Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Documenting Research

Well after reading the assignment I realized I had everything already, the general database search, the specific subject data base search, library book, and world wide web search, so immediately the hard part seemed to be making a bibliography since you left no real instructions on how to make it. But the first research tool I used was the Academic Search Premier because I felt it was a good starting place for any research, something that could give me a lot of different articles without having to narrow it down. After that I thought the next best place would be to go to the world wide web and search for the history of zero and the importance of mathematics, so I went to google. I did this because sometimes the World Wide Web searches can be very useful if you have a subject that would likely be found easily through a massive google search.

Well since my subject was a very good one with a ton of different articles and books from different ranges, I did not have much trouble finding what I need so I only used the basic search term History and number and zero, and found everything I needed. Well one of my evaluative technique is I looked at what type of magazines or books the articles were in to see what relevance they had and as well looked at the credibility of the authors. The only adjustment I had to make in my search is when I search the History and number and zero in the Academic Search Premier database, I got to large of a search and on the side it allowed me to narrow it to zero by searching ( history and number and zero ) and DE "ZERO (The number)" and this helped me narrow my search substantially.

Research Sources:
Murphy, Pat and Doherty, Paul. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Fantasy & Science Fiction; Mar2005, Vol. 108 Issue 3, p137-143, 7p
Academic Search Premier: http://134.154.30.15:2059/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=4&sid=04da60f8-9634-4ba5-910a-ac706edea94d%40sessionmgr2
I choose this because it gives me a very large article about the history and importance of zero and it allows me to access it through a pdf file from any where

Singmaster, David. The nothing that is. (English summary). American Mathematical Society
201 Charles Street
Providence, RI 02904-2294
MathSiNet: http://134.154.30.15:2385/mathscinet/search/publdoc.html?arg3=&co4=AND&co5=AND&co6=AND&co7=AND&dr=all&pg4=AUCN&pg5=TI&pg6=PC&pg7=ALLF&pg8=ET&s4=&s5=&s6=&s7=history%20of%20zero&s8=All&yearRangeFirst=&yearRangeSecond=&yrop=eq&r=1&mx-pid=1768799
I choose this because it is an article reviewing the book I choose from the library, and it gives me a good review of the book without having to fully read it and it was from a specific subject database. Even though it lacks any credibility, it still is very nice reference for me.

Kaplan, Robert. The nothing that is : a natural history of zero. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2000
Call Back Number: QA141 .K36 2000
I choose this book because it is an entire book about the number zero, while it does give a lot of information, but it is to much for me to really use well.

O'Connor, J J and Robertson, E F. Zero. http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/HistTopics/Zero.html

I choose this because it is a nice outline of the history of zero but has no credible sources or institutions.

I learned that the idea of zero was created by Hindus in Ancient India. Well I guess another way I could continue my researching is maybe research about the importance of India to the creation of mathematics since they were monumental to mathematics. And I could try and research The founding of the concept of infinity in mathematics. And to find articles in these I could try Academic Search Premier or google.

1 comment:

Aline said...

Actually, you shouldn't have concluded that you had "everything already." The first instruction was "Research your cluster topic, looking for all new materials." This means you shouldn't have had any of the items before you started. I intended that what you had gathered to the point when you began this assignment should have helped you to know where and how to search further, but I didn't intend that you use these materials again.

As for the bibliographic data, I didn't ask for a bibliography. I asked you to "keep track of" "the bibliogrpahic data that you need to find these items again and to cite them in a bibliography." I didn't ask you to do the citations as we hadn't covered them in class. Further, when I realized that some of my students were confused on this issue, I sent an e-mail with further clarification.

As for your assignment, you did a good job with it. I also appreciate the fact that you provided some evaluative comments regarding the quality of the information you found and used. I'm also glad to see that you were able to refine your search in Academic Search Premier. When the system populated your search with "DE 'ZERO (the number)'," it ensured that you were searching subject headings related only to zero as a number rather than the combination of zero as a number with all sorts of other uses of zero, e.g., zero-based budgeting. That's why the search narrowed "substantially." Good call.

In order to re-find your Academic Search Premier result, however, I had to search it again because you didn't use the persistent URL. That URL is http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=17201804&site=ehost-live rather than the one you quoted. You have to use the PURL that's given on the bottom of the abstract page; otherwise, your URL is invalid. That's where you lost your point.