Search

An important skill in trying to answer your research questions is to search for quality information. If you are using an online search engine, it is useful to understand how this works.




Video playlist – Navigating Digital Information (10 videos to help you figure out what is true or not…)

Need to know’s for searching:

Use Advanced Search to easily use the following tactics:

How to complete the Search Process task for your Inquiry.mp4

Try also these Five strategies:

1. Create a list of things that you already know about the topic. This helps students pick better keywords and helps them more quickly identify information that may not be relevant to their searches.

2. Develop of list of ways that other people might talk about your topic.

3. Search by file type. A lot of good information is hidden way inside of PDFs, Word files, KML files, PowerPoint, and spreadsheet files. Unfortunately, those file types generally don’t rank high in commercial search engines so students will need to search by file type to find those files.

4. Try a different search engine. Contrary to what a lot of students think, Google is not the only search engine. Your school library probably has a subscription to a database or two that students can search within and find resources that a Google search won’t find. Students can also try Google Scholar, Google Books, Bing, Choosito, or Yahoo.

5. Search within webpages and documents. This can provide clues that can help you form your next set of search terms. On a Mac use ⌘ + F, Chromebook use Ctrl + F. As they read through webpages and documents students should be taking note of things like how the author is describing a topic. Students can then use that description to help them form their next search queries.

Random – Try the Let me Google for that Website

Other resources