Research Entry 7.2: The Catalog (2/28)

1. As the sun set, its fleeting light shone through the blinds in my room. With each tick of the clock, I tapped my blue ball-point pen against my forehead, thinking of ways to refine my topic any further. I thought that my topic was too focused on probiotics and that I should generalize the “correlation between healthy probiotics and lifestyle” to simply “diet.” With this new found subject, I logged onto CSUEB and clicked to the library page. I searched in the catalog and found two books.

a. A source in the book stacks titled, “The Nutrition Transition.”
b. A source in the reference stacks titled, “PDR for drugs, dietary supplements, and herbs.”

2. The bibliographic information that I was able to obtain for these sources are as follows:

a. The nutrition transition : diet and disease in the developing world / editors, Benjamin Caballero and Barry M. Popkin, Amsterdam; Boston: Academic Press, c2002
CALL NUMBER: RA645.N87 N8795 2002
b. PDR for nonprescription drugs, dietary supplements, and herbs : the definitive guide to OTC medications Montvale, NJ : Thomson PDR, 2005-
CALL NUMBER: RM671.A1 P48 2008

3. Searching through the catalog was a fairly easy task. Initially, I typed in “priobiotics” as a search for a subject heading and there were no results returned. This was discouraging. But, it prompted me to think that perhaps my topic is a little too specific, thus the generalization. When I typed in “diet,” a multitude of results flooded the page. I was pleased. Now I would have a number of options for sources. The topics of these spanned worldwide, as well, covering other countries other than the United States.
What I learned that I could use to search more effectively and efficiently is that although words will always return results, they might not always be the most relevant ones. When I typed in “probiotics” as a search for words, two came up. Fortunately, both books pertain to my topic. However, this might not always be the case. As I discussed in my previous entry, a search can easily go awry with not enough direction. Searching for subject headings, though, helped me more than words in this assignment. It provided me with a plethora of sources. Thanks to it, I can finally settle down. A certain ease sets over my soul. Comfort is but a couch cushion away, now.

4. I’ll be sure to check them out tomorrow and bring them to class.

Until tomorrow, Professor Soules.