Microsoft has introduced a new search tool to help people find scholarly articles online. The service, which includes journal articles from prominent academic societies and publishers, puts Microsoft in direct competition with Google Scholar. The new free search tool, which should work on most Web browsers, is called Windows Live Academic Search…

Google Scholar, the beta Google service for searching scholarly information, crawls scholarly, web-based content--predominantly by targeting specific publishers with which Google has contractual arrangements. Open access material is crawled as well. These full-text materials, abstracts, and citations are being indexed, and citations from these…

Discusses how educators can access the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database online to review summaries of more than 900,000 documents and journal articles, research reports, curriculum and teaching guides, conference papers, and books. Key search terms are provided, along with different access points. (CR)

Raises questions about the validity and reliability of doing research online via the proliferation of academic databases. Finds different versions of the Lexis-Nexis database have differing search capabilities. Argues that dependence on database research findings means dependence on decisions made by a few people who design search engines and…

Details the impact of online databases, PROQUEST in particular, on composition students' research. Indicates a need for more instruction that addresses new literacies emerging from the current transitional age of electronic and print cultures. Presents new evaluative methods for online documents that utilize knowledge of online genres, information…

Competitor information gathering is a key aspect of business planning. Information can be collected from either published or unpublished sources. Unpublished information will often be verified based on material from published sources. Published information is more likely to be factual and includes financial, stockmarket, press, market and…

This article explores the uses, practicality, and problems involved in creating online finding aids by state-funded university archivists across the nation. It examines various aspects of online finding aids such as financial considerations, its importance as a research tool, timelines, demographics, and use. The more technical side is also…

Meaningful Internet activities should take advantage of the distance, multiple resources, and speed that telecommunications can offer. They should also require K-12 students to synthesize, analyze, and evaluate the information, rather than simply collecting facts. This paper focuses on basic, advanced, and original research activities of the…

The Internet is a network of networks which continually accumulates and amasses information, much of which is without organization and evaluation. This study addresses the need for establishing a database of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), and for collecting, organizing, indexing, and publishing catalogs of URLs. Librarians and information…

Electronic access to research on women is available in a variety of forms, from both primary and secondary sources. Both types of sources are growing dramatically in number and scope. This guide provides information on resources directly available to the researcher through electronic communications media. It includes enough technical information…

This books provides a basic introduction to the World Wide Web, e-mail, and other Internet functions, emphasizing the research and writing processes. It includes an in-depth look at search techniques, strategies for organizing information, online services, news services, writing help, and writing for an online environment, and covers such related…

In addition to covering the enduring elements of traditional research on criminal justice, this new edition provides full coverage on research using the World Wide Web, hypertext documents, computer indexes, and other online resources. It gives an in-depth explanation of such concepts as databases, networks, and full text, and covers the Internet…

The criminal justice world is brimming with new information, statistics, analyses, and findings available in a variety of formats. This resource book offers guidance on finding and evaluating the myriad criminal justice information sources currently available. It guides the researcher toward a wide variety of information resources, including…

This study surveyed the membership of the Ohio Prospect Research Network to ascertain where prospect researchers get most of the information necessary to perform their jobs. It was hypothesized that prospect researchers do not utilize the library, even when the same services or information may be found for free at the library. A questionnaire was…