Dust Bowl Project: Keyword Searches Berea Middle School Mrs. Gibbs 7 th Grade ELA

Vocabulary URL: (Uniform Resource Locator)  Address or location of a Web site Search engine:  Software tools that search the Internet using keywords Examples: Google, MSN search, Yahoo, AOL search Keywords  Search engines use keywords to find categories of info on the Internet  Boolean Operators A mark (such as a plus sign, +) to connect keywords

Boolean Operators Plus sign (+)  Great Depression + Dust Bowl AND  Great Depression AND Dust Bowl Minus sign (-)  Great Depression - Psychology NOT  Great Depression NOT Psychology

From Questions to Keywords Topic + Focus Strategy If you already have a question, find the topic and focus of that question.  Helps you locate information faster How did Franklin Roosevelt help the farmers during the Dust Bowl? Topic (Boolean) Focus FDR + Dust Bowl

c Don’t just use a single word.  Too broad  Depression, Dust, Farming, etc Don’t be too wordy.  Overall, ineffective strategy  Example: What was the Depression like?  HOWEVER: Ask.com Accept questions Don’t use the dot com strategy!!!!!  dustbowl.com

Choosing Keywords: Good Strategies Use Topic + Focus strategy  Quickest way to get relevant info Eliminate extra words Use “quotation marks” to get the keywords you are looking for in order

You Be the Judge… Soccer + history Sports What is the history of soccer? Soccer + equipment World history of soccer “soccer teams” Soccer Soccer + sports