Week Three Using Online Libraries & Databases

Lecture

This is week three and I finally enrolled in time for the lecture and tutorial class. In lecture we were introduced to online libraries and database. Online library is very convenient for students it’s easy for making notes, accessible anytime anywhere and the Journals are up to date.

The disadvantage is that a lot of the content is hidden and only accessible by subscription e.g. ECU Academic Databases or specialist interest databases. Also most web-wide search engines do not access database and library indexes. So you need a specific knowledge to find the required information.

The followings are the types of libraries

• Online Text Repositories
• Online Journals
• Electronic Books
• Musical
• Artworks

The most important thing I learnt in lecture is that it is very important to accurately reference online libraries and the best way to do that by using the APA format. Also that there is no need for copyright permission when taking notes.


Tutorial

In tutorial class we spent some time exploring the ECU library service and then after we had to briefly explain 10 useful functions or search tips from the ECU library and these are the folowings.

10 search tips:

where you can check and change your timetables; check your fee details if you have any, check statement of account, and exam progress etc.
(2) Reference/ Enquiries- mainly used for searching features of the Library catalogue, tracking down references and referencing assistance etc.
(3) Ask the library- allows you to contact the librarians if you have questions on borrowing items, joining the library, overdue fines, photocopying etc:
(4) Document Delivery- enables ECU staff, graduate, higher degree and remote external students to place requests for loans or articles from other libraries and it’s free.
(5) Meta Quest is an access entrance for library databases that can search up to 10 databases simultaneously.
(6) ECU library- gives you information on opening hours, location, rules and much more.
(7) Journal articles- are a database for students to research relevant information on a topic.
(8) Reserve reading- is an online collection of high use materials made available in digital format via the Library’s Catalogue. Students can access these materials 24 hours a day via the Internet.
(9) Academic Tip Sheets- gives some tips and information on Group work, Reading effectively, Report writing, Referencing and more.
(10) Loans Services is where student borrows materials from ECU Library

Afterwards we checked out medlineplus.gov and spent a few minutes going through the health topics and drug information.
We then picked a topic and spent few minutes absorbing the information.

Who do you think might use the Medline Plus website?

Reading 1 ‘Finding what you want on the web’

Reading one is about articles and the best way to find information on the web. The author informs the reader not to use just on one source but to use other sources as well. He also points out that some times the information on the net are not available in books.

Reading 2 Bare Bones Lesson 7: Basic Search Tips’

Reading two just gives us the basic search tips. Some of the tips were to use double quotation marks (" ") around phrases, plus (+) and minus (-) signs in front of words and etc.

Week Two Applications Skills

Lecture

In week two i still havent enroled, but i read the lectures slides and basicaly students were asked how much they kno about PC and its softwares. They were given questions like

1.What Microsoft applications can you list?
2.How do you get to MS Word?
3.List as many internet browsers you can
4.What new websites have you been on this week?

Then the lecture outlined some of the common PC tasks
These are the common tasks.

• creating and editing spreadsheets
  
• Creating Presentations


• Internet Browsing/Surfing
  
• Sending & Receiving e-mail


• Viewing PDF’s


• Listening/watching audio & video


• Viewing & editing graphic files

Tutorial

In tutorial students learnt how to produce university standard documents in Microsoft Words and Excel.

In Microsoft words they learnt to use

• double lining space
  
• hanging indent


• header and footer


• and underline

In Excel they learnt to use

• formulas
  
• and graphs

Although I wasn't there I did the exercises.

Week One Course Introduction

Lecture

Today was our first day in UPC004 and to start off the course we had a one hour lecture telling us about what the course was going to be like and what we should expect from the course and what the course will expect from us.Some of the first things we were told about are what kinds of assessments we would be undertaking and how much weighting they would be worth for our final grade, through this it gave us a good indication of what we should work hardest on to gain maximum marks. We were told of the consequences if we hand things in late or not at all and this then made us see how important time management is for university life, we did a short bit on basic computing which I found was a good introduction to the life of computing I am now going to be working with as a university student it explains to us the way technology has changed through the last few years and inevitably how much time we are going to have to use the computers throughout our university courses.Tutorial

Tutorial

From the tutorial I learnt many things that are going to help make my transition from high school to university a lot easier we learnt how to use to uni email and programs that hold the information that is vital for our success and I believe this was great for everyone to see how it is done. I learnt how to set up a blog and also learnt what a blog was and what it would be used for I found that this was a great way to remember what I learnt and when I did it, a similar thing that I also learnt was how to use a image shack, I had in the past used photo bucket but found image shack much more flexible as you can choose the size of your pictures etc. From the readings on blackboard I learnt a lot more about the technical bits of computing that I didn't know before but would help me greatly now such as all the different terms that are used for parts of the computer and programs on the computers . the "how stuff works" website gave me a basic understating of the fundamentals of computers and a lot of it I already knew but there were some things in there that I found I was doing wrong which will now be a lot better.

Reading 1 ‘PC Lube & Tune’

Reading one is in relation to the PC Lube and Tune, and it provides information on the PC hardware, handling java, The Graphic User, Technical Perspective on The Microsoft Antitrust Case, Computers, Video Files, HDTV and the Tragedy of Microsoft and Java.

Reading 2 ‘How Stuff Works’

Reading two is about how stuff works this also provides us with information on how the PC works, PC connections, Powering up, Operating System, the Future of PCs and etc.