how to Search

The librarian on the right is symbolically presenting you with a 3X5 card taken from a traditional library card catalog. It's the old-fashioned way to search. Follow the guidelines on this page and learn to use Electricka's Resource Shelf to advantage.

navigation

Electricka's Reference Shelf contains two parts: 1) the Catalog, and 2) Resource Reviews. Each part is located at a page of its own which can be reached by either of two methods: 1) menu navigation, or 2) the Electricka's Resource Shelf icon:

navigation with menus

Electricka's Resource Shelf is an item on the Top Menu and on Electricka's Menu.

1. On the Top Menu, select the text which reads Electricka's Resource Shelf. Then select the Resource Catalog or Resource Reviews on the menu that flies out and the page you want will open.
2. On Electricka's Menu, select the text which reads Features. Then select the text which reads Electricka's Resource Shelf on the menu that flies out. Select the Resource Catalog or Resource Reviews on the menu that flies out and the page you want will open. 

navigating with the Electricka's Resource Shelf icon

Electricka's Resource Shelf Icon provides a fast, easy way to get wherever on the Shelf you might want to go. Here's how to navigate with the icon:

More

How the catalog is organized

The Catalog consists of citations to resources and reference works. Citations are organized into rows and columns. Each row in the Catalog represents a specific citation of a resource or reference. Each column in a row provides the following information about a citation:

• The first column of the citation contains the name of the cited resource or reference.
• Additional columns describe the type or kind of resource or reference that is named and the relevant muse.
• Other columns provide links to the named resource's web site (if extant), links to a Resource Review of the named resource (if extant), a brief description of the named resource, and an indication of the source that submitted the named resource.

how to use the catalog to find resources

When you navigate to the page which contains the Catalog, you will find it open in a new window and ready to search for citations.

how to  search for citations

The Catalog contains the names of all resources or reference works cited by the muses up to the time it is opened. The list of citations grows indefinitely because new names are constantly being submitted for publication by visitors or added by ETAF staff.

The Catalog is large and visitor interests vary. Because of its size, scope, and purpose, the list of resource names probably will contain many citations that are irrelevant to your interests when you use it. Without help from the Catalog, finding just the resources or reference works you want could be a tedious and laborious task.

The Catalog helps you save time and effort by automatically narrowing the list of resource names to just those you may want to explore further. It does this by allowing you to enter text to search for in the row marked SEARCH FOR at the top of the page. Enter this search text in the column to the left of the button marked SEARCH.

In addition to text, you can also specify the column to search in and a search condition—that is, whether you want to see a citation if it contains the text string you specify, is equal to the text string you specify, etc.

After you specify the text you want to search for and select the entries in the other fields in the SEARCH FOR row, select (click) the SEARCH button. The Catalog then automatically searches the entire list of citations for that text in that column, finding and displaying just the citations (rows) that satisfy the search conditions and contain the text. The resulting display of citations may miss some relevant citations or may find some irrelevant ones, but it's a step in the right direction because it winnows the number of citations you have to consider further.

The procedure for finding resources and reference works that are relevant to your interests is three-fold:

Step 1—Use the search procedure described above to narrow the list of citations initially showing in the Catalog to those that are likely to be relevant.

• From the dropdown lists at the top, select the field in the list of names you want to search and the search condition you want to impose.
• Type the text you want to search for in the Search Box.
• Select the number of Resource Names per page you want to see when the results are displayed. Selecting the Show All button displays the entire Catalog.
• Click the Search button to begin searching.
• Results appear in the same window. They consist of just the Resource Names that are relevant to your search.
• Print the results page if you choose to work with paper.

—note— advanced searching The Advanced Search feature allows compound searches to be performed.

Step 2—Review (read) each citation that remains after the search and decide which of the citations you want to explore further.

• Manually inspect the list of Resource Names on the results page looking for relevant items.
• To see more information about any relevant item:
  • Look in the Description/Comments field. If the text —More— appears in the field, click it to see more information about the item than appears in the field. The extra information will appear in a new window.
  • Look in the Review field. If the text —More— appears in the field, a Resource Review is available. Click —More— to visit the Review. The Review will appear in the Catalog window.
• If the entry in the Type column indicates that there is a web site associated with the named resource, visit the web site by clicking the word Open in the Link column. The resource's web site will appear in the Catalog window.

—tip— about finding information in the description/comments field The Descriptions/Comments field contains information that explains the nature of a resource or reference. This information is important because it can help you decide which resource names you want to explore further (see Step 2, above). If the information that describes the resource exceeds the space available in this field, the text "—More—" appears in the field to indicate that the remainder of the information cannot be seen. Click "—More—" and a window that contains the complete text will appear. NOTE: If asked to search the Description/Comments field, the Catalog searches the complete text in this field, whether or not the complete text is visible in the Description/Comments field.

Step 3—Access the resources or reference works you decide to see.

What you do to access a resource or reference depends on circumstances. For example, if the resource has a web site and your objective is to visit the web site, your search is over; or you may learn something at the resource's web site that leads you elsewhere. If your objective is to acquire a printed dictionary, you may decide to visit an online or walk-in bookstore.

how to use the Catalog to find Resource reviews

Citations may be thought of as brief Resource Reviews; conversely, Resource Reviews may be thought of as as lengthy citations. Since the Catalog is designed for quick searching, the information it contains about entries is kept to a minimum. When there is more to say about a particular resource than there is room for in a Description/Comments field, Electricka sometimes provides the information in the form of a Resource Review.

You can use the Catalog to locate Resource Reviews that are relevant to your interests.

—tip— using the catalog to find and access resource reviews Look in the Review field. If the text —More— appears in the field, a Resource Review is available for the named resource. Click —More— in the Review field to visit the Review. The Review will appear in the Catalog window.

how to keep references handy

After you follow a link from the Catalog to another web site, it's easy to keep the window to the other site handy and out of sight while you continue to explore Electricka's web site.

—tip— keep linked pages open, handy, and out of sight Here's how to keep a page at a remote site open in a way that won't block your view of Electricka's web site on your display screen: The Catalog opens in a new browser window and remote web site pages open in the same window. To keep a page from a remote web site handy while you work with Electricka's pages, don't close the browser window that contains the remote link. When you want to consult the remote web page, navigate back and forth between the browser window that displays Electricka pages and the browser window that displays the remote site's page. Keep more than one remote web site window open at one time by opening new copies of the Catalog every time you link to another remote web site. Most operating systems offer four ways to switch between open browser windows: 1) MOVE, 2) MINIMIZE and RESTORE, 3) Tab, and 4) Tile.