1. Reviewing Search Strategies and Searching the Web Claire Holmes, MLS Instruction Librarian, Cook Library cholmes@towson.edu http://pages.towson.edu/cholmes Twitter: TUEdLibrarian
2. Today’s Agenda: Review: Research Strategies Continue to brainstorm keywords Web searching and web source evaluation
3. Remember:“Pre-Searching” is important Find background information Refine research topic Build list of keyword terminology Find links and/or citations to other sources
7. Search for professional or academic ORGANIZATIONS or ASSOCIATIONS related to your topic … for example, use [organization* or association*] as keywords.
11. teach What OR does… instruct instruct OR teach
12. educat*finds… educat educat educat educat e ion ing or …etc! Don’t forget: Truncation helps
13. Use quotations to keep a keyword phrase intact (words will be searched in the specific order) Examples: “No Child Left Behind” “information literacy” Phrase Searching…
14. Sample topic: How is social networking being used as a learning tool in public schools? First, break the question down into keywords:How is social networking being used as a learning tool in public secondary schools? Don’t forget! Keywords are critical!
15. Expand your list to include synonyms then add to it once you have done some background reading. How is social networking being used as a learning tool in public secondary schools? “social network*” learn* “public school*” facebook teach* secondary “social network site” instruct* high school* middle school* youth teen* More on keywords…
16. Putting it all together… How is social networking being used as a learning tool in public secondary schools? “public school*” “social network*” learn* secondary high school facebook teach* middle school youth “social network site” instruct* teen* “social network*” OR facebook* OR social network site* AND learn* OR teach* OR instruct* AND “public school*” OR secondary OR high school OR teen*
17. Searching for academic content Articulate your topic by choosing important ideas Brainstorm Ideas Concept Map Terminology/Keywords Dig for the content EVALUATE!
18. Web Source Issue #1: Quality Criteria for evaluation of internet sources: Currency Authority Coverage Relevance & Usefulness Navigation & Ease of Use This information is courtesy of Jan Alexander & Marsha Ann Tate, librarians at Wolfgram Memorial Library, Widener University. http://www.widener.edu/Tools_Resources/Libraries/Wolfgram_Memorial_Library/Evaluate_Web_Pages/Checklist_for_an_Information_Web_Page/5720/
