1.+Assignment+2

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-The Mummy (1999)
=__Assignment 2__= (From Tucker's Assignment Guide)

Assignment 2: Subject Analysis General Instructions

Purpose: For this assignment you will design, create, and then evaluate a DB/TextWorks database, focusing on the challenges of subject analysis. You will create surrogate records for the 15 articles you have read over the course of the semester thus far and use these records as your database. You will then construct a suitable controlled vocabulary for subject access purposes. This is not a group assignment. Each student is expected to complete and turn in all work individually. However, students may want to collaborate and share ideas, especially during the development of their controlled vocabularies. You are encouraged to use ANGEL and/or Elluminate to meet and discuss the assignment. You may work with your groups from Assignment 1 or with anyone in the class.

The assignment has three parts, A, B, and C:

Part A emphasizes subject analysis and indexing, and communicating to the user a logical view of the database. You will create a small database, its subject vocabulary, and a user guide for Part A.

The emphasis of Parts B and C is the critical evaluation of your database for effective subject searching. Part B involves detailed retrieval analysis (quantitative) and Part C is your written evaluation of the process and findings (qualitative).

The overall objectives are to:  design a small controlled vocabulary (a descriptor list, not a thesaurus) for the subject area of information storage and retrieval;  create surrogate records for 15 articles, providing: (1) descriptive information (author, title, etc.) and (2) subject representation, in the form of descriptors from the vocabulary you designed;  explore the problems of subject analysis and description in designing subject access systems;  compare and evaluate alternative searching and retrieval mechanisms (querying the post-coordinate vocabulary vs. free-text searching in the title and abstract fields). Details about grading criteria and submission requirements are found in the document Grading & Deliverables.