Final Exam Essay

In searching for Merrill Distad's article, I used EBSCO database site and searching by using Merrill Distad AND Future AND Print.  In searching for Ewan Morrison's article, I used google and searched the article using Ewan Morrison Are Books Dead and came up with the guardian's article from Ewan Morrison.

In using ASPECT from EBSCO with Merrill's article, first the Authority of EBSCO shows that it is credible. Sources comes from Merrill himself who is a university librarian along with partners from the university of alberta.  The Purpose of his article is to elaborate the future of books, and how e-books are making their way into the print market.  Evenness, although he leans more on the e-book side, he shows the other side in which people still prefer books over e-books.  I would say it's Relevant considering it is his article.  Finally, Timeliness is recent since the article was published in 2011.

For Ewan Morrison's article of "Are books dead, and can authors survive,"  Authority is from the guardian which is a respectable publisher in the UK.  The sources Ewan Morrison uses are from ebook stores to even articles about piracy which gives merit.  The Purpose to his article is to give his readers a glimpse at a grim future of books and possibly authors as well.Evenness is not so even in the sense that he sounds very biased about the future of books and authors.  I would say it's Relevant in the sense that he could possibly be right, especially with the sources that back his theory up.  Timeliness is only a year old and is still relevant and recent.

I like Merrill's Distad article about the future of books, he writes about the pros and cons on using books and e-books.  He continues to later talk about how both can co-exist with each other and the benefits of using e-books vs regular books and vice versa.
He concludes his article by saying that although books could potentially be obsolete, in the end the fate of printed books rests in the hands of children today.

Finding Information on the Open Web

The search engine I used for this exercise was Google, mainly because I was interested to see how many credible sources it can find.  I used the search strategy of : internet and change and communication:.gov, .com, edu, .org in separate occasions.

Anonymous "The Internet: Changing the Way We Communicate." nsf.gov National Science Foundation Web. 31 Jul. 2012
I believe this site is credible because first the Authority behind the site which would be the National Science Foundation as well as well as it's Sources where the site gives you addiotnal sources to read from about the subject.

Cerf, Vint. "How The Internet Changed Communication." Forbes.com 24 Oct. 2005. Web.
This article is by a respectable american computer scientist which fall under the Authority category as well as the Purpose for why he wrote this article.  He's letting his readers know how the internet has expanded the idea of communication.


Bargh, John A. McKenna, Katelyn Y.A. "The Internet And Social Life." Yale.edu 2004. Web. 31, Jul. 2012

This article definitely has the Sources in that the authors use a lot of academic sources for their article.  It also covers certain aspects as to how internet has changed communication at a user's personal level.

Olsen, Curtiss. "Communication has changed - Are you ready?" prsa.org Public Relations Society of America. 4 Aug. 2011. Web. 31 Jul. 2012

With this article the Authority which would be PRSA who has won several awards for it's articles in the past.  Also the Timeliness of the article is very recent and can be related to today.

In retrospect, I feel that using .gov and .edu top domain sites could benefit someone who is researching a topic.  In my experience, I feel you end up getting a bit more credible sources compared to .com and .org domain sites.

Types of Information

The first search tool I tried was Bing.  On the page, there is a help link to help users search more efficiently when using Bing.  It seems to use the OR and NOT Boolean type operators, which helps narrow down your searches.  It also boasts that you don't need to type in the word AND since by default, all searches are AND searches.  Bing has a Related Searches on the left side incase you are not satisfied with your search results in the first place.  It will give out possible give better results by using a slightly different angle compared to how you searched.  Also in the help section, it teaches the user it suggests that you should put the most important words first so that it knows more or less what you might be looking for.  So basically searching for treehouse vacation California returns different results versus typing California treehouse vacation.

From the metasearch tool column, I chose to use the search tool Yippy.  It's search syntax is close to using a Boolean search tool.  For example, like Bing, by default, Yippy searches already include AND in it's search terms.  It also uses OR to find sites that can find at least one of the specified word or phrases.  It also uses the NOT or - syntax search in that it will exclude the word or phrase.  Yippy also ignores caps, so searching for Pumpkin Pie will have the same results like pumpkin pie.  Yippy has this feature called Anatomy of a Cloud in that it helps you see a topical overview of your search results so you can be able to find exactly what you're looking for.  It eliminates having to scroll through pages after pages.  It groups together similar results under the cloud, find relevant results that may not be displayed on the first page and uncover related informations.

The final search tool I used was INFOMINE which is a subject directories tool.  It very much uses the boolean operation type searches for example you can search by typing in industr* and it will search words like industries, industry, industrial, and industrialization.  It's like a virtual library that gives you back educational results in what you are looking for.  It gives the users annotated and indexed links.  According to INFOMINE it collects content with a large second-tier collection of elected and described resources that should complement first-tier collection of expert created records.  Definitely a good way to find out academic and educational resources that you may need when writing a paper.  It also discovers other indexes like Authors, Titles, Resource Types and What's New.

When using Bing I found that when searching with it, you should always put the important words first. It thrives to give you the best results when you place the important words you are mainly looking for first.  It could definitely be useful when looking up either a news about something or trying to learn more about an event or someone.  Using Yippy was interesting in the sense that it uses several search engines at once to find what you are looking for.  It would definitely help when researching something versus just using one search tool like Bing.  I feel Yippy would produce more results and most likely more specific since it's utilizing more than just one search engine.  Finally INFOMINE was interesting, I have never heard of the search tool, like Yippy.  It reminded me very much like using a academic-type of data base like Proquest.  It can rely heavily on using boolean type of searches and uses expert and academic kind of resources to search what you are looking for.  I could see my self using INFOMINE as another search tool when doing a research project, as well as Yippy.  But for Bing, I almost feel like if I am going to use a regular search tool, it may as well be Google.

Finding Articles in Periodical Indexes

Driscoll, Kelly. "Collaboration In Today's Classrooms: New Web Tools Change The Game." Multimedia & Internet@Schools 14.3 (2007): 9-12. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 July 2012


This article does a good job explaining how internet communication has helped benefit teachers and students.  It's from a magazine called Multimedia & Internet @Schools.  It talks about Web 2.0 and how there is collaboration between the teacher and students in using blogs for teaching materials, etc.


Kyaw-Phyo Linn, et al. "The Interaction Effects Of Familiarity, Breadth And Media Usage On Web Browsing Experience." Computers In Human Behavior 27.6 (2011): 2141-2152. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 July 2012.


I chose this article from Computers in Human Behavior because it talks about how the internet has rapidly become not just a lifestyle for people but also help businesses grow.  Not only that but how websites are a key factor in businesses today.


Rebecca, Fairley R. "Study Finds Internet of Social Benefit to Users." New York Times: G.7. Los Angeles Times; National Newspapers Core; New York Times. May 11 2000. Web. 25 July 2012 .


This last research from the NY Times is another good article about how the internet has changed and benefited social users.  According to the article, internet users have found using email to help family bonds grow stronger.  It does touch about the small percentage of users that feel isolated from their surroundings, but women in particular say they found they were able to keep in touch with family and friends easier thanks to email.


I found researching my topic having used EBSCO for searching a popular magazine and a scholarly journal, then using ProQuest for a newspaper search was great.  I found that using the search my professor's suggestion: (chang* OR transform) AND internet AND (communicat* OR interact*  , it really helped.  Although for the newspaper search, I had taken out the OR transform part, and managed to find a good article on what I wanted to search for.  I found it very educating and it's definitely something I learned in finding better ways to be able to search smarter when using databases such as EBSCO and ProQuest.

Boolean Searches

Debate the pros and cons of fish farming -  Pros and Cons and (fish farming)

Are big box stores like WalMart and Target good for the economy? Walmart and Target and Economy

Will presidential election reform solve the issues with the Electoral College and the popular vote? Election reform and Electoral College and Popular Vote

Is the current lack of sunspot activity affecting global warming?  sunspot activity* and global warming

Should the federal government impose stronger standards for vehicle emissions?  federal government and vehicle emissions and standards*

How has the internet changed the way we communicate with each other?  Internet and (Change or Changing)  and communication

Summarizing Unit 5

It was really interesting being able to come up with different findings of books by just using the same search term with different databases.  I felt using Book 24x7, Summit Catalog and the Cannell Library Book Catalog was a better experience compared to using Google Books.  Although Google Books has some scholarly books, I feel that may get better credible results using scholarly databases.  One thing I was confused is that I could not see the call numbers for the books I found.  I went back to IRIS to make sure where I can find the call numbers but I just couldn't find them on my searches.

Google Books

For Google Books search, I used the search term "Internet communication" and I managed to get other kinds of books, although some weren't really impressive.  I did manage to find Face-to-Face Communication Over the Internet book which is published by Cambridge University Press. 2011.  Knowing this book was trustworthy, which is published by a respectable publisher as well as written by professors, although I must admit that searching through google books felt a little unorganized compared to the other databases.