[Tutor] complex file parsing

[Tim Wilson]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if some of the experts on this list have some advise
regarding more complex parsing of files. Here's the scenario: I'm a
Ph.D. student in eduation, specifically Instructional Systems and
Technology. I'm taking a class right now where we are supposed to survey
the literature in our field and find trends, summarize what sort of work
is being done, etc. Being a geek I naturally gravitate toward automation
for tasks like this. :-)

I do the searches in a large database of education-related articles
called ERIC (see http://www.askeric.org/ for an example of one interface
to the database). I can export the results of my search to a format
compatible with EndNote (http://www.endnote.com/). I'm going to include
a snippet of the resulting file below.

What I'd like to know is if there's a decent chance of creating a parser
that can pull out the data from this record. I'm particularly interested
in the Descriptor field which consists of one or more major descriptors
and one or more minor descriptors. Of course, separating all the useful
bits would be handy. I wonder if this would be an application where
creating an XML file would be useful?

Anyway, here's the file. I'd love to get some comments from everyone
here.

-Tim

Database: ERIC


Ownership:     FirstSearch indicates your institution subscribes to this
publication. Libraries that Own Item: 149Connect to the catalog at
University of Minnesota Libraries
Accession No:  EJ646012
Author(s):     Kumar, David D. ; Altschuld James W.
Title:         Complementary Approaches to Evaluation of Technology in
Science Education.
Source:        Journal of Science Education and Technology v11 n2
p179-191 Jun 2002
Standard No:   ISSN:          1059-0145
Clearinghouse: SE566729
Language:      English
Abstract:      Discusses an interesting and relevant case involving two
distinct systematic evaluations, traditional as well as somewhat
nontraditional, of a science teacher education project with a
heavy technology emphasis. Reports the complexity of evaluating
technology projects and the multifaceted ways in which the evaluation
endeavor could be approached. (Contains 23 references.)
(Author/YDS)
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor:    (Major):       Educational Technology
Evaluation Methods
Teacher Education
(Minor):       Higher Education
Science Education
Science Teachers
Document Type: Journal Article (CIJE)
Record Type:   080 Journal Articles; 143 Reports--Research
Announcement:  CIJSEP2002
Provider:        OCLC
Database: ERIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------

Ownership:     FirstSearch indicates your institution subscribes to this
publication. Libraries that Own Item: 149Connect to the catalog at
University of Minnesota Libraries
Accession No:  EJ646006
Author(s):     Marbach-Ad, Gili ; Sokolove, Phillip G.
Title:         The Use of E-Mail and In-Class Writing To Facilitate
Student-Instructor Interaction in Large-Enrollment Traditional and
Active Learning Classes.
Source:        Journal of Science Education and Technology v11 n2
p109-119 Jun 2002
Standard No:   ISSN:          1059-0145
Clearinghouse: SE566723
Language:      English


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