Practical 8

Before taking up this module, using research tools to me is just a simple way by keying the keywords you are searching for, and the results will be displayed. Never did i knew that there are alot of other ways to narrow your research area, getting the most appropiate results instead of keying in just the keywords and getting redundant results. In this way, i wont have to waste time surfing almost all the results to get what i want. It definately enhanced my searching skills.

I have learnt the basic and right way of doing a research with the different types of tools.

Bibliography

1. DPIC, Department of Drug and Poison Information Centre(2006). Retrieved July 24, 2006, from Department of Drug and Poison Information Centre Web site: http://dpic.sgh.com.sg/

2. Alcohol and Drug Information(2001). Retrieved July 20, 2006, from U.S Department of health and human services and SAMSHA's National ClearingHouse Web site:
http://www.health.org/govpubs/rpo990/

3.NCADD, National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence(1999).Retrieved July 15, 2006, from National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependencen Web site:
http://www.ncadd.org/facts/youthalc.html

4.Alcoholdepence.org(2003). Retrieved July 15,2006, from Midwest Alcoholism research center Website:
http://www.missouri.edu/~umcasadorg/

5. LadyBird85 (2006, July24). Youth Alcoholism. Formal discussion initiation. Message posted to http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=ab-alcoholism&nav=messages&msg=9370.16

6. NIAA Publications(2002). Retrieved July 15, 2006, from National Institute of Alcohol and Alcoholism Abuse Website:
http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/

Discussion
Message posted:http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?msg=9370.16&nav=messages&webtag=ab-alcoholism

I posted the topic on development of alcoholism on youth. The first few responses were posted asking me to do the research on my own. But managed to get some replies.

There were replies agreeing that most of youth drinking under influence of peers.
Another responded sharing his own drinking experience and stating that drinking haven't been changing over the years.

Another responded "Children from families where the parent is an alcoholic are most likely to drink first. These are families where the alcoholism is covered up as much as possible. Thats the nature of alcoholism. "






Practical 6b &7]


URL : http://dpic.sgh.com.sg/SpecialTopics/Alcohol/
Purpose
The aim of this website is to educate viewers with general information on health other than alcohol. They are actually a drug and poison information centre who provide accessible high quality drug and poison emergency treatment advice in an appropriate manner to the enquirer. They also act as the resource for poison education, prevention and treatment advisory.

Coverage
The site covers a wide range of health information ranging from poison to prevention at both work and home. The information are detailed and summarized to be able to comprehend. The site also covers special topics such as pregnancy, breast feeding, health supplements, alcohol and party drugs. They provides a helpline to attend to viewers’ further enquiries.

Authority
This is an authoritative source from the Singapore General Hospital which is situated in Singapore. It’s a part of Singapore General Hospital.

Accuracy
I believe the facts are accurate as it is an information centre from Singapore General Hospital. This site can be used only for brief research basis. It is free from political, ideological and biasness. It provides information on the latest news and forum discussion. References are stated clearly and its free from grammatical, spelling and typographical errors. The text used are comprehensive for both young and old.

Currency
The information is always updated especially about health news and well maintained.

Accessibility
The site is a general one which does not require registration and log-ins. It provides facts on health which are free as they are maintained by government.

Presentation and Arrangement
The information provided is well presented and arranged by their navigation. The information is definitely logically presented as they are provided from health authority. There are features such as site map and search facility where you can type in the keywords to find the information related instead of surfing the entire site to find the information you only need.

Usability
This site is easy to use and navigate around. It has a navigation bar on the top of the page for users to click around on the different topics.

Overall
There are drawings on the page which makes it slightly unprofessional as this is supposed to be a website by the government. But this may draws attention from the youth who might find the website interesting as it doesn’t have a serious concept and yet the information is clear to everyone.


URL : http://www.health.org/govpubs/rpo990/
Purpose
The aims of this website are clear to the public for the prevention of alcohol and drugs and to improve the quality of prevention of substance abuse, addiction treatment and mental health services in U.S.

Coverage
The site covers both drugs and alcohol which usually comes together in consumption. The information given for the alcohol section is brief as the main focus on the site is drugs. Information on youth drinking is just an overview. There are links to other relate sites which enhance the coverage of the site. The links to other sites are rather useful.

Authority
This is an authoritative source as it is hosted by U.S department of health and human services and SAMSHA’s National clearinghouse.

Accuracy
The facts are rather accurate as most of them are extracted from National institutes. It used research as a basis. It is a factual site that doesn’t have any political, ideological or biasness issues. References are simple and short. It is definitely free from grammatical, spelling and typographical errors.

Currency
The information is always updated especially about health news and well maintained.

Accessibility
The site is a general one which does require registration and log-ins but only for purchasing books on the related topics. It provides some facts on health which are free as they are maintained by organizations.

Presentation and Arrangement
The information provided is rather well presented and arranged by their navigation though they have not only 1 navigation bar. The information is definitely logically presented as they are extracted from health authority. There are features such as site map and search facility where you can type in the keywords to find the information related instead of surfing the entire site to find the information you only need and you can choose to search from either publications or sites which further enhance the research facility.

Usability
This site is easy to navigate around. It has a navigation bar on the top and both sides of the page for users to click around on the different topics.

Overall
The site is done in a professional way with citations of the information extracted. It looks more like a news forum site than a health site.


URL : http://www.ncadd.org/facts/youthalc.html

Purpose
The aims of this website is to make notice to public to fight against the stigma , the disease of alcoholism and other drug addictions.

Coverage
The site covers both alcohol and drugs. Health Information, Medical/Scientific Information, Parents Information and youth information are the subject areas. There are also fact sheets stating facts on different topics. Most of the information taken in the sites are from interviews with medical experts and recommendations from health authorities. The site provides links to other sites which are related to the topics and they are rather useful as the links are more topic-related.

Authority
This is an authoritative source as it is hosted by National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence

Accuracy
The facts are accurate as most of them are extracted from interviews with medical experts and recommendations from leading health authorities. It can be used as research basis. It is a factual site that doesn’t have any political, ideological or biasness issues. Information posted as simple and comprehensive. It is definitely free from grammatical, spelling and typographical errors.

Currency
Its not sure whether the information are up-to-date but it is well maintained in the sense as there’s no broken links.

Accessibility
The site does not require registration and log- ins and it provides facts and fact sheets on health which are free as they are maintained by organizations.

Presentation and Arrangement
The information is rather well presented and text is big enough for reading. But it does not look as though it is from an organization. The information is definitely logically presented as they are extracted from health authority. There are no features such as search facility for the users to search based on keywords.

Usability
This site is easy to navigate around.

Overall
The site is done in a rather unprofessional way with the colours used for the fonts of text.


URL : http://web.missouri.edu/~marc/

Purpose
The main concern is the etiology and course of alcohol problems and associated co morbidity in community samples of adolescents and youth.

Coverage
The site’s main concern is alcoholism. Information are mostly extracted from news. They have projects which help to fight against alcoholism. It is more focused on details about the organization.

Authority
This is an authoritative source as it is hosted by Midwest alcoholism research centre, one of the many centers supported by National institute of alcohol abuse and alcoholism.

Accuracy
The facts are accurate as some are extracted from National institute of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. It is a factual site that doesn’t have any political, ideological or biasness issues. Information posted as simple and comprehensive. It is definitely free from grammatical, spelling and typographical errors.

Currency
The information is up-to-date as it is always posting events and talks by looking at the dates.

Accessibility
The site is easily accessible and does not require registration and log- ins. All the information is accessible for free.

Presentation and Arrangement
The information is rather well presented. The information is definitely logically presented as they are extracted from health authority but detailed. There is no search facility for the users to search.

Usability
This site is easy to navigate around as there are only a few sections to navigate

Overall
The site is an average site but the information are more focused on the organization instead of facts of alcoholism.





Practical 6

Website 1
URL : http://www.health.org/govpubs/rpo992/

Purpose
This website is focusing on health and pinning out the health issues about drinking and drugs. They have statistics and facts showing about how alcohol really affect one’s life especially youth.

Coverage
The site covers areas of drugs and alcohol. Information from publications are provided and published. The links provided in the sites are useful as they are more focused on alcohol.

Authority
This is a website hosted by US department of health and human services and SAMHSA’s national clearinghouse for alcohol and drug information.

Accuracy
The facts are accurate as they are extracted from National Institutes.

Currency
The information is well maintained and up-to-date as information is based on recent.

Accessibility
The site is easily accessible. It doesn’t requite registration and log-ins to view the information but you can set up an account as the website have health products which you can purchase online. The information are accessible for free.

Presentation and Arrangement
The information are stated in point form which makes it easier to read and comprehend. All the information are clearly and logically stated. This website have features like site map, help and a search facility. The search does the basic searches retrieving results containing the keywords entered. You can choose to search in either publications or sites.

Usability
It is a easy website to handle with. There is navigation bar dividing the information appropriately.

Overall
This site is done in a professional manner but it looks more like a marketing website instead of a information site.

Website 2
Url: http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa68/aa68.htm

Purpose
The site aims to provide leadership in the national effort to reduce alcohol-related problems

Coverage
The coverage of the site is focused on health issues but information on the individual section is detailed. It is comprehensive. Materials used for the information are from National health institutes. There are links to other health related sites.

Authority
This is an authoritative source as they are from National institute of Alcohol abuse and alcoholism. There are publications of news reports about the topics.

Accuracy
The facts are accurate from the psychological view from medical experts and it is a factual site. References are stated clearly and it is free from grammatical, spelling and typographical errors.

Currency
The information on the news dated april 2006 which is considered up-to-date and information is rather well maintained.

Accessibility
The site is easily accessible which does not require registration and log-ins. The information is free for access

Presentation and Arrangement
The information is rather not well presented as the texts are too long which might bored the viewers after surfing for long. But the information is clearly and consistently stated. There is feature such as search facility which I thought it might be a must as the site contains much information. Users will not have to waste their time searching for the information they need.

Usability
It is easy to navigate around the site.

Overall
The quality of the site is rather good and done in a professional way which can be used for research tool.

Tutorial 1&2

1.Are Blogs similar to Wikis? Explain why.
Slightly similar as both are more on subject based.

2.How is an Advocacy website different from an Information website?
Advocacy is created to influence the public opinion whereas information website is based on factual information.

3.Explain TWO features of databases. Give an example of a database.
-Support Boolean operators, phrase and proximity searches
-Advanced search allows limitation to particular fields.
Lexis-Nexis is an example of the database.

4. Briefly explain how each Boolean Operator “AND”, “NOT” & “OR” works. Illustrate your answer using diagrams.



5. Other than using Boolean operators, explain with appropriate examples other strategies that you can use to refine your search results.
-Use the '-' sign to display results that does have the word search.

6. Study the following website: www.geocaching.com website.
a. What is the purpose of this website?
Advocacy
b. Explain the features of websites similar to what you have identified in (a).
The sites promote causes and created to influence the public opinion.

Practical 4&5


Type of Search Facility : Search Engine

Search Engine : www.google.com.sg

Keywords used : "alcoholism on youth"

URL : http://dpic.sgh.com.sg/SpecialTopics/Alcohol/

Purpose : News

Comments on search result :
Results 1 - 10 of about 3,900,000 for alcoholism on youth were displayed.The first few results displayed are mostly on news which meets my requirements.


Type of Search Facility : Search Engine

Search Engine : www.yahoo.com.sg

Keywords used : "alcoholism amongst youth"

URL : http://www.health.org/govpubs/rpo990/

Purpose : News

Comments on search result :
Results 1 - 10 of about 126,0000 for alcoholism on youth were displayed.MOst of the results are based on topics in news.


Comparsion

Comparing the 2 search engine, both are quite similiar in the displaying of results. The priotisze news results before displaying the different type of results. But as compared to the results, google search engine has more results than yahoo and it is more global.



Keywords used:
alcoholism, alcohol, drinking, youth, entertainment, clubbing, beer, liquor



Type of Search Facility : Meta Search Engine

Meta Search Engine : www.mamma.com

Keywords used : Alcoholism on youth
URL : http://www.ncadd.org/facts/youthalc.html

Purpose : Information/ News/ Advocacy
Comments:
Results displayed 49 for alcoholism on youth.Most of the results showed are from the government websites.

Type of Search Facility : Meta Search Engine

Meta Search Engine : .http://www.metacrawler.com/

Keywords used : Alcoholism on youth
URL :

Purpose : Information/ News/ Advocacy
Comments:
Results displayed 49 for alcoholism on youth.Most of the results showed are from the government websites.

Comparsion:
BOth used simliar type of searching format and the results found are very limited. But metacrawler.com produced better and relevant results as compared to mamma.com


Type of Search Facility : Subject Directory

Subject Directory : Yahoo Web Directory

Keywords Used : Alcoholism on Youth

URL : web.missouri.edu/~marc/
Purpose : Information/ News

Comments on Search Result :
Results 1 - 4 of about 4 for alcoholism on youth. The results are more general and reults are few.


Both Google and Yahoo Search engine has a larger variety of results as they search for the more general results as according to the keywords entered. Results from googles are more compared to yahoo.com

Meta Search Engine-
Strength- It produces a more detailed results which means it narrow the research area for results that are closest to the keywords keyed.
Weakness- The results produced are very limited.
Subject Directory
Strength- The searching tool is just by clicking the subdirectories which is easier and faster finding the results according to the category the user need to search on.
Weakness- Thought the results are the closest to the keywords keyed, the results produced are few.

I preferred search engine even though it has more redundant results as it did not narrow down the results. They just searched in general according to the keywords. In this way, there are more options opened to the user though it might waste time looking for the appropriate result. It is more user friendly for new users.

Practical 3

Resource 1:
Purpose of resource : Information
Resource:http://www.marininstitute.org/
Reasons : This website provides information on alcohol industry and facts about alcohol. It does reflect on the effect of alcohol and statistics on the increase of youth indulging themselves in alcohol.

Resource 2:
Purpose of resource : Business/ Marketing
Resource:http://camy.org/
Reasons :This website has fact sheet and research reports on alcoholism. They have a marketing gallery on brochures advertising on different brands of beer. This website is to attend to the public concern about the alcohol marketing and youth.

Resource 3:
Purpose of resource :Information/ Advocacy
Resource:http://www.stopalcoholabuse.gov/
Reasons :This website is by the government to encourage the youth to stop drinking and to meet the public concern. It provides helplines for consultation and ideas for combating this drinking issue. This is more useful for parents facing the problems.

Resource 4:
Purpose of resource :News
Resource:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,197541,00.html
Reasons :This new article is based on the research done by a researcher stating the drop of the alcoholism on youth who are aged under 13. They provide the statistics on the drinking youth.

Practial 2

Alcoholism Amongst Youth

Personal
http://adayinthelifeofalcoholanddrugrecovery.blogspot.com/
This is a personal blog maintained by the blogger regarding his drinking lifestyle and how he managed to overcome the problem.

Organization
http://www.nlm.nih.gov
It provides the latest links on the abuse of alcoholism on youth. This is a health website hosted by the government which is not only based on alcoholism but also health issues.

Subject-based
http://www.alcoholismaddiction.com
The information in the website are focused on alcoholism addiction. It not only have information on youth alcohol abuse but also on the general details on alcohol.

Subject-Based
http://www.council-houston.org/Public/index.asp
This website is hosted by a council which providing services and information to all who may be adversely affected by alcohol and drugs.


Organization
http://www.alcoholinfo.nsw.gov.au
This website is by Australia government which provides links to Institutes doing research on alcoholism.

Google and yahoo search engine are used for the finding of organization and subject-based. Blogger.com is used to search for the personal. Alcoholism, alcohol, alcoholism on youth, alcoholism amongst youth, youth, health are the keywords used. Personal is basically based on one's personal experience and reflections whereas compared to organization and subject-based are facts from research.

Practical 1

Newsgroups and discussion list
Box Office Mojo
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/forums/
Members can read up information on the latest movies posted by other members.

Electronic journals and magazine
Movie Review
http://moviereviewmagazine.com/
It acts as a search engine for movies and information related to the movie.

Multi-media source
Shaw
www.shaw.com.sg
Provides brief Information and graphics on movies.

WWW site
Golden Village
www.gv.com.sg
Information on the movie time slots, online booking and thrillers.

ChannelNewsAsia
I can find the latest news all in this website. Not only that, it provides informationm on weather forecast, stock and currency exchange. Its a one stop information centre.
Cool Home Pages
This website is rather inspiring for those who are very interested in creating webpages.

I am currently doing my last year in Mobile and wireless computing.Should have graduated last semester but due to failure of a module, here i am, back in school. Before this, i was doing attachment at citibank.I am the eldest in the family. My hobbies are swimming and travelling.