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Discussion Class 1

Three Information Retrieval Systems

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Discussion Classes

Format:

Questions.

Ask a member of the class to answer.

Provide opportunity for others to comment.

When answering:

Stand up.

Give your name. Make sure that the TA hears it.

Speak clearly so that all the class can hear.

Suggestions:

Do not be shy at presenting partial answers.

Differing viewpoints are welcome.

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Question 1: Document sets

Each of the three information retrieval systems indexes a set of documents:

(a) What documents does Ask.com index?

(b) What documents does the Library of Congress search service index?

(c) What documents does the PubMed search service index?

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Question 2: Red wine

What is the medical evidence that red wine is good or bad for your health?

(a) How does Ask.com help a user answer this question?

(b) How does Ask.com differ from Google?

5How do you know if the information is reliable?

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Question 4: PubMed

(a) How does PubMed order the records that are returned from a search?

(b) What is the function of the Limit tab below?

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Question 5. PubMed

What is this information?

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Question 6: White wine

How would I search to compare the health differences between white and red wine?

How would I discover if a result that was published in 1996 had been confirmed or disproved by a later study?

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Question 7: Palestine

What in history led to the current turmoil in Palestine and

the neighboring countries?

(a) How does the Library of Congress Catalog help a user answer this question?

(b) How does Ask.com help a user answer this question?

Under what circumstance would you use each system to find information such as this?

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Question 8: Fielded searching

For the Library of Congress catalog

(a) Explain the Guided Search

(b) In what order are the search results presented?

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Question 8: Results

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Question 10: Browsing

(a) What support does Ask.com give for browsing?

(b) What support does the Library of Congress Catalog give for browsing?