Matthew Brown wrote:
On 12/19/06, Steve Bennett stevagewp@gmail.com wrote:
All these things are sliding scales. It's easy to objectively say "all the victims were women". It's just *harder* to objectively say "all the papers supported notion X". Maybe it's ok. Maybe it isn't.
For one thing, if a source exhaustively lists all X, it's a definitive claim that can be sourced. Stating that all of them have something in common is simply a collation and editing function, IMO.
A database search like that described is different; it's not definitive and not a single source that can be cited. It's headed into original research to deem the results definitive and decisive; there is no guarantee whatsoever that the results have to be exhaustive and complete.
Funny you discuss this. At http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Taylor_Allderdice_High_School&... I've got someone asserting in the article that "a search of WorldCat reveals that as of 2006 Taylor Allderdice remains one of fewer than sixty high schools in the world to have its newspaper archived on microfilm in a major library." I agree this is original research, but can't find anyone to back me up. Fancy popping your head in and discussing the point?