Using Infotrac to Find Better Sources

InfoTrac can be used very specifically as well; for instance, you can use InfoTrac to find articles from a specific magazine or journal if you know which issue you need. One way to perform this search is to use the Advanced search functions and select to search only the periodical in question (such as National Geographic or Science News.)  Another way is to search the publications index for the periodical, and then search by issue if you know what issue you need. This was recently helpful for a class we had–they are required to actually use the magazine, regardless of how they found it.  Using the InfoTrac search options, they could easily locate the issue, article, and page numbers, so that when they requested the magazine, they could find the information.  The downside, at least for National Geographic, is that their index only goes back to 1977; the paper index from 1889-1989 is then helpful, if your library has it.  Ours has both the paper catalog and magazine issues back to 1922.  Using Infotrac this way is much simpler than going to the individual magazine’s websites to use their archive searches; using the archives on Nat. Geo. online can be very frustrating, as many articles are not full text.  ScienceNews.org is a little more friendly, but some content may still be blocked if you are not an online subscriber. Try it out! 

You can access InfoTrac from school or from home; you simply need to come into the library to obtain the username and password. The Library Computers have the website bookmarked; you simply need to go to the page and enter the password to access the database.

If you want to access InfoTrac from home, ask a librarian for the InfoTrac paper. The full web address, as well as username and password, is provided. Please remember that this is a subscription service your school pays for the privilege to use; do not post this information on line or distribute it to people who do not attend CCDHS.

A standard entry in InfoTrac provides a heading that clearly displays the Author, Title, Original Source, Document type, and whether or not the article is presented as “full text” in the database. A full text article is complete; some articles may only be presented by their abstract, and the rest of the text is not present. You can avoid these partial articles by using an advanced search and selecting for returning only full text articles.

After the heading material, the text of the article is presented as one long page; there are no divisions, so you must scroll down to view/read the entire article.

In addition to the information and the text of the article, InfoTrac provides the MLA citation for the article at the bottom of most entries. You may also create this citation by using the command box on the upper right of the page, which also provides options for saving, printing, and e-mailing the article to yourself.

The first strategy we recommend is to narrow your focus: choose a specific database that provides the information you need. For instance, if you are in Mr. Raymond’s debate class, you probably want the Opposing Viewpoint Resource Center. If you aren’t sure, spend a moment reading each database’s description so you choose the one that will work best for you.

The second thing to remember is to use specific keywords. Using a general keyword at first, then narrowing it down by “search these results” or the advanced search features will get you much more focused results. Remember, this is not like a general web search–you do not need to ask a question like “What is the story behind the constellation Andromeda?”; you will do better searching for “constellation Andromeda” and perhaps focusing it within the results with “mythology”. If you get stuck, try different keywords before giving up!

Finally, check all the category tabs–you may find something lurking in the subcategories that will be helpful. Spending a few more minutes on InfoTrac might seem frustrating; but unless you are an experienced website surfer, you will nearly always get better results from a monitored database than you will from a random website.

You can get a variety of information from the InfoTrac database. Most students easily access Newspaper and Magazine articles the first time they search. Teachers are often more attracted by Academic Journal articles. Additional categories can include: Books, Primary References, Multimedia, and Web Resources.

Within these categories, InfoTrac classifies each article: Editorials, Viewpoint Essays, Broadcast Transcripts, Brief Articles, Book Reviews, and Encyclopedia Entries are only a few of these more specific labels.

To help you search effectively, InfoTrac offers several smaller database choices to its patrons; the most popular for our students have been The Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, General OneFile, and Expanded Academic ASAP. If you prefer, you may search all these databases at once by selecting the box “search all cross-searchable databases.”

When you look at the standard results page for any given database, results are presented under a series of tabs that appear across the top of the page. Each tab shows you the category of the information it contains, as well as how many results there are. Within each section, there is also a menu that appears to the left that further breaks down the results obtained. You can click on a subcategory to view only the entries that are viewpoint essays, for example.

To view the layout of InfoTrac and get a “feel” for some of its features, consult the tutorial provided by OPI at http://www.opi.mt.gov/LibMedia/index.html. The pdf link is provided, along with a video tutorial, on the left hand side of the page under the heading “Training.”

InfoTrac is a subscription database service that provides a variety of print and non-print resources for subscribers. Teachers and students alike will find everything from newspaper and magazine articles to broadcast transcripts, statistics, reference book entries, and more; all are in electronic format.

Schools with limited storage space may subscribe to this service to gain access to a variety of resources they cannot store or obtain otherwise. Articles and other entries on InfoTrac are easier to find than web resources, and may be more helpful than a random web search. Since a number of these resources are also found in physical print somewhere, many teachers also allow some InfoTrac resources to “count” as book resources if there is a requirement for their assignments.

Students can use Infotrac to locate articles and other resources with more clout than many standard websites. Teachers can use the service to locate articles about current research that can enhance their teaching and classes.

Anyone who is serious about the quality of the resources they are consulting should learn to include InfoTrac in their research plans.