Effective search techniques Powerpoints can be found at: arts.kmutt.ac.th/call/Workshop_Doc.htm Richard Watson Todd ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

General Internet searches Search engines Using Google (www.google.com) Directories for general information Using Wikipedia ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Click here if you want everything in English ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Choosing keywords for searches Situation: You are writing an article about teaching, where you want to find information about what sorts of principles should govern how teachers give feedback in the classroom. What keywords will you use? ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Keywords or key phrases? What’s the difference between typing: giving feedback AND “giving feedback” ? ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

23,900,000 hits Giving feedback ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

183,000 hits “giving feedback” ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Adding more keywords giving feedback “giving feedback” “giving feedback” classroom “giving feedback” classroom “English language teaching” “giving feedback” classroom guidelines English “giving feedback” teacher guidelines English “how to give feedback” teacher guidelines English “how to give feedback” teacher English 24 million hits: only first relevant 183,000 hits: same 33,100 hits: few relevant 250 hits: most about teacher training courses 7,720 hits: few relevant pages 9,950 hits: some relevant pages 145 hits: 2 relevant pages 393 hits: several relevant ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Principles for choosing keywords Where set phrases are generally accepted, use them If you get too many returns, add more keywords Play with different ways of expressing the same concept ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Advanced searching If you get too many hits, restrict your search using Advanced Search If you get too many hits focusing on one irrelevant topic, restrict your search by deleting that irrelevant topic ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Advanced search situation 1 You want to know what the biggest dog in the world is. You enter the key phrase: “biggest dog in the world” ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Without Digby ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Advanced search situation 2 You want to go to England to study a course at a university in digital marketing You enter the keywords “digital marketing” university England ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Domain = ac.uk ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Alternative to Google If you can’t find the information you want from Google (even using different keywords), try another search engine Use www.alltheweb.com Use the Advanced search ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

©2006 Richard Watson Todd

©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Dealing with results 1 Don’t automatically click on the first result Read through the summaries Look at the URLs (especially domains) You may need to look through the first 3 or 4 pages of results ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Dealing with results 2 When you have lots of possible relevant websites, use the right mouse button to “Open in new window” Keep an eye on the taskbar at the bottom of the screen (or the tabs at the top of the screen) Work through the pages you have selected after finishing with Google ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

An example of dealing with results You want to find 10 examples of funny headlines to put in the lifts (or to give to Ajarn Harvey to put in the lifts) You search for: “amusing headlines” ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Searching for pictures Using Google, choose ‘Images’ Use the same searching strategies as when searching for information With results, left-clicking allows you to see the picture more clearly (you can then right-click to save) Right-clicking allows you to save a thumbnail ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Click here to search for pictures ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Notice that ‘Images’ is now in bold ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Some differences here ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Searching for “King Mongkut” ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Right-click and look for “Save Picture as” Note: this saves a thumbnail only ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Click here to see the original page What you see if you left-click on a picture Right-click on the picture to save the full picture ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Finding background information For a topic where you would like to gain a general overview, searching can produce results that are too specific Use an alternative, such as Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Enter your search term here ©2006 Richard Watson Todd

©2006 Richard Watson Todd

©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Task Think of some piece of information you would like to know (don’t make it too straightforward) Will you use a search engine or a directory? What keywords/phrases will you use? Will you use advanced searching? How will you deal with the results? TRY IT! ©2006 Richard Watson Todd