Lesson 1: Choosing a Database
Objectives
In this lesson, you will learn to:
- Use the Database Selection Checklist.
- Use the databases selection tool, also known as DIALINDEX®, to choose databases.
- Identify search terms.
Introduction
In this lesson we'll look for information on one strand of a major project scientists at MedSea have been working on. We have been exploring the possibility of using sea creatures as potential producers of life-saving and life-enhancing drugs. We'll take a look at the Dialog tools to help us find information on what is being reported about this topic.
All the information on Dialog is stored in databases. Fortunately, Dialog has a great tool for locating which database has the best data on a topic—DIALINDEX. Here is a request that I got from another scientist on this topic. This request is typical of those that you might want to do for yourselves too.
Chris -
I've been hearing that one of the targets for new sea-based medical treatment is corals. Can you find me anything on coral being used for bone substitutes or eye implants? I'd like a little background on the topic as soon as you can get it.
Thx,
Brian
Although I don't have much time to respond to this request, there are still some pre-search considerations I should think about which will help me to obtain the most relevant results for Brian. For this lesson, I will show you how I would go about answering this request — in other words, the processes I would go through.
For this lesson, I will show you how I would go about answering this request — in other words, the processes I would go through.
So, let's begin. Go to the next page to see my preliminary search considerations.
