Step-by-step Instructions: Gale Group's InfoTrac OneFile

Part I: THE QUESTION

Scenario: You need to do a current events report in social studies class, and you want to access recent articles. All kinds of information is available online, but you don't know how to get it. Suppose you want to find recent articles about Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, and the possible connection between them?

Part II: RATIONALE FOR SOURCE SELECTION

Knowing how to access and use a good online periodical database will be a great help. Periodical databases allow users to access citations, summaries, and in many cases, full-text to many thousands of recent articles. Any of several would do the job well. H.W. Wilson, the Gale Group and Bell-Howell (ProQuest) provide outstanding general periodical databases. In this case, I'm recommending the Gale Group because it's good and it's available through Albemarle County (ARC Resources). It's also available through Find It Virginia and Jefferson-Madison Regional Library (JMRL). You may need ARC username or password, or your JMRL library card number depending on how you choose to connect to InfoTrac OneFile. The instructions provided describe how to access InfoTrac OneFile through ARC.

Part III: STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Learning to effectively use an online database is not terribly difficult. It will probably take less time than it took you to learn word processing. Like most computer skills, your ability will develop with practice. However, in just a few minutes, you can experience great success. So relax and enjoy the process. Let's go to a computer and get started!
  2. Launch MicroSoft Internet Explorer by double-clicking on the icon on the desktop, and go to the MHS Library Home Page.
  3. Click on the ARC Resources link in the table's top, right-hand box.
  4. Click on the ARC link at the bottom of the first paragraph
  5. Look at the list of online resources offered through the County. These include: Big6, Children's Literature Comprehensive Database, eThemes, Gale, Grolier, MarcoPolo Education Foundation, PBS, and SIRS. Today we will use the Gale link. When you get an opportunity, check out the other links. You'll probably find SIRS especially useful for social studies, also.
  6. At ARC's "Learning Resources and Reference Materials" page, click on the Gale link. To use ARC's resources, you'll need username and password information. Get this from Mr. Mix.
  7. Click on the Gale link.
  8. Enter the Gale user name and password according to the information on the sheet.
  9. You'll notice that Gale offers several different products. The InfoTrac OneFile is their most comprehensive database for news and periodicals. It contains millions of articles and is updated daily. While this product may certainly be appropriate for high school and certainly college, it is overkill for elementary and middle school. Therefore, Gale offers three subsets of the InfoTrac OneFile. The InfoTrac Kids Edition is aimed primarily at elementary school students. The InfoTrac Junior Edition targets middle school, and InfoTrac Student Edition is designed for high school students.
  10. For this exercise use the InfoTrac Junior Edition. Click the link for it.
  11. You can do three kinds do three kinds of searches here: Subject, Keyword or Advanced. The links at the left-hand side of the screen allow you to select the type of search desired.
  12. I want to show you the features of the Advanced Search. By doing this kind of search, you'll learn the fundamentals of Boolean logic. When people get frustrated doing electronic searches, it's often because they get too much or too little. Boolean logic allows you to expand or limit your search. Thus, the process becomes much more satisfying. Let's do a sample search.
  13. Click on Advanced Search and type, " Osama bin Laden" in the box.
  14. Let's click on the "full text articles only." This way we'll only get complete articles rather than just citations or abstracts.
  15. Press the "Find" button. We got 514 hits. Notice that this site arranges the hits chronologically with the most recent posted first.
  16. Because we got so many hits, you may want to learn how to limit the number of hits and select those most relevant.
  17. Click on the Advanced Search button. This time we'll limit the articles to those that include both Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Type, "Osama bin Laden AND Saddam Hussein."
  18. Again, let's click on the "full text articles only." For all these searches we'll select full text only. That way we can more accurately compare search results.
  19. Now click on the "Find" button. We got only 25 hits. These are articles where both names were found as keywords. So you see that the Boolean operator "AND" effectively limited your search thus providing greater precision.
  20. Another way to limit your search is to use the Boolean operator "NOT." For example, if you wanted to find articles about Osama bin Laden, but not those pertaining to September 11. Type, "Osama bin Laden NOT September 11."
  21. Click the "Find" button or press the Return key. We get 508 hits rather than the original 514.
  22. If you wanted to limit the search even further you could type, "Osama bin Laden AND USS Cole NOT September 11," and press return.
  23. This time we got only eight very precise hits about bin Laden and the attack on the USS Cole.
  24. Let's say that we want to expand the search. Then we could use the Boolean operator "OR." For example, if you wanted articles that included Osama bin Laden or al Qaeda.
  25. Go to the Advanced Search.
  26. Type, "Osama bin Laden OR al Qaeda," and press Enter. This expanded the original number of hits from 514 to 1109.
  27. Before users understand how to use the Boolean operators, they often spend lots of time wading through many irrelevant items. Now if you get unsatisfactory results, either expand or limit the search.
  28. Now let's go to the heart of the question. We already did a search with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein that provided 25 hits. However, you may want to know about al Qaeda and Saddam -- not just bin Laden and Saddam. We can get that with one good search.
  29. Type, "Osama bin Laden OR al Qaeda AND Saddam Hussein AND links" and press Enter. This provided 516 hits with the most recent listed first.
  30. If this search is unsatisfactory, then play with the Boolean operators and try again.

Part IV: RESULTS

The search for full text articles about links between Osama bin Laden or al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein produced 516 hits. Hopefully, this lesson provided the teacher with enough knowledge and confidence to conduct future searches independently.

Part V: CITATIONS

"Osama bin Laden OR al Qaeda AND Saddam Hussein AND links." InfoTrac Junior Edition, Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Mich.: 1980 to date. April 11, 2003. <