Step 4
Scan the List of Articles
While Paying Attention to Abstracts
You will notice that some of the articles identified from your search indicate that the full text is available. These are the articles you want to select for this assignment. But do not ignore articles that appear to be interesting even if the full text is not available to you. By consulting a librarian, you can learn other ways to get copies of quality articles.
You will notice that Academic Search Complete provides an “Abstract" for their articles. For example, the abstract for Mackie Rhodes' “Medieval Times" which appeared in the October 2002 issue of Instructor is:
Explores the unique lifestyle of medieval castle dwellers in the context of teaching. Purpose of building castles during Europe's Middle Ages; Creative activities for students on castle structure and the lifestyle of its dwellers; Duties of knights during the medieval times.
By reading the abstract, you will be able to better determine if the article will provide useful information for your research. As with a summary, the abstract identifies the key components of the article. However, Academic Search Complete does not use complete sentences for their abstracts.
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