KYVL: How to do research tutorial: Glossary

Please note that this glossary is not an exhaustive list of terms you may encounter when performing resarch. The intention of the glossary is to assist patrons with their understanding or research terminology as they use the KYVL Web site.

Accessible
Easily obtained.

Anthology
A collection of selected literary pieces, works of art or music.

Authoritative
Written or published by a person or organization with expertise in the subject area.

Bibliography
A list of references for further research and reading at the end of a book or article. Style manuals for various bibliographic formats such as the APA or the MLA, are available through the Internet or in your local library.

Boolean operators
Boolean operators are specific words used to help you define your search by (1) narrowing (and), (2) expanding (or), and (3) removing (not) specific words from your search results. For example:

"endangered"	and	"species"
"university"	or	"college"
"insecticides	not	"DDT"

Boolean operators were named after George Boole (1815-1864) who combined the study of logic with that of algebra.

Bookmark
A way to save favorite Web pages so you don't have to type in an Internet address.

Broad (in scope)
Covers the subject very generally; not focused.

Browser
Software program used to view and interact with various kinds of Internet resources available on the World Wide Web. Netscape and Internet Explorer are the two most commonly used.

Case Sensitive
When search engines recognize upper and lower case letters as being different, you cannot substitute capital letters for lower case ones or vice versa without affecting your desired outcomes. When in doubt, you use the appropriate case when entering your search statement!

Citation
A written reference to a source of an idea, information, or image (book, article, report, musical composition, etc.) for the purpose of giving credit to the original author or creator. Citation format varies from one field of study to another.

Cite
The act of referring to or giving formal credit to an original source. See How to Cite Sources for more information.

InterfaceCommon
The interface that KCVL will provide using WebZ software. It will provide one common interface for catalogs and databases. Also referred to as the WebZ interface.

Common knowledge
Something that is widely known. If you know it or can repeat it without looking it up in an information source, it is probably common knowledge.

Combine, combining
You use combining when you build a search and use the words "and," "or," or "not" between words or phrases. Combining terms will broaden or narrow your search to find more or fewer results, as well as more precise results. When using search engines you can also use the plus sign before a word to ensure its inclusion, or quotation marks around a group of words to include them all and in order. A rule of thumb for combining terms is: The more terms you enter, the fewer results you will find.

Comprehensive
Covering a subject completely or broadly.

Concept(s)
An idea expressed as a word or phrase

Copyright
The exclusive legal right granted to an author, editor, composer, playwright, publisher, or distributor to publish, produce, sell, or distribute a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work, with certain limitations.

Current
Contains up-to-date or recent information.

Database
An organized collection of information, data, or citations stored in electronic format that can be searched for specific information or records by techniques specific to each database.

Default Operator
The specific relations between words (and, or, phrase) that is assumed by a database if none is specified. This can have a major impact on how the words you enter are searched.

Defining a topic
This is what you are doing when you are considering the correct vocabulary for your search. You may think of broader or more precise terms depending on how closely your initial results match what you need. Since search engine results are computer-generated, you should consider synonyms for your concepts in order to cover all the possible words that may be searchable.

Diskette
A flexible plastic computer disk for storing digitized information.

Domain
An organization on the Internet and all of its networked computers, or the internet name of that organization. Common examples of "domains" are:

.gov	governmental domain
.mil	military domain
.net	network domain
.edu	educational institution
.com	commercial

Download
Copy a file or program from another computer onto your computer's hard drive

Email
Electronic mail, which you can send or receive over a computer network.

Endnote
A note placed at the end of the text.

False hit
A "false hit" is when your search results include items that are not relevant to your search request. False hits may occur if you have used a truncation symbol inappropriately.

Field
Access points within a record that can be used to retrieve specific information. Use of these qualifiers helps to limit or restrict the search. Generally the fields are expressed in an abbreviated form. Some of the most common are:
la = specific language
py = specific year(s)
dt = specific document type such as research
jn = specific journal title
au = specific author

Focused
Addresses the topic narrowly and specifically.

Free text search
A free-text search searches an entire citation or document, in contrast with a field specific search that limits the search to a specified data field (e.g. title, author, abstract fields).

Footnote
A note of reference, explanation, or comment usually placed below the text on a printed page.

Gopher
An Internet information service developed at the University of Minnesota with linked directories but no linked documents. It is a menu driven, non-graphic system that connects users to other Internet sites. It was used before the World Wide Web existed and has been used less and less as the Web has grown.

Graphics
Non-textual matter such as illustrations, diagrams, photographs, graphs, and maps. Popular magazines (in contrast with scholarly journals) usually contain graphic material in abundance.

Hit or Hits
A hit is a successful response from the term(s) you input in your search statement. If you have used the correct terms, hopefully the hits will be the material you are needing. If you have made too broad a search you may end up with inappropriate results. We call this a false hit.

Hotlink
A clickable word, phrase, or icon which will connect you to a selected site. Text is usually blue and underlined.

HTML
HyperText Markup Language, the formatting language used to create Web pages. Most documents available on the World Wide Web are written in HTML. To see the HTML code for the document you are presently reading, click on "VIEW" in the toolbar of
your Web browser and then select "Document Source" or "Source" from the drop-down menu.

HTTP
Hypertext Transfer Protocol, the way information is moved from place to place on the World Wide Web.

http://
An Internet address prefix which stands for hypertext transfer protocol.

Hypertext
The system of linked pages of related material, created with HTML, which makes up the World Wide Web.

Icons
Pictures that are symbols for functions. For example, a mailbox, envelope, or paper and pen can stand for mail.

Intellectual Property
Any product of the human intellect that is unique, novel, and unobvious.

In-text citation
A parenthetical reference within the text. In-text citations are an abbreviated reference to the full citation that appears in the Works Cited list.

Internet
A network of computer networks that contain countless computers worldwide, each of which can communicate with any other.

Internet Explorer
A Web browser developed by Microsoft.

Keyword Searching
Uses natural language to search and allows for concepts to be combined.

Link
A word, phrase, or picture you can click on to connect to another Web page.

Listserv
An electronic discussion group on a particular topic which is accessed via Email. Although Listserv is used generically to talk about discussion groups (kind of like Kleenex is used to name all facial tissues), it is actually the name of a specific mailing list software. Some other names of commonly used discussion group software are majordomo and mailserv.

Logon
Connect to a service and provide identification (name and password).

Modem
An electronic device that connects to your computer and telephone line and lets your computer talk to other computers.

Native Interface
The interface provided by the vendor. Sometimes referred to as the proprietary interface.

Netscape Navigator
A web browser developed by Netscape Communications Corporation.

Newsreader
A software program that lets you read and post messages in newsgroups.

Newsgroup
A public discussion group on the Internet where you can read and post messages on a specific topic.

Paraphrasing
Restating an idea from another source in your own words.

Parentheses
In a search statement, words placed within parentheses are searched for first. Example: (guns and violence) not children. The computer looks first for sources which deal with guns and violence. It then removes the sources which relate to children.

Parenthetical Reference
A citation or reference that is placed within parentheses within the text of a document or publication. In-text citations are an abbreviated reference to the full citation that appears in the Works Cited list.

Password
A secret word that allows entry; for example, a commercial online service or Web page may require a password for access.

Peer Review
Peer review is a well-accepted indicator of quality scholarship. It is the process by which an author's peers read a paper submitted for publication. A number of recognized researchers in the field evaluate the manuscript and recommend its publication, revision, or rejection. Articles accepted for publication through a peer review process implicitly meet the discipline's expected level of expertise.

Periodical
Any publication that is published on a recurring or "periodic" basis. Newspapers, magazines, and journals are examples of periodicals.

Phrase Searching
Use quotes to denote phrases. Phrases restrict results to EXACT matches: if combining terms is a natural marriage, narrows and targets results by many times.
FOR EXAMPLE: "Solar System" "New Planet"

Plagiarism
Presenting someone else's words, ideas, or images as your own; using (another's production) without crediting the source.

Popular
Frequently encountered or widely accepted.

Primary and Secondary Sources
Simply put, secondary sources are derived from primary sources. While primary sources are contemporary accounts of an event and original documents such as a letter and a diary, secondary sources are retrospective sources based on primary sources, including scientific or scholarly analysis, such as a biography based on the information derived from those letters and diaries.

Proprietary Interface
The interface provided by the vendor. Sometimes referred to as the native interface.

Protocol
The rules two computers follow when exchanging information. Some common protocols are HTTP and Telnet.

Public Domain
Works in the public domain may be copied, distributed, or sold without restriction or prior permission.

Quoting
Repeating the exact words used by someone else.

Scholarly
Meeting the standards that are generally accepted by teachers and professors as being appropriate for academic research. Examples of these characteristics are: publication by a professional or trade association, limited advertising, submission to a peer review process. etc.

Search Engines
Web sites that collect and organize Internet sites and provide a method for a user to retrieve the collected sites.

Search Statement
Refers to the words, including punctuation and limiting, etc. that you type into a database or search engine. It is the carefully considered essence of what you hope to find.

Server
A computer that offers services ranging from email to Web pages to other computers, called clients, on a network.

Site, Website, Web Page
This is the place on the Web which has the information you searched for, accessed by entering a URL, or clicked on a hotlink to find. A site may be one screen/page or many.

Spam
Unrequested email.

Status Indicator
The icon on the computer screen that shows a browser is active.

Subscribed Electronic Resources vs. information found from the Internet
Not everything from the Internet is equal. There is a fundamental difference between materials provided by commercial databases that are paid for by your library and materials you find using a search engine like AltaVista or Yahoo. The former index materials from authentic published sources while the latter present the "stuff" that may be created by you and me as a pastime.

Subscription Services
Libraries subscribe to electronic resources, sometimes referred to as "databases," that provide electronic access to standard print publications.

Substantive
Presents in-depth coverage of a subject.

Telnet
An Internet protocol that permits the user to connect to a remote computer.

Thread
A cluster of messages on the same topic in a newsgroup or on a bulletin board.

Truncation
In a keyword search, a word root followed by a truncation symbol that will retrieve variant word endings.
For example: "educat*" will retrieve "educator", "educators", "education" and "educational" all at the same time.

Truncation symbol (see also "Wildcard")
A truncation symbol may be a question mark (?), an asterisk (*), a dollar sign ($), or the pound sign (#). To determine which symbol is the one required the database you are using, check the help screen.

Toolbar
A horizontal row of icons that stand for browser commands such as "back" or "bookmark".

Unreliable
Not able to be trusted for accuracy or authority.

Upload
Copy a file or program from your computer's hard drive to another computer or disk.

URL
An acronym for Uniform Resource Locator, also known as the location or the Web site address. A URL is made up of letters, numbers, and punctuation. URLs appear in the LOCATION line near the top of your Web screen. e.g. http://www.npr.org

Usenet
The thousands of newsgroups on many different topics on the Internet. The term is an abbreviation of user's network.

Vendor
The companies from whom you library purchases access to databases.

Works Cited Page
A list of the sources that you cite or make a parenthetical reference to in your paper.

World Wide Web
The graphical representation of the Internet, rich in images, sounds, and video clips.

Web Site
A set of documents of "pages" authored in HTML for distribution on the on the World Wide Web and belonging to single entity (e.g. company, organization or person).

WebZ Interface
The interface that KYVL provides for catalog and database searching. Also referred to as the common interface.

Wild Card (see also "Truncation")
A wild card is a special character that can be appended to the root of a word in order to search for all possible words endings simultaneously.
For example: "educat*" will retrieve "educator", "educators", "education" and "educational" all at the same time.

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Last updated: Friday, 02-Jul-2004 17:00:40 EDT

How to Do Research