GALILEO September 11 Resources

GALILEO offers many excellent and reliable information sources on all aspects of the current crisis.  The following databases are chosen for their extreme breadth and currency of coverage.  To choose any of the following, log onto the GALILEO homepage (you will need a password if you are off campus), select the "All Databases" option at the top of the left hand column, and from there click on the first letter of the database to go instantly to that section.

Academic Search Premier

Most users looking for periodical and newspaper articles consider Academic Search Premier the best starting point; for many it is the only source they will need.  This database provides full text articles from more than 3,200 periodicals and newspapers and provides indexing and abstracts to many more.  The interface allows mouse-click Boolean searching while the many limitation options allows the reader to limit their search by date, periodical, full-text, or scholarly journals. 

Article First

Unlike Academic Search Premiere, Article First does not provide full text articles but it does provide abstracts and indexing of more than 1,200 periodicals and newspapers.  It is an excellent secondary source to Academic Search Premiere and its standard OCLC interface allows limitation to items available in this library as well as the standard date and source limitations.  (Similar databases with identically the same interface include Readers Guide to Periodical Literature and Social Science Abstracts.)

Encyclopædia Britannica

Perhaps the best known name in scholarly reference sources, the Encyclopædia Britannica is usually the best starting point on GALILEO for readers who need to quickly learn more about a topic before they can begin to research it in depth.  The GALILEO version offers many features and much fuller articles than the free version available at http://www.britannica.com, including related Internet links at the end of each article chosen by experts in the field for reliability and objectivity. 

Lexis-Nexis

(Note: this database is ONLY available from computers located on the campus of Georgia Southwestern State University.)  Lexis-Nexis is the best source on GALILEO for very current news coverage and indexing, offering up to the hour headlines under NEWS.   The REFERENCE option offers "Country Profiles", "Biographies", and "World Almanac", all available for concise, reliable, and current information on a wide array of current events and international topics.

GALILEO's password is different at each institution and public library and it changes every semester.  If you have a valid GSW ID you can obtain the current GALILEO password  from off campus on the Georgia Southwestern State University catalog.*    From the catalog select the "Your Account" option.  Enter the barcode number from the back of your GSW ID card, or your social security number, and your last name in the fields provided and follow the directions to receive the password.

*(To get to the catalog, log onto the GALILEO homepage (you don't need a password for this page), select gil@gsw Catalogs.)

Terms:

Abstract- an abstract is a brief (usually from one sentence to one short paragraph) description of an article following the article's complete citation (i.e. article title and author, periodical name, and date/issue/volume number in which the article appeared). GALILEO contains far more abstracts than it does full text articles.  A user can restrict his/her search on most GALILEO databases to only those items owned by the GSW library. Articles indexed on GALILEO but not owned by GSW can be acquired free-of-charge through Interlibrary Loan; the vast majority of Interlibrary Loan articles arrive in less than two weeks (many in less than one week).

Full Text- a full text article is one whose text (though not necessarily its pictures or other graphics) is reproduced in its entirety on a GALILEO database.

Index- a full citation for an article whose full text is not included.  A user can restrict his/her search on most GALILEO databases to only those items owned by the GSW library. Articles indexed on GALILEO but not owned by GSW can be acquired free-of-charge through Interlibrary Loan; the vast majority of Interlibrary Loan articles arrive in less than two weeks (many in less than one week).

Scholarly articles (also known as "Refereed" or "Peer Reviewed" articles)- articles reviewed by experts in the field (other than the article author) and published in journals dedicated to a specific academic or professional discipline.  Scholarly articles are generally considered more persuasive and reliable than non-scholarly articles.  Both Academic Search Premiere and ProQuest Databases allow limitation to Scholarly articles.