1. Samuel A. Eyitayo
Director, Whitney M. Young Jr. American Center,
Public Affairs Section, U.S. Consulate General, Lagos.
Researching
Online
YOUR TOPIC
Tips
Tool
s
Tric
ks
for High Impact Results
3. What is Research?
and study of materials
and
sources
to establish facts and
reach
new conclusions
systematic
investigation Synonyms of
Investigation
- Exploratio
n
- Study
- Search
- Inquiry
http://www.wikipedia.org/
5. Tuesday, July 02, 2019
LEGITIMATE ONLINE RESEARCH
…involves much more than 10 seconds
with Google and copy-pasting the links
… is also called RE-SEARCH for a reason:
� patient repetition,
� careful filtering, and
� diligent citing of articles,
Do all with a critical and skeptical mindset
that separates drivel from useful content.”
Source: http://netforbeginners.about.com/
What is Online Research?
6. Things to Note While
Using Internet for Research
The fastest and the best
Ease of use: Unpopular sources are not
always found on the ‘surface’.
If it is online, then it is authoritative.
Beware of Fraudsters, unintended ‘experts’,
etc
Assumptions:
7. Things to Note While
Using Internet for Research
Internet is the largest pool of resources
ever available to man.
NOT all free resources are suitable for
research.
Learn to Bookmark important websites for
future use. Use Google keep:
http://keep.google.com
Facts:
8. Select Your Keywords:
Basic Steps of Searching Online
Choose
keywords that
best describe the
concepts
Are there any
related terms?
1
10. Basic Steps of Searching Online
Keywords:
Find the keywords for this query:
Sustainable development in Nigeria
Example
- “Sustainable development”
- Nigeria
11. Basic Steps of Searching Online
“Human Rights”
“Knowledge
Management”
“ArT ExhiBItion”
"human development
capital"
“capacity
development”
"endoscopic
ultrasound"
"acquired
immunodeficiency
syndrome"
More Examples:
12. Select Your Source(s) Creatively:
Basic Steps of Searching Online
Open web:
Search
Engines –
which one?
Commercial
databases e.g
. eLibraryUSA
2
13. Combine Your Keywords:
Basic Steps of Searching Online:
AN
D
Narrows your Search
e.g. Bolt AND Nuts SPACE
OR
Expand your Search
e.g. labour OR labor OR
NO
T
Exclude words
e.g. Nigeria NOT Football -
3
GOOGLE
14. Basic Steps of Searching Online:
“web design” (tutorials OR tips)
(site:edu OR site:org)
(filetype:pdf OR filetype:doc)
PLEASE NOTE:
- Organize complex search statements using (…).
- Refine your query: It's rare to get good results on the first try.
Example
16. Check the URL!
Each Web page has a unique address called Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
●Common top-level domains (TLDs) in the United
States:
• com commercial enterprise
• edu educational institution
• gov Government entity
• org Non-Governmental Organization e.g. UN,
ECOWAS…
●Country domain codes
• uk United Kingdom
• ng Nigeria
17. In summary, always Check for …
●AUTHORITY:
▪ Who wrote the article or owner of the material?
▪ Check the Domain name .gov, .edu, .org vs .com
▪ Commercialization: Are they trying to sell something?
However, .com is authoritative when you are looking for
information on products.
●CURRENCY:
▪ When last was the page updated?
▪ This helps to determine whether it is still relevant for your
use.
▪ Example: What do you think of a Malaria research data
18. In summary, always Check for …
● ACCURACY:
▪ Is the information reliable and error-free?
▪ Is there a way you can cross-check those facts i.e. e-mail of
the author?
▪ Though, this is very hard to determine. All the same, check. It
may be a Term paper written by a Secondary school student.
● OBJECTIVITY:
▪ What is the mission statement?
▪ What is the website set to achieve?
● COVERAGE:
▪ Are there links to other useful sources?
20. Basic Google Search Operators
For these operators, do not add any space between the operator and your search terms.
SYMBOL HOW TO USE IT
+
Search for certain letters often ignored
Example: queen elizabeth +II
@ Find social tags Example: @seyitayo
# Find popular hashtags Example: #agoa
-
Exclude site(s) or word(s) from your results
Example: nigeria –football -site:wikipedia.org
*
Use an asterisk as a placeholder for unknown word(s).
Example: “Enouch * Adeboye"
..
Use two dots .. for range search
Example: “top 5..500 tips”
21. Other Basic Search Operators
OPERATOR HOW TO USE IT
site:
Search using domains.
Example: olympics site:gov
related:
Find similar sites to a web address you already know.
Example: related:google.com
filetype:
Find pages by filetypes.
Example: filetype:pdf google tutorial
info:
Get information about a website.
Example: info:google.com
inurl:
allinurl:
Find pages by URL
Example: inurl:etd brings thesis and dissertations
intitle:
allintitle:
Find page using title e.g. intitle:”journalism is great”
For these operators, do not add any space between the operator and your search terms.
22. Search Operators on Bing.com
●site: Returns web pages from the specified site. For
more than one domain, use OR Example:
site:ui.edu.ng Scholarship.
●Site/domain: Search only specific domain, such as
.edu, .gov, .org. Example: site/.edu
●url: Answers the question: Is this URL in the Bing index.
Example: url:un.org
●Prefer: Adds emphasis to a search term.
Example: football prefer:history
Tuesday, July 02, 2019
23. Search Operators on Bing.com
● ext: Returns only sites with the filename extension
Example: ext:html
● Contains: Returns sites that have links to the file type.
Example: peace contains:gif
● Filetype: Returns only sites created in the file type.
Example: filetype:doc
● Intitle: returns sites with terms in titles only.
Example intitle:”human rights”
● inbody: return sites with terms in the body of the page.
Example inbody:alaafin
42. Best use of Google Scholar
▪ Google Scholar is the place
for searching peer-reviewed
articles… with special tools
such as my Library, my
Citation
▪ Use filetype:pdf for full text
▪ Create Email Alert for
subject of interest
46. Thesis and Dissertations:
GOOGLE SEARCH KEYWORDS
PHD: "doctor of philosophy“
MASTERS: masters degree
COMMON TO ALL: "in partial fulfillment"
GOOGLE SEARCH KEYWORDS NOT REQUIRED
Sample (i.e. -sample)
Handbook (i.e. -handbook)
FILE FORMATS
pdf (filetype:pdf)
doc (filetype:doc)
Keywords Hunt
47. Example of Google Search
"in partial fulfillment" (filetype:pdf
OR filetype:doc) -sample -handbook
48. General Theses Search
THESIS:
"in partial fulfillment" (filetype:pdf OR filetype:doc) –sample
-handbook
PHD THESIS ONLY:
"in partial fulfillment" (filetype:pdf OR filetype:doc) -sample
-handbook "doctor of philosophy“
MASTERS THESIS ONLY:
"in partial fulfillment" (filetype:pdf OR filetype:doc) –sample
-handbook masters degree
49. Example of Google Search
49
"knowledge management" "in partial fulfillment" (filetype:pdf OR
filetype:doc) -sample -handbook "doctor of philosophy"
50. Specific Subject Search
SUBJECT: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
"knowledge management" "in partial fulfillment"
(filetype:pdf OR filetype:doc) –sample -handbook
PHD
"knowledge management" "in partial fulfillment" (filetype:pdf
OR filetype:doc) -sample -handbook "doctor of
philosophy"
MASTERS DEGREE
"knowledge management" "in partial fulfillment" (filetype:pdf
OR filetype:doc) –sample -handbook masters degree
52. Getting more from Google:
● allintitle:"5..1000 tips" admission
● "top 5..1000" "(science OR math OR physics OR
Education) apps”
● "top 5..1000" mistakes teaching
● "top 5..1000 best" resume
● "top 5..1000" websites
● "top 5..1000" graduate career
● "top 5..1000" productivity
● 2018 ranking "top OR best * universities"
Search for Lists
53. Help on Google
●How to search on Google: http://goo.gl/ipO1bx
●Google Search Help with videos: http://goo.gl/NNCY5I
●Google Search Symbol, Punctuations and Operators
http://goo.gl/ImjHF9
●Google Applied Digital Skills
http://g.co/applieddigitalskills
56. News Monitoring Tools
●Use any of the following dashboards or RSS Readers:
▪ Feedly.com (Desktop, App)
▪ FeedReader.com (Desktop)
▪ Netvibes.com (Desktop)
●Get more using related:[website]
61. Documents/Publications
● Download free eBooks at Bookboon.com http://bookboon.com/
Bookboon.com provides 1000+ free eBooks. You can download textbooks
and business books in PDF format without registration. The books are
financed by a few in-book ads.
63. URL SHORTENER:
✔Create a tiny URL for long links
that are too long to be included
in the emails or
elsewhere. tinyurl.com
✔Free with alias: e.g.
http://tinyurl.com/ircregistration
✔Alternatives:
�Bit.ly
�Tiny.cc
�Is.gd
64. Others
● Zamzar: http://www.zamzar.com/
Free conversion between document, image, music, video,
audio, eBook, compressed and CAD formats. No download or
account required.
● Google Calendar https://calendar.google.com
● Google Drive: https://drive.google.com – Store any file and
access your stuff anywhere. Create Document, Sheet, Form,
Drawing, …
● Hootsuite.com – Social media dashboard
● Use unfurlr.com to check “what's behind that short link?
Alternatives: urlxray.com, longurl.org
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