Tips for Getting Started with Publications

The following is a brief overview of the procedure to "Edit" an existing article, or "Add" a new article, in the "Newspaper and Trade Journal Articles" database (often referred to as "Publications"). Note that an article is "edited" whenever text and pertinent data are added to a "stubbed in" article or whenever it is necessary to make additions or corrections to a completed article. A "stubbed in" article is an incomplete article containing only title and source data. An article is "added" whenever a new-found article is first entered into the database, be it "stubbed in" or the complete article entered in one operation.

The first step in this orientation is to become acquainted with the design and format of articles found in the database.

1). Open the "Newspaper and Trade Journal Articles" home page at http://reference.insulators.info/publications/ . Access to the database requires a password and username at this time. You should all have that.

2). At the top of the home page, click the "Help" button to open a file of procedural conventions used to format text. Familiarize yourself with the contents.

3). Article number 1952 is a good basic example for a familiarization review of an articles input format. To open article 1952, return to the home page and enter 1952 in the "View ID" box. Click "Go," or hit "Enter" on your keyboard. The latter is easier, as you already have your hands on the keyboard!

3a) Take notice that there are four components to a completed article. The topmost light blue area contains the Title and Sub-title. In this instance the title is "Hemingray Glass Company - Covington, Kentucky." The sub-title is "1860 Tornado." The person inputting data provides these two pieces of information from an interpretation of the contents of the article. It is recommended that the "title" refer to the company, person, or event featured in the article (in this case the Hemingray Glass Company located in Covington, Kentucky). The "sub-title" refers to the action reported in the article (in this case the 1860 tornado). Other common actions are fires, floods, strikes, deaths, marriages, etc.

3b) a short white zone is found beneath the upper light blue zone. Herein you will find:

3b-1) the type of original publication in which the article is found (either newspaper or trade journal at this time),

3b-2) the name of the publication which contained the article,

3b-3) the volume, number, page, and column in which the article is found. Note that some early researchers failed to gather this information. It may be written or scribbled on the back or front of your copy.

3b-4) the city or town in which the publication was printed and the date of publication

4). Next in order is another white box which contains the text of the article. The headline and any sub-headlines included herein are from the article.

A number of procedural attributes are available as demonstrated in article 1952. For example, the blue highlighting is achieved by placing %% before and after the text. A known error in the original article, or text that is questionable, may be highlighted in yellow by placing ?? before and after the text. A great asset of this database is the capability to place dollar values in present day perspective by $nnn where "nnn" is the dollar value appearing in the article. Words, including names of individuals, that are mis-spelled in the original article are not corrected in the editing process. The erroneous word, or words, is highlighted by mis-spelled word [sic] correct spelled word. An example is [spell: Bragging: Bagging]. Other necessary or useful constructs are found at "Help."

5). Beneath the text body box is found the white pertinent data box. Here one enters keywords (furnished by the person inputting data), researcher notes (any qualifying information that may be furnished by the researcher), supplemental information (additional information about the subject know to the researcher and references to other articles found in the database pertaining to the same topic, also references to patents relating to objects mentioned in the article). An article is linked to another article by inserting (see article nnn); patents are linked by (see patent nnn,nnn). The researcher is the person who has obtained a copy of the article from a library, archive, or Internet; the source is the institution at which the document containing the article was found; original denotes the location of the original document (this is especially important if the source is a poor quality microfilm); date found is when the researcher found the article; date added is the date that the completed article, or a "stub," was entered into the database; date completed is the date the article was added or completed. Date edited is the date that any change was made to the article. With each of the three date fields above, there is a correspond who field indicating the person who performed that operation.

Generally only the researcher notes and supplemental information is changed

6). Select "Edit" on the task bar at the top of the page to open the edit page for article 1952. Familiarize yourself with the page set up and observe what information is required to complete an article. Note that the person inputting data enters all the information required for the three boxes highlighted in light blue. The next four boxes without highlighting are from the publication in which the article is found. Occasionally the researcher will fail to record the volume and number of the publication. Leave these boxes blank if the information is not provided. Click the "Update article" button to close the edit page - even if you made no changes.

Notice how the special constructs, discussed in paragraph 4 above, are entered.

You have completed your orientation at this point and are ready to take on an "editing" or "adding" project.

7). Select a short article from the package of articles furnished to you by a researcher. The articles furnished should have been "stubbed in" prior to your receipt of the articles. It is recommended that you first select an article less than 50 words to keep things simple.

8). Type the text of the article into a Word document (or other word processor) and spell check it when typing is completed. Note: do not correct spelling if a word has been mis-spelled in the original article (see section 3) above).

9). "Copy" the Word document (don't "cut" or delete the Word document just yet). You may be called to the phone or supper before completing your task and the document could be inadvertently lost.

10). Return to the home page and click "List articles" to open the "List articles" page. The "id number" will most likely be unknown to you at this stage. Enter the date of the article into the "Date" box and click the "Search" button (or hit "Enter" on the keyboard (note that the cursor must be placed in the 'Date" box before entering the date). Also note that the date may be entered in a number of styles, for instance: dd/mo/yr, mo/dd/yr; also, the month may be a three-letter abbreviation or completely spelled out. Watch the scroll bar and when it jumps, scroll to the bottom of the page. All articles previously entered for that date are displayed. Completed articles are displayed with blue letters on a white background; "stubbed in" articles are displayed with blue letters on a pink background. Compare the title box and the publication box to insure that you have found the correct article. Select your article and click the title. This will open the article display page. Click the "Edit" button to open the edit page. This action opens the edit page for that article.

11). Paste the article you have typed (step 8 above) into the "Body" text box and complete the pertinent data boxes (see paragraphs 2 - 4 above).

12). Click the "Update Article" button to add your input to complete the article. Note: you must click the "Update Article" button, otherwise your input will be permanently lost.

13). Examine the article that you have completed to see if it is what you expected. If not, click the "Edit" button and make the desired, or necessary, changes to the article. Click the "Update article" button to complete the edit.

14). Please select the article id address (found in the address bar at the top of the page). Notify me at this point that you have completed the article. Paste the article address in the notice so I can locate it.

I will:

a). Critique your first input, and

b). Begin to show you a few tools that may not be evident.

Thanks,

Glenn Drummond

glenn@patent-1871.com