A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Bibliography

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

Boolean operators

Boolean operators are words used to help you define your search by narrrowing (and) broadening (or) and removing (not).

Boolean Searching

A method of combining concepts in a WORDS (or keyword) Search which allows the search to make use of three logical commands (sometimes called operators)
EXAMPLE: violence or conflict or aggression

Bookmark

A way to save favorite web pages so you don’t have to type in an internet address again.

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.

Campus Wide Information System CWIS

a network or system for delivering information for a college or university.

Case Sensitive

This means that the computer recognizes upper and lower case letters as being different. Where this is so, in most URLs for instance, you cannot substitute capital letters for lower case ones or vice versa.

Citation

A written reference to a specific work (book, article, report, musical composition, etc.) by a particular author or creator which identifies the specific document in which the work may be found. Citation format varies from one field of study to another. Your professor may specify a particular citation style for a research paper.

Cite

Refer to an original source. See How to Cite Sources for more information.

Common Interface

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

Combine, combining

You use combining when you build a search. You use the words "and," "or," or "not" between words or phrases. This will broaden or narrow your search to find more or fewer, 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.
Rule of thumb: the more terms you enter the less you will find.

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.

Cursor

A small blinking point of light, or a vertical bar or arrow, on a computer screen which can be moved by the user via a keyboard or a mouse to specify where a new character is to appear or new operation is to occur.

Database

An organized collection of information, data, or citation 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 mostly computer generated, you should have in mind 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, available in 8-inch and 5-3/4 inch sizes. Used in the library to download information from electronic databases.

Domain

An organization on the Internet, and all of its computers that are connected to the net, or the internet name of that organization.
EXAMPLES:
.gov Governmental domain(US)
.mil military domain (US)
.net network domain (US)
.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.

False hit

A "false hit" is when your search results include items which 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, which 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

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

In printed publications, non-textual matter such as illustrations, diagrams, photographs, graphs, and maps. Popular magazines usually contain graphic material in abundance.

Hit or Hits

A "HIT" is when you have 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" 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.

Internet

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

Internet Explorer

A web browser made 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.

Newbie

A beginner on the internet.

Newsreader

A software problem 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

Borrowing an idea from another source and putting into 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.

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.
(from http://www.library.unr.edu/~bgic/instruct/peer.html)

Periodical

Anything that is published on a 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.

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 pulic domain may be copied, distributed or sold without restriction or prior permission.

Search Engines

Web sites that collect and organize Internet sites and provides a method for a user to retrieve those.

Search statement

Refers to the words, including punctuation and limiting, etc. that you typed 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, after you entered a URL or clicked on a hotlink which a search engine found for you. A site may be one screen/page or many.

Spam

Unrequested mail.

Status Indicator

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

Subscribed Electronic Resources VS. "Stuff" Found from the Internet

Not everything from the Internet is equal. There is a fundamental difference between materials provided by commercial vendors such as FirstSearch subscribed 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.

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 to retrieve variant endings.
EXAMPLE: chican? to retrieve chicano or chicana or chicanos or chicanas

Truncation symbol

A truncation symbol may be a question mark ?, an asterisk *, a dollar sign $, or the pound sign #. To find out which one is correct for the database you are using, check the help screen.

Toolbar

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

Upload

Copy a file or program from your computers hard drive to another computer or disk.

URL

An acronym for Uniform Resource Locator. Also known as the location or the website 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. It’s an abbreviation of User’s network.

Vendor

The companies from whom KCVL buys access to the databases.

Works cited page

A list of the sources you cited in your paper.

World Wide Web

The graphical part of the Internet, rich in images, sounds, and video clips.

Web Site

A group of pages written in HTML on the World Wide Web belonging to one company, organization or person.

WebZ Interface

The interface that KCVL will provide. One common interface for catalogs and databases. Also refered to as the common interface.