1. How to Research
Learning outcomes
• To understand the research process
• To understand the benefits of planning before
embarking on internet searching
• To use available search tools effectively to
identify appropriate resources
• To develop awareness of the quality of
information found on the internet the importance
of cross-checking
• To understand what plagiarism is and how to
avoid it
• To understand the need for referencing
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2. Information Skills Framework
How to research
Planning. What have I been asked to do?
What do I know already?
What do I want to find out?
Where could I find the information?
Locating and gathering. What sources are available?
Which ones should I use?
How shall I use them?
Selecting and Recording. What is relevant?
How shall I keep a record?
How should I organise my information?
Checking back. Have I done what I was asked to do?
Do I need to find out anything else?
Presenting Information The best way to present the info is?
Evaluating Would I do anything different next time?
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6. WWWWW
• Who?
– Who wrote this information?
• What?
– What is the purpose of this site?
• When?
– When was this information written?
• Where?
– Where else can I confirm this
information?
• Why?
– Why do I need this information? Library & Learning
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7. Keywords and strings
• Focus on the keywords you have already thought of
• Ignore ‘opinion’ keywords such as ‘best’, ‘correct’, etc. You are searching for
a variety of evidence - not just someone’s opinions.
• Avoid long phrases unless you are searching for a specific quotation.
Use quotation marks when necessary.
•Google (and other databases) will ignore common “stopwords” such as
‘from’, ‘the’ and ‘when’.
•Use the Advanced search
• use + to force google to search for your keywords
A computer generated database of websites.
8. Common domain registrations
.com – The most popular
.co.uk – Region specific companies/
organisations
.org – Popularly used by public /non-profit
organisations
.net – Originally for the computers of
network providers, now a second .com
.edu / .ac / .sch – Educational
establishments and schools
.gov – Government (US). Add a country
code (.gov.uk)
9. The Quick Quiz
Quality Information Checklist
1. Is it clear who has written the information?
• Is the author recognised?
• Who owns the website?
2. Are the aims of the site clear?
• Does the website have a ‘who we are’ page?
• Does the domain extension give you a clue?
3. Does the site achieve its aims?
• Has the site been professionally created?
• Is the site ‘friendly’ to use?
4. Is the website relevant to me?
• Does this site answer my questions?
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10. • Can the information be checked?
• Is there a named author?
• If so, is information provided about them/ their
qualifications?
• If the content is from elsewhere, is it referenced?
• Do linked sites link back?
• Where else can you check the information?
• 6. When was the website produced?
• Are updates dated?
• Are links kept current or are they broken?
• Are references up to date?
• 7. Is the information biased in any way?
• What is bias?
• Who is responsible for the site (see 2)
• Does the site clearly state it’s point of view?
• Does the site give only one point of view?
• 8. Does the site tell you about choices open to you?
• Does it give you ideas for further research?
• Do these choices show bias?
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11. Evaluate these sites using the
WWWWW method.
1.www.dhmo.org
2.http://zapatopi.net/treeoctop
us/
3.http://www.worldpulse.com/
node/11157 (only evaluate
this page)
4. www.martinlutherking.org
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12.
13.
14. Now evaluate these sites. Spend
no more that 5 minutes on each
one. Pay attention to bias.
http://www.monsanto.co.uk/
http://www.foe.co.uk/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic
ally_modified_food
http://www.food.gov.uk/gmfoods/
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15. Join Islington Public libraries for access to a number of free resources.
http://bit.ly/bmszWM
www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/pinakes/pin
akes.html
www.intute.ac.uk
http://scholar.google.co.uk/
http://books.google.com/
http://news.google.com/archivesearch
http://news.google.co.uk/
16. Referencing websites
Five pieces of information
• The author’s name (if possible). Look at the top or bottom
of an article. All news and online journal articles should list
their author.
• Title of the article. This is not the name of the website, which
will be much larger than the part that you are
referencing.
• Date of publication. For official websites there should always
be a date of publication or last update. If not, make
sure that the content is current!
• Date that you accessed the site
• URL (full address) of the webpage that you are referencing.
• Holland, M. (2005) Citing References, University of
Bournemouth:
http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/academic_services/documents/Li
brary/Citing_References.pdf [Accessed 2 October 2006]
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17. References and Bibliographies
Five pieces of information:
– Author
– Year of Publication
– Title
– Publisher
– Place of Publication
Cottrell, S. (2003) The Study Skills
Handbook, 2nd Edition, Palgrave
Macmillan, Basingstoke.
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18. You’ve found some books or other publications:
• Check the publication dates. (Does it matter?)
• Check authors – are they qualified?
• Use the contents pages and indexes.
• Do they have glossaries and bibliographies?
• Are they well illustrated?
Note-taking options:
• Don’t print the page straight off the internet.
• Print some of the information, if necessary.
• Copy and paste words and graphics into Word or another
document. Remember to record your sources.
• Photocopy selectively.
• Make notes straight from the screen or book. Write down your
source of information.
• Be aware of quoting, paraphrasing and summarising.
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Remember!
19. Plagiarism is…
The writers of the website PlagiarismdotOrg state in their
article What is Plagiarism?:
• “Many people think of plagiarism as copying another's work,
or borrowing someone else's original ideas. But terms like
"copying" and "borrowing" can disguise the seriousness of the
offense:
• According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary,
to "plagiarize" means
• to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's
own
• to use (another's production) without crediting the source
• to commit literary theft
• to present as new and original an idea or product derived
from an existing source.
• In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both
stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.”
http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_what_is_plagiarism.html
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20. “All of the following are considered plagiarism:
turning in someone else's work as your own
copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source
without giving credit
copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up
the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not”
http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_what_is_plagiarism.html
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21. Many people think of plagiarism as copying
another's work, or borrowing someone else's
original ideas. But terms like "copying" and
"borrowing" can disguise the seriousness of the
offense:
Plagiarism is…
to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as
one's own
to use (another's production) without crediting the source
to commit literary theft
to present as new and original an idea or product derived
from an existing source.
In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves
both stealing someone else's work and lying about it
afterward.
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22. Where to find this
information?
You can find this slide show here:
http://www.slideshare.net/happyreading/howtoresea
rch-colai
You can find the workbook here:
http://issuu.com/happyreading/docs/howtoresearch
You can find a free internet tutorial here:
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/detective
This slideshow was originally created by Tower Hamlets SLS, it
has been adapted for use at COLAI
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