Searching for Information Without Losing Your Cool!

Web Resources Search Engine Destiny Galileo

Internet Search Strategies How are you searching now? Google and Ask.com allow you to type natural language search strings, in other words, you type how you talk or ask questions. Example: What is the population of China?

Problems with Natural Language Searches Often natural language searches turn up too many or too few results. So, what is the best way to search?

Boolean Operators The most effective and efficient way for you to search is to break down your topic into key concepts and include one or more Boolean operators What is a Boolean operator?

Boolean Operators Boolean operators are words that include or remove possible search results. The three Boolean operators are: AND OR NOT

AND Searches AND searches include results that have both search terms Example: tigers AND lions have results that are about both tigers and lions

OR Searches OR searches include results with either one or the other search term or both Example: tigers OR lions would include results that were either about lions or tigers or possibly both. You will find MORE results using an OR search.

Quotation Marks Another good way to narrow your results is to put quotation marks around your search phrase The results will be hits with that exact phrase Example: “tiger life expectancy”

Truncation and Wildcard If a word may occur in different forms, truncate in order to receive all the results (vot* will return searches containing vote, voter, votes, voting, and vote-getter) The wildcard symbol (?) replaces a single character in your search to allow for more results (typing ne?t will return searches containing neat, nest, or next)

Evaluating Websites

Why Evaluate Websites? Anyone can publish on the Web Many resources are not verified No editors Web often used to give a point of view Market orientated Mix of entertainment, information and advertising

Evaluate Websites Using the CRAAP test Currency Relevance Authority Accuracy Purpose

Currency The timeliness of the information. Is the information up-to-date? Is the date of publication available? Is there sufficient information on the topic? Are there broken links on the page?

Relevance The importance of the information for your needs Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question? Who is the intended audience? Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e. not too elementary or advanced for your needs)? Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is one you will use? Would you be comfortable using this source for a research paper?

Authority The source of the information. What are the author’s qualifications for writing this web page? Are the author’s name and credentials listed on the website? Is there contact information on the site? Does the URL reveal anything about the author or source?      examples: .com .edu .gov .org .net

Accuracy The reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content Can it be verified in an encyclopedia? Is it relevant to your topic? Does the author indicate where he found the information? Is the information free of spelling and grammatical errors?

Purpose The reason the information exists What is the purpose of the information? to inform? teach? sell? entertain? persuade? Do the authors/sponsors make their intentions or purpose clear? Is the information fact? opinion? Does the point of view appear objective and impartial? Are there political, cultural, religious, institutional, or personal biases?

Destiny http://destiny.bulloch.k12.ga.us WJMS online catalog allows you to look for books related to your topic and will give you reliable websites

Galileo www.galileo.usg.edu State funded list of reliable databases Password this quarter is rowdy Select the Teens tab for searches

Citations Make sure you keep track of websites you visit so you will be able to complete your bibliography If you use information from a site without giving proper credit to the author, you are plagiarizing

Online Bibliography Generator www.bibme.org

Saving to Network Folder Save your document to the desktop Click Start, Run Type \\homer\wjmsstudents\username Click OK and your folder will open Resize your window so you can see the document you saved on the desktop Click and drag your saved file from the desktop into your folder

Newspaper Generator www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp