Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Clouds of Words

How does the State of the Union address you heard last night compare to those of years past? What words are most often used in these kinds of speeches? Do the most frequently used words--and concepts--change over time?

If you find these to be intriguing questions, you'll want to take a look at this Presidential Speeches Tag Cloud, which graphically, and attractively, shows the most frequently used words in Presidential speeches from George Washington to George W. Bush. The most-used words in the State of the Union address of 1790 were "blessings," "expedient," and "requisite." Whereas last night "Iraq" and "terrorists" were the top words.

Looking at two famous inaugural addresses, Kennedy's "economic," and "strength" the most, whereas Lincoln's first inaugural used "constitution" most frequently.

If you're interested in how the "cloud" was constructed, there are notes on the website. And you can even download the open source software and make clouds of your own speeches.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Welcome Back!

Welcome back for the Spring 2007 semester at St. Mary's University!

The library is now back to regular semester hours. That means you have plenty of time in which you can visit the library for research and research assistance.

Don't wait...start thinking about those research projects now. Remember, the library offers access to extensive online resources including research databases, e-books, online government publications, and research assistance by email through the library's Ask a Question service. For more help, stop by the Reference Desk to discuss your project with a librarian.

Good luck!