1. TSEM 102: Current Issues in Education:
Living and Learning in a Digital Society
LAKSAMEE PUTNAM
LPUTNAM@TOWSON.EDU
RESEARCH & INSTRUCTION LIBRARIAN

2. First…
 Laksamee Putnam
 lputnam@towson.edu
 Cook Library Reference:
 410.704.2462.
 IM/email
 Phone: 410.704.3746.
 Twitter: @CookLibraryofTU
 Albert S. Cook facebook profile!

3. Agenda
 Research Process Overview
 General search strategy
 Brainstorming keywords
 Evaluating information

4. The Research Process
Interpreting the
Selecting a Assignment
Topic
Reading Identifying &
Background Listing
Refining a Information Vocabulary
Topic
Using Online
Databases
& Indexes
Evaluating Citing
Sources Gathering Sources
Sources
Drafting Paper or
Presentation

5. research skills ≠ needle in the haystack

6. Web “Pre-Searching”
 Why or why not start your search online?
 Respond here: http://bit.ly/1TSEM

7. Web “Pre-Searching”
 Why not start your search online?
 The Invisible Web
 http://goshen.libguides.com/beyond_googling
 Can you trust this information?
 TED video:
 Online filter bubble – Eli Pariser
 http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bub
bles.html

8. Web “Pre-Searching”
 Why start your search online?
 Find background information
 Help solidify research topic
 Find new terminology to use as keywords
 Find links and/or citations to other sources

9. Identify Subject Gateways for your topic…

10. Cook Library’s
Subject Gateways

11. … and other familiar tools to identify
websites with academic content.
Source: www.google.com.
Source: www.wikipedia.org.

12. Try new features to help build your keyword list
and search strategy.
Keep this in mind!
Any topic might include various facets that
you might want to explore and consider as
you clarify your topic at the beginning of the
research process.

13. Keywords are critical!
 Sample topic:
 What are some ways elementary teachers can assess whether a
certain technology solution is effective?
 First, break the question down into keywords:
 What are some ways elementary teachers can assess whether a
certain technology solution is effective?

14. More on keywords…
 Expand your list to include synonyms then add to it once
you have done some background reading.
 What are some ways elementary teachers can assess whether a certain
technology solution is effective?
teach* assess* technolog*
learn evaluat* comput*
strateg* test* [software name]
method gauge
instruct*

15. Search Terms and Keyword Reminders
 Keywords come from the search question
 Use Boolean “search connectors” to combine
keywords in ways that capture the results you need

16. Good searching starts with good keywords
Boolean “search connectors”
AND OR NOT
For example:
internet AND children
• Combining >1 topic
instruct OR teach
• Combining synonymous terms

17. Search Tip #1
 Use AND when you need to combine more than one
topic
innovation education
 Innovation AND education

18. Search Tip #2
 Use OR to combine synonymous terms (to get results
regardless of what term an author uses).
instruct teach

19. Search Tip #3
 Use truncation!
 Educat* finds
 Educate
 Education
 Educating
 Educator
 Etc…

20. Search Tip #4
 Phrase Searching…
 Use quotations to keep a keyword phrase intact (words will be
searched in the specific order)
 Examples:
 “No Child Left Behind”
 “school reform”

21. Putting it all together…
 What are some ways elementary teachers can assess whether a
certain technology solution is effective?
teach* assess* technolog*
instruct* evaluate* comput*
method* test* [software name]
learn*
teach* OR instruct* OR method* OR learn*
AND
assess* OR evaluate* OR test*
AND
technolog* OR comput* OR kidspiration

22. Evaluate what you find
 Go to one of the websites below and analyze it
 http://bit.ly/cosmicweb1
 http://bit.ly/cosmicweb2
 http://bit.ly/cosmicweb3
 http://bit.ly/cosmicweb4
 http://bit.ly/cosmicweb5
 http://bit.ly/cosmicweb6
 http://bit.ly/cosmicweb7

23. Check for CRAP
 Currency
 Reliability
 Authority
 Purpose/Point of View

24. Check for CRAP
 Currency
 How recent is the information?
 Can you locate a date when the resource was
written/created/updated?
 Based on your topic, is this current enough?
 Why might the date matter for your topic?
Guidelines for CRAP provided by the Jean and Alexander Heard Library

25. Check for CRAP
 Reliability
 What kind of information is included in the resource?
 Does the author provide citations & references for quotations
& data
 Where am I accessing this information?
Guidelines for CRAP provided by the Jean and Alexander Heard Library

26. Check for CRAP
 Authority
 Can you determine who the author/creator is?
 What are their credentials
(education, affiliation, experience, etc.)?
 Who is the publisher or sponsor of the work/site?
 Is this publisher/sponsor reputable
Guidelines for CRAP provided by the Jean and Alexander Heard Library

27. Check for CRAP
 Purpose/Point of View
 Is the content primarily opinion?
 Is the information balanced or biased?
 What is the purpose of the information? Is it to
inform, teach, sell, entertain or persuade
Guidelines for CRAP provided by the Jean and Alexander Heard Library

28. Fill out the worksheet
 Worksheet 1
 Go here: http://bit.ly/2TSEM
 Fill out the worksheet
 Be ready to fill in more of the worksheet after the next library
session!

29. Questions?
 Feel free to contact me:
 Laksamee Putnam
 lputnam@towson.edu
 410.704.3746.
 Twitter: @CookLibraryofTU
 Or any reference librarian:
 Visit Cook Library Reference Desk
 410.704.2462.
 IM – tucookchat