Lesson 3 -- Proquest
1. Basic search -- I chose to do a search on World of Warcraft (WoW) for my basic search (being an avid fan of the game and one who has played WoW for five years now), I was skeptical that I would find any information related to WoW in Proquest. Once the search ended I had 232 articles related to WoW, from anthropological studies (these interest me the most) to internet addiction and on line MMO's (massive multiplayer online games), to another about how cost effective a hobby WoW happens to be and how much enjoyment you can gain out of this hobby.
From the article "WoW Factor" by Jennifer Demski in the T.H.E. Journal i found the following quote interesting: "Demski features the online role-playing game World of Warcraft. Set in the northwestern part of Terokkar Forest, the capital city of Shattrath contains portals to every other major city in Outland: Darnassus, Exodar, even Ironforge. It is a gaming environment that provides a social activity and what students could learn from gaming and the gaming industry may apply to learning engagement in schools."
Frankly after the search gleaned 232 articles I expected all of them to be more of in the WoW bashing lines, instead I was surprised and found some of the articles interesting and if I found information on this subject I can see how useful Proquest can be for students doing research papers or just essay writing. (I know I will be mentioning this site to them when I hear them complain that they can not find any information on the topic given to them.) ~.o
2. Publications tab -- I did several searches related to the subject I teach. I was only able to find publications under tourism (3) and Spain (1). However I did not have the name of a publication to search for and perhaps I need to refine my searches. I admit using search engines has always boggled my mind, English is not my native language and some things I still am not able to "work" out one of them is search engines. I will say I was disappointed I did not find any information when I typed maya, aztec, Mexico or Mexico City and only one article related to Spain.
Hola, profe Lunde! I am wowed by what you found about WoW! Glad you can see the value of this resource. It's a good one for high schoolers because it has popular, trade, and scholarly journals covering a broad range of topics. Thank you for reporting your results about the Publications tab. Words that you enter in this search will pull words from journal titles. If you are not searching a particular title, it's best to use general terms, such as "language." One journal that may interest you is Foreign Language Annals. Please don't be intimidated or discouraged by search engines. It must be more difficult for a non-native English speaker because you do not have as large a reservoir of synonyms. Believe me, there are many native English speakers who have difficulty with this, too. The only cure is practice. Many of the State Library resources have a help button or "search tips" link in addition to "suggested topics" or other helps. You may benefit from reading those tips. Thanks for your comments!
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