling"
California and recycling
California and "renewable energy"
California and "energy consumption"
California and energy and transportation
"Search warrants" and "criminal investigations"
OR California and legislation and "search
warrants"
rehabilitation
and criminals OR Parolees and legislation
OR "parole system" OR
parole and probation
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Web Sites
Great
Valley Center - a nonprofit organization
supporting the economic, social & environmental well-being of
California's
Great Central Valley
http://www.greatvalley.org
California Research
Bureau (CRB) Publications from the California State Library
http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/CRBSearch.aspx -
Some examples;
San Joaquin Valley Land, People, and Economy
San Joaquin Valley: Selected Statistics on Population,
Economy, and Environment
Profile of the Young Californian (Age Group 16 to 24) How
Has it Changed Over the Last Three Decades?
The Bureau also regularly publishes new studies and reports called
Studies in the News http://www.library.ca.gov/sitn/crb/
Public Policy
Institute of California - dedicated to improving public policy in
California through independent, objective, nonpartisan
research on major economic, social, and political issues
http://www.ppic.org/main/home.asp
California Government Home Page:
- Links to agencies and
government information in California
http://www.ca.gov
County of Tulare, Web Page
http://tularecounty.ca.gov/
City of Visalia,
California Web Page
http://www.ci.visalia.ca.us/default.asp
California
Crime Statistics - A database maintained by the
California Attorney General's Office
http://ag.ca.gov/cjsc/index.htm
Board of Parole Hearings
http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Divisions_Boards/BOPH/index.html
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/index.html
Visalia Police Department
http://www.ci.visalia.ca.us/depts/police_department/
California Statistical Abstracts - The latest online version is
2008 http://www.dof.ca.gov/HTML/FS_DATA/STAT-ABS/Statistical_Abstract.php
California Policy Research Center -
http://www.ucop.edu/cprc/publicationshhs.html#list
California
State Department of Health: http://www.ca.gov/Health.html
California
Department of Energy
The Department of Energy has information on green technology, renewable
and alternative energy, power plants and more
http://www.energy.ca.gov/
California Department of Education
http://www.cde.ca.gov/index.asp
Central Valley Higher Education Consortium:
http://www.collegenext.org/
California DropOut Research Project -
http://www.lmri.ucsb.edu/dropouts/
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