Metronet Information Literacy Initiative

 

Database Worksheet

Page history last edited by Karen 4 mos ago

◇ What information does the database offer about the publisher?  Is there an "About" section?

 

 

◇ What types of things does the database provide?

          □ Articles?           □ Charts?
          □ Videos           □ Audio clips?
          □ Maps?           □ Photos?
          □ Other?  

 

◇ Are the contents of the database ...

          □ Indexed?
          □ Abstracted?
          □ Full-text?

 

◇ How many publications does the database include? Which years of publication are covered?

 

 

◇ How frequently is the database updated?

          □ Daily           □ As necessary
          □ Monthly           □ Can't tell
          □ Quarterly           □ Other

 

◇ What types of navigational tools are provided?

(Things to look for: Are buttons/click bars/check boxes/scroll bars easy to see, use, and understand?)

 

 

◇ Is the site easy to navigate? Why or why not?

(Things to consider: do the pages load quickly? Do you have to click through multiple screens to get what you want? Is it easy to backtrack?)

 

 

◇ Are there convenient guides for moving through the database?

(For example: next/previous, top of page, back to home, new search, exit, dictionary/thesaurus, etc.)

 

 

◇ Is "Help" section or "FAQs" section provided? Is it searchable? Is it helpful?

 

 

◇ Are tutorials provided? Are they helpful?

 

 

◇ Is there a "Search Tips" section? Does the database allow for ...

          □ Limiters?           □ Truncation?
          □ Wildcards?           □ Other?

 

◇ What are the available search strategies?

          □ Natural language           □ Advanced
          □ Subject search           □ Boolean
          □ Topical search           □ Other

 

◇ How are search results displayed?

          □ Relevance           □ Alphabetical
          □ Chronological           □ Media format
          □ Reverse chronological           □ Other

 

◇ How can searches be saved, sent, or printed?

          □ Saved in the database           □ Exported to another program
          □ Emailed to User           □ Print part or all of search results
          □ Other  

 

◇ What other features are available?

          □ RSS           □ Teacher resources
          □ Personalization           □ Topic Trees
          □ Citation help           □ Multiple languages
          □ Other          

 

◇ Which student populations may this database be appropriate for? 

            □ Elementary 

            □ Middle School 

            □ High School

 

◇ What was your first impression of the database? What is your impression after exploring it?

 

 

◇ What type of content does the database contain? For what type of project might this database be useful?

 

 

◇ What is the best thing about this database? What is the worst thing about this database?

 

 

◇ What are the three most important things to share with your colleagues (or students) about this database?

 

 

Created by Metronet Information Literacy Initiative, 11/2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

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