Electronic Databases and Networking Research paper essays

Electronic Databases and Networking Research paper essays An electronic database is information stored so that it can be retrieved from a computer terminal. Rubin, Rubin, and Piele (1996), compilers of research sources, point out, A researcher who is reluctant to use computers to find information or who does not know how to do so effectively will be severely handicapped. The advantages of college library electronic databases are that they can be searched much more quickly than their print counterparts, results can be printed or downloaded onto a floppy disk, and at most schools the use of databases is free of charge. Depending of the size of your library, you may have access to such self-service databases as ERIC (700 educational journals and thousands of research reports collected by the U.S Department of Education), INFOTRAC Expanded Academic Index (more than 1,000 journals and newspapers emphasizing communication, history, humanities, law, political science, psychology, religion, sciences, social sciences, and sociology), MEDLINE (some 3,600 journals in biomedicine, health sciences, and medicine), PSYCLIT (more than 1,400 English and foreign-language journals in education, psychology, and sociology), SOCIOFILE (communication, criminal justice, demography, geography, political science, sociology, and speech), and LEXIX/NEXIS (accounting, business, government, law, and medicine) to name just a few. You can use these databases to compile bibliographies and view abstracts, or even full articles, on the computer screen. Reference librarians should know which databases your library subscribes to and can help you learn to access them. Today, anyone with access to personal computer also has access to national and international electronic networks. Most colleges and universities are now connected to the Internet- an international electronic network of networks. This superhighway of information provides access to an ever-increasing number of infor ...

Edaphosaurus Facts and Figures

Edaphosaurus Facts and Figures At first glance, Edaphosaurus looks a lot like a scaled-down version of its close relative, Dimetrodon: both of these ancient pelycosaurs (a family of reptiles that preceded the dinosaurs) had large sails running down their backs, which helped to maintain their body temperatures (by radiating away excess heat during the night and absorbing sunlight during the day) and were probably also used to signal the opposite sex for mating purposes. Oddly enough, though, the evidence points to the late Carboniferous Edaphosaurus having been a herbivore and Dimetrodon a carnivorewhich has led some experts (and TV producers) to speculate that Dimetrodon regularly had big, heaping portions of Edaphosaurus for lunch! Except for its sporty sail (which was much smaller than the comparable structure on Dimetrodon), Edaphosaurus had a distinctly ungainly appearance, with an unusually small head compared to its long, thick, bloated torso. Like its fellow plant-eating pelycosaurs of the late Carboniferous and early Permian periods, Edaphosaurus had a very primitive dental apparatus, meaning that it needed a whole lot of intestines to process and digest the tough vegetation it ate. (For an example of what this whole lot of guts body plan can result in, without the distraction of a sail, check out the awkward build of the contemporaneous pelycosaur Casea.) Given its similarity to Dimetrodon, its not surprising that Edaphosaurus has generated a fair amount of confusion. This pelycosaur was first described in 1882 by the famous American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope, after its discovery in Texas; then, a few years later, he erected the closely related genus Naosaurus, based on additional remains excavated elsewhere in the country. Over the next few decades, however, subsequent experts synonymized Naosaurus with Edaphosaurus by naming additional Edaphosaurus species, and even one putative species of Dimetrodon was later moved under the Edaphosaurus umbrella. Edaphosaurus Essentials Edaphosaurus (Greek for ground lizard); pronounced eh-DAFF-oh-SORE-us Habitat:Â  Swamps of North America and Western Europe Historical Period:Â  Late Carboniferous-Early Permian (310-280 million years ago) Size and Weight:Â  Up to 12 feet long and 600 pounds Diet:Â  Plants Distinguishing Characteristics:Â  Long, narrow body; large sail on back; small head with bloated torso