Glossary of Research and Internet Terms

Abstract: A short summary of a written work. Sometimes an article or a citation to an article is accompanied by an abstract. It can be used to determine whether the article is worth reading, or worth seeking out if you have only the citation.

Almanac: A collection, usually annual, containing useful facts and statistical information.

Anthology: A collection of selected literary works or excerpts.

Bibliography: A list of writings used by an author in preparing a particular work. The list is alternatively known as a "list of works [or references or sources] cited.

Blog: Also known as "weblog"(from "web log"), a web-based journal, usually with at least daily updates, about anything the creator wants it to be about. Sites such as Blogger: Push-Button Publishing for the People have proliferated, providing easy-to-use software that permits anyone to create and maintain a blog. An example of a major type of blog is the political blog, as seen in the presidential candidacy of Howard Dean, where blogs have proliferated like mushrooms after a heavy rain.

Boolean operators: The words and, or, and not used in databases or search engines to relate the contents of two or more sets of data in different ways. When sets are combined with and, the resulting set contains only those items that are found in all sets. When or is used, the resulting set includes items from all sets. Not is used to exclude items in one set from the combination of sets.

Browser: Software on a PC that facilitates viewing internet resources, web pages, PDF files, graphics, email, etc. PCs in OCC Libraries utilize the most popular browser, Internet Explorer (IE).

Catalog: A searchable database of records identifying the holdings of a library. The online library catalog at OCC libraries is versatile and powerful, allowing searches by format (book, video, CD-ROM, ebook, etc.) campus, and language; and featuring a personal-account function so that lists can be created and managed, and checked-out materials renewed via the web.

Citation: Provides information about a published item: author; title; name of periodical, book, or Web source; page(s), etc. It is not the full text of the article, book, etc. itself. If you find a citation in a database of articles such as "Expanded Academic ASAP" but the full text is not there, you may look for the text in two ways.

Cookie: A file sent from a web server to a web browser which records information about what the browser has been doing at the web site. If left in place, the cookie allows the server to customize information for the browser and facilitate viewing the site. For example, a password can be part of a cookie so that it doesn't have to be re-entered at the next visit.

Copyright: Copyright is the legal right of someone who creates an original work to control that work--meaning that no one can copy or sell that work without the creator's permission. Original works can take a variety of forms: writing, music, movies, and images are the main types. Some things cannot be copyrighted, such as government publications or recipes.

Database: An organized collection of records presented in a standardized format searched by computers. WebPals, I.D. Weeks Library's Online Catalog, is a database. The periodical indexes available through the library are also databases.

Dictionary: A reference source that provides meanings of words and other information. Specialized dictionaries ( foreign languages, fields of study ) are also available.

Domain Name: Unique letters (and/or symbols) that identify an Internet site. At present there are six domain names used.

EbscoHost: EbscoHost is a gateway ( interface ) to numerous online databases, including Academic Search Elite, Business Source Premier, ERIC and various health and business related databases.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions. A file containing answers to commonly asked questions that new users to a program have asked.

Full Text Database: Database, such as Academic Search Elite or Proquest, that gives the full text of articles online. The user may sit in front of the computer screen and read the article, print off a copy, or email a copy. Graphics may or may not be included. It is dependent on the publisher of the journal.

Hyperlink: An image or a text string in which is imbedded a URL; when clicked on by a computer mouse, the hyperlink opens another web page or "jumps" to another spot in the current page. (Both hyperlinks in the preceding definition are "jump" links.)

Hypertext: primary feature of the WWW by which web pages on the same or different servers are connected to each other via hyperlinks.

Hypertext Markup Language: (HTML) A computer language widely used on the Internet to create documents. Most documents available on the World Wide Web (WWW) 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 "Page Source" from the drop-down menu.

Interlibrary Loan (ILL): The practice whereby one library, if it does not own an item, will borrow the item from another library. Libraries have well-established routines for such borrowing, which serves to greatly expand the resources available.

Invisible Web: The "visible" web is that part of the WWW that search engines can discover. The invisible web comprises Internet resources that they cannot discover, such as the results of dynamically generated searches in subscription databases. Also, files which are not primarily HTML-based (e.g., images, Flash, PDF) are generally not accessible to search engines.

Keyword: A significant word used in a search in a database that looks for the keyword(s) in titles, citations, abstracts, full text, etc.

Meta-search engine: A search engine that sends a request for information to several search engines and compiles the results.

Periodical: A regularly published magazine, journal, newspaper, or newsletter.

Plagiarism: The unattributed use of a source of information that is not considered common knowledge. Three acts are considered plagiarism: (1) failing to cite quotations and borrowed ideas, (2) failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks, and (3) failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words.

Primary source: An original source, such as a speech, diary, novel, legislative bill, laboratory study, field research report, or eyewitness account. While not necessarily more reliable than a secondary source, a primary source has the advantage of being closely related to the information it conveys and as such is often considered essential for research, particularly in history.

Public Domain: A work is said to be in the public domain if it is not protected by copyright, or if the copyright for it has expired.

Search engine: A program that allows users to search for material on the Web or at a specific Web site. Sometimes the search function of a database is called its search engine.

Secondary source: A source that comments on or relies on primary sources. An article in a newspaper that reports on a scientific discovery or a book that analyzes a writer's work is a secondary source.

Subject Directory: A subject directory comprises links organized into subject categories by human beings. Because of the human involvement the database is rather smaller than the typical search engine database, and it is more focused. Subject directories are intended primarily for browsing; that is, the searcher may peruse a subject hierarchy in search of information. Many also feature a search program, but it is the directory's subject categories that are searched, not a much larger, uncategorized database as is the case with search engines.

Subscription database: A database that can be accessed or licensed only through a subscription. Libraries provide a wealth of information freely to their patrons, but most of the electronic materials they provide are paid for by the library through a subscription. Often the material provided in a subscription database is more selective and quality controlled than sources that are freely available on the Web. Because databases are often provided through a license agreement, these databases are sometimes referred to as licensed databases.

URL: (Uniform Resource Locator) An Internet address representing a site or file on the World Wide Web (WWW). If you know the URL of a web site, you can go to that web page. An example of a URL is http://www.usd.edu. The structure of the URL is as follows:

Web, World Wide Web, WWW: A subset of the internet, a network of computers which provide information resources primarily based on HTML, accessed by a browser.

Web Site: An organized set of interrelated (hyperlinked) web pages on the World Wide Web.