Lesson 5: Proquest

Lesson 5: Proquest

 Part 1 Basic Search:

I did a basic search of Black Hole. I didn’t click on full text or peer review check box. I ended up with over a hundred thousand hits. I looked at the first couple pages of results. The articles were technical in nature. These articles were all from professional journals, and papers publish as a result of conferences and government committees. In my search of Black Holes which is a hard topic I did not find any articles that were not at a high school or higher level.

Search results can be narrow by two different ways. The first is a related search box that provides the users with addition search options for the topic they are looking for. The other way the search can be narrow is with the narrow search panel on the right side. The user can select full text, peer review, source type, or other specific criteria.

I have used Proquest in many of my graduate level courses. Proquest is really geared towards higher level learning. I think for elementary and even most middle schools the search results are at a level that is much more in-depth than they would need for any research projects they would conduct.   

Challenge Cohort is Discovering:

I looked at Elizabeth Wells blog. Her Proquest search led her to the Horn Book Guide. This week in a class I’m taking I was tasked with reviewing the Horn Book Website which has many of the reviews of the guide. Horn book provides a lot of tools for school librarians.

Publications Tab:

In Proquest under the publication search I looked for the New York Times Book review. I searched for children picture books. I’m in the process ordering books for my library. One of the results I found was the New York Times top 10 illustrated books for 2013. These books will fit right in with my book order. The result format is the same as I describe above. The searches can be narrow in a number of ways. The one I have used before and did this time was to narrow the search down by publication date. When I did that with my search I narrow down the results to the past two years.

Part 2: Common Core Connections

SD School Library Content Standards: Grades 9-12

1.12.2 Manage projects/activities by developing a personal plan.(Apply, Analyze)

1.12.3 Generate a scaffold of questions to investigate; modify as needed to broaden or narrow investigation. (Understand)

1.12.4 Locate resources appropriate for purpose using library tools. (Apply)

Proquest would fit in with any type of research project. The data base is has in-depth articles in almost every area. The first step in any research is putting together a plan. Students need to pick a topic, decided how they are going to research the topic and then pick the tools to do that research. In high school level project Proquest would be nice research tool to use. It is similar to tools they will use when the go onto college. The Proquest search options allow the students ways to broaden or narrow their searches. The key word links give them other ways at viewing their topic and widening the scope of their work. The right had panel provides them with a means for narrowing their searches. Once the research is complete the Proquest articles provide them with the means to site the research they used. Proquest would be an excellent research tool for any higher level research project.