Here are some general guidelines to think about before typing anything in the search boxes:

• Allow plenty of time for searching, depending on your topic getting good results may take longer than you think.
   

• Allow time to read the article before emailing or printing, especially, when doing a key word search, because you may get false hits.
   

• Focus on getting precisely what you are looking for, not how many results you get.
   

• Use Boolean operators: and, or, not, whenever appropriate or allowed by the software. This option is often available in advanced search.
   

• Identify key words
   

  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 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”   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

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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