Blogs

Revision as of 14:59, 1 March 2010

Finding Blogs in LexisNexis Academic

News Search

One of the easiest ways to find and search blogs is on the All News search form. As you can see in the image to the right, simply select "Blog and Web Publications" from the Select Sources drop-down box. That source will search:

• Newstex Blogs
• Web Publications, Combined

There are over 3,000 Newstex blogs included in LexisNexis Academic. On topics such as:

• News
• Business and Industry
• Entertainment
• Sports
• Politics
• Law

Example Searches

After you've selected the "Blog and Web Publications" Source, use the boxes at top of the form to narrow your search. For example, if you wanted to read a blog about political views on global warming, you would type "Global Warming" in the first box and select "in Subject Terms" from the drop-down box. In the next box, type "Politics" or perhaps a specific politician's name. If you want recent results, it's important to specify a date range, as well. Select "Previous Month" from the drop-down box for an excellent search.

Social Media and Haiti

Social Networking has played a major role in the Haiti relief effort. Many charitable organizations have set up donation points from text messaging services, facebook, etc. The search below will return results from the "blogosphere" about social media and Haiti relief. Learn about how Social Media helped with Haiti by following this search:

1. Select Blog and Web Publications from the "Select Sources" drop-down
2. Narrow your date range. In this example, Previous 3 months is chosen. As time passes, you may want to enter a more specific period of time.
3. In the "Search For" section, type Haiti in the first box
4. Choose the At Least 5 Occurences option
5. Type "Social Media" or "Text Messages" or "Social Networking" in the second box provided. Leave the default set to Everywhere.

Twitter and Iran Elections

Use the following search to find information and opinions from other bloggers about the use of Twitter during protest following the Iran Elections:

1. Select Blog and Web Publications from the "Select Sources" drop-down
2. Narrow your date range. In this example, Previous year is chosen. As time passes, you may want to enter a more specific period of time.
3. In the "Search For" section, type Twitter in the first box, Leave the default set to Everywhere
4. Type Iran Elections in the second box provided.

NASA's adoption of Social Media

Recently, NASA entered the world of Social Media by starting their own Twitter and Facebook page. NASA, like other government agencies, are attempting to become more accessible to the American people. Learn more about their efforts - and read some of them - by doing the following search:

1. Select Blog and Web Publications from the "Select Sources" drop-down
2. Narrow your date range. In this example, Previous year is chosen. As time passes, you may want to enter a more specific period of time.
3. In the "Search For" section, type NASA in the first box
4. Choose the At Least 5 Occurences option
5. Type "Social Media" or "Twitter" or "Facebook" in the second box provided. Leave the default set to Everywhere.

Tip:
After selecting Blog and Web Publications from the "Select Sources" drop-down, click the "Edit in Power Search" link on the bottom of the All News form. When you get to the Power Search form, type PUBLICATION(NASA) in the search box to see official NASA blogs and Twitter feeds.

Government and Politics Search

In 2009, Newstex included the official blogs and Twitter feeds of all Congress members and most other Government Agencies. In addition to those sources, the "Government and Politics Blogs" source includes all of the syndicated Newstex blogs that are political in nature. To search blogs specifically about Government and Politics, go to the Government and Politics search form and check off the Blogs source as seen in the image to the right.