Online research and research skills

Online Search and Research
Skills
MALUNGON NATIONAL HIGH
SCHOOL
Live C. Angga

What are Search Engines
• What's your favourite search engine?
• For many of us, it is hard to imagine a
world without search engines.

• Search engines help you to identify
information online. With the help of
complex algorithms, they provide you with
a list of different sources from across the
web, chosen by the key words that you
have used. The resulting sources will be
ordered by the search engine based on
the key words from your ‘query’.

• Have your say:
• Explain why you use your chosen search
engine. What features do you like best
about it?
• Was there a search engine that you have
found as a result of this exercise that you
particularly like? What features of this
search engine do you find useful?

• GOOGLE SCHOLAR
• This Google service is free to use, and allows you to access millions of
academic journal articles online.
• GOOGLE BOOKS
• This Google service is free to use, and allows you to access millions of books
online.
• BING IMAGES
• Search for images across the web. One of the great features of the Bing image
search is that it also gives you information about which images can be re-used
in your own work, or online.
• EUROPEANA COLLECTIONS
• Use Europeana Collections to discover thousands of cultural artworks,
artefacts, books, videos and sounds from across museums and galleries in
Europe.
• WORLDCAT
• WorldCat offers a great worldwide service allowing you to search for
information in more than 10,000 libraries worldwide.
• REFSEEK
• Refseek is a new service aiming to filter out general information from your web
searches, and prioritise academic sources.

Understanding how to search
• Search engines are powerful tools, and
often a simple keyword search is all that is
required to get the results you need.

• Sometimes your search may not return
relevant results, or you might have to scan
through pages of results to find something
useful. There are a number of options to
help you limit the responses to those most
relevant to your search.

• We will consider some of the more
advanced options in the next step but
firstly it is important to understand how to
ask the right questions of your search
engine, to make your search as effective
as it can be.

• Search engines and databases use ‘operators’
(AND, OR and NOT) to allow you to combine
search terms in different combinations.
• You may have seen these operators before as
buttons or drop-down menus, especially in
databases. These ‘operators’ are extremely
powerful and using different combinations of
them drastically change the results that are
generated.

• Drawing on a topic that we will research
later this week let’s take a look at some
examples of how they work:

AND
• AND reduces the number of results you retrieve and is
usually used to combine different concepts to make your
results more relevant. For example, when only wanting
information about the Shakespearean play ‘Richard III’.
• The shaded area in the middle represents what will be
searched for when you combine two separate searches
for Richard III AND Shakespeare. This search will only
return sources where both Richard III and Shakespeare
are referenced.

OR • OR increases the number of results you retrieve and is
usually used to combine synonyms to make your results
more comprehensive. For example, when wanting
information about Richard III and the War of the Roses.
• The shaded area inside both of these circles represents
what will be searched for when you combine two
separate searches for Richard III OR War of the Roses.
This search will return all sources for Richard III and all
sources for War of the Roses, including those instances
where a source references both searches.

N
O
T
NOT reduces the number of results you retrieve by excluding a
search term. It should be used with caution in case you
inadvertently exclude relevant references. For example, you may
use this search when wanting information about Richard III but
specifically not wanting information relating to the
Shakespearean play ‘Richard III’.
The shaded area represents what will be searched for when you
search for Richard III NOT Shakespeare. This search will return
all sources relating to Richard III except those that also reference
Shakespeare.
You may find that the search engine you use prefers a hyphen ( ) to‑
be used in place of the ‘NOT’ operator. For example, ‘Richard III
-Shakespeare’.

Have a go:
Many search engines will automatically use these
‘operators’ for you, but it is important to
understand how they work. Enter your searches
using the operators to see how it affects the
results.
Firstly recreate the searches illustrated in this step.
Try the same searches across a few search
engines to see how this changes your results
too.
Share your findings with your fellow learners.
Since MNHS has no internet connections, then
the output could be the possible querries
entered in your search engine.

Objectives
1. To be able to identify feasible topic ideal
for further study/research
2. To write possible querries as a result of
using advance searching in the search
engine

Advanced searching
Most search engines provide a range of advanced search
options.
These advanced options allow you to create more targeted
searches, helping you to find the most relevant
information quickly. Here are just some of the more
frequently used options.
Site search
You can restrict your search to within a specific website.
You can do this directly from the search bar by typing
site:yourwebsite.com or via the “site or domain” option
on the advanced search page.

Exact phrase search
• You can restrict your search results to the
precise phrase that you enter. You can do
this directly from the search bar by putting
your search terms in quotation marks or
via the “this exact word or phrase” option
on the advanced search page.

Date restrictions
• You can limit your search results to pages
published or updated within a specific
time-frame. You can do this by typing the
years you want separated by “..”, or in
Google from the “search tools” option
directly beneath the search bar; then click
“any time” -> “custom range”.

FILE TYPE
• You can limit your search to results of a
specific file type. You can do this directly
from the search bar by typing (for
example) filetype:pdf, or via the “file type”
option on the advanced search page.

Wildcard characters
• Wildcard characters can also prove useful
- you can use the asterisk to search for
words which begin with the same letters.
• Truncation - econ* will find results with
economy, economic, economical,
economies.

The question mark wildcard is often used to
search for alternative spellings.
urbani?ation will find results which have
either spelling – i.e.urbanization or
urbanisation.

Have a go:
Try the examples in this step using your chosen
search engine, or one that you have recently
discovered. Either type the search query into the
search box or use the advanced search page.
We have provided a handy reference sheet for the
options included in this step. There is also a
document detailing how to make the most of
your keyword search, available in the
Downloads section below.

Objectives
1. Identify experts in the locality
2. Familiarize the necessary requirements in
identifying the source

Pretest
In your group, select a number ( given by Sir
Live). This is a fast forward quiz and will
be scored.
Each question has a corresponding point.
Write the letter of your answer.

25
Trial
Q: What will you do when you like to research but
there is no internet available?
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
109876543210
ANSWER IS: B
C
A. Use the chat group
B. Go to the library
C. Ask a friend
D. Ask your teacher

26
Q1. Worth 2 points.
Q: What is referred when an expert is consulted?
109876543210
ANSWER IS: C
C
A. Relevance
B. Timeliness
C. Authority
D. Validity

27
Q2. Worth 4 points.
Q: Which is a good source of knowledge ?
109876543210
ANSWER IS: C
C
A. Experts opinion
B. Experiences and senses
C. Reasoning
D. Researching

28
Q3. Worth 6 points.
Q: In the question, "Has their work been cited by
others ?" is a question needs to be answered to build
___.
109876543210
ANSWER IS: C
C
A. Authority
B. Relevance
C. Timeliness
D. Accuracy

8 minute- activity
In this exercise you’ll consider the power of
sharing your research with other learners.
SOURCES OF
KNOWLEDGE
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Senses and
Experiences
Experts Opinion
Reasoning
Researching

Analysis
• 1. How did you find the activity?
• 2. What difficulties have you encountered?
• 3. How did you solve the difficulty?
• 4. What conclusion can you make?
• 5. How did you search for an answer of
the activity?

Using multiple sources
Researching online is more than just reading an
article.
Abstraction:

• Having watched the video,
• : create a richer foundation of knowledge than simply
using a single source of information.
• No Internet?
• A book found in a library that has not been digitised
• combine information from different sources, both online
and offline
– independent
– critical thinker
– good researcher
• How to have a successful academic essay?

Let the experts say:
• 1. Have a think about all the ways in which you
use the internet. Do you already research
through using information from several online
sources? What situations do you do this for?
• 2. Why do you think it is important to research in
this way?
• Share your ideas with your fellow learners orally.

• Opportunities:
You can access government websites, broadcasts,
YouTube videos, online newspapers and journals, blogs,
TEDTalks, industry reports, industry campaign groups;
the list goes on.
• MSHS Blog: www.liveangga.wix.malungonshs
• Group Chat: Can be a source for experts
• Challenges:
• :will give you very different answers to your questions
• Yes!
• help you to see different points of view, and come to
your own decisions regarding the questions you have
posed
• build up a picture of the topic from different angles.

Have your say:
Are there any sources that you use that haven’t
been illustrated or mentioned in this step?
Using multiple sources in this way is a great way to
build your confidence as a researcher.
In the next step you have the opportunity to have a
go.

Let's
investigate.
• Title:
Malungon: A Preview on
Diabetes
1. Is the site will give
you a confident
informations? why?
2. How do you know
that this site is valid?

Authority
• How do you know if the information you find by
searching the internet is valid?
• Much of the information: placed without
verification.
• The authors of the different sources may well
have copied or adapted information from each
other.

Authority
Let’s start by considering authority.
1. Who is the author?
Questions to answer:
a. Are they an expert?
b. Have they produced other material on the subject?
c. Has their work been cited by others?
d. What organisation do they work for?
e. Do they have controversial views on a particular subject?

Accuracy
Use:
reputable sources;
Examples: websites, journals and other sources written by
organisations or individuals who are respected within
their discipline.
feel confident using information:
authority,
objectivity and
relevance

Have your say:
Give an example of a website that you
consider to be reputable. Why do you trust
the information provided on this site?

Timeliness
• The date when information is produced or
published can be an important aspect of
quality.
• This exercise will help you to decide
whether a source needs to be up to date
in order to be of use.

Which of the following need to be up to date in order to be
valid for research purposes:
Choose as many as you like

In some cases it is difficult to ascertain the true
‘age’ of information:
Problems to address:
1. No publication date
2. No indication of when the information was updated
3. The date of the publication may not reflect the date the
information was produced, (it can take time for research
to be reviewed before it is published)
When evaluating the timeliness of information consider:
1. Is it clear when the information was produced?
2. Does the date of the information meet your
requirements?
3. Is it obsolete (has it been superseded)?

Have your say:
• In many cases it is important that the
information you use is up to date, but on
occasion you may specifically require
historical information.
• Share your experiences of searching for
information from a specific time period;
where did you search and was your
search successful?

Relevance
• It’s important to confirm that the resource
you have selected is relevant to your
needs before you invest valuable time
reading it in detail.
• Even if the information you find is of top
academic quality, it does not mean that it
is relevant or appropriate for your
research.

• Take some time to skim read the information
considering the following:
• Is the information at the appropriate level of
depth for your needs?
• Is the emphasis of the topic appropriate for your
needs?
• Does it relate to areas that you are interested in?
• Is it relevant in terms of geographical location
(does it relate to countries/areas you are
interested in)?

Have your say:
You can waste precious time reading
irrelevant texts; share your tips for
ensuring that the information you select to
read is relevant to your research.

Selecting what to read
• As you have seen in the previous steps, when
you search the internet there will be some
information that can clearly be discounted.
• However, you may still be left with a large
number of possible sources to investigate. It is
unlikely that you will have time to read all the
relevant texts that you find about a topic, so
you’ll often need to make choices and be
selective about what you read in-depth.

Think about:
• Quality and not quantity
• Choosing reliable, up-to-date sources
• Starting with a text that can give you an
overview of a subject which is new to you.
• In the next exercise you will consider four
different texts and select what to read in a
number of different circumstances. The example
uses possible texts with information about the
topic: “Is sugar bad for human health?” Click on
the image or the link to assess this exercise.

Introducing critical thinking
• In this video, staff and students from the University of
Leeds talk about the importance of critical thinking as
part of the research process.
• Once you have evaluated and selected which resources
to use in your research, you now need to ask critical
questions of these information sources. This will allow
you to fully utilise the information you have found, and
provide context to your research so that you can draw
your own conclusions.
• You will learn more about critical thinking in the following
steps.

Objectivity
As a researcher, you need to be able to think
critically about the resources and information
you use in your work.
You need to ask the right questions when reading
the work of others; you need the ability to weigh
up different arguments and perspectives and
use evidence to help you form your own
opinions, theories and ideas. Critical thinking is
about questioning and learning with an open
mind.

Ideally all information should present a balanced view and
be objective; realistically some information comes from a
particular point of interest, even if it is unintentional. It is
important to consider why the information has been
produced; is it to sell, persuade, inform or entertain?
What is the primary purpose?
Is it attempting to sell or persuade?
Does this affect the way the information is presented?
Has it been commissioned on behalf of an organisation?
If so, does this affect the objectivity of the information?
Are the author’s own assumptions apparent?

Have your say:
Provide an example of some information
that is biased. What made you decide that
the information is not objective?

Evidence
• As you have seen, it can be difficult to make decisions about the
quality of the information you find.
• Another factor to consider is the evidence that the author has
provided. Academic work is usually based on evidence, whether on
personal research or from published sources of information.
• The evidence supports the information that the author is putting
forward in their work and shows that it is based on accurate theories
rather than hypotheses or assumptions.
• In this exercise you are asked to consider the two extracts and
decide which you would be more likely to trust. Click on the link or
the image to access this exercise.

Consider the following two extracts and
decide which you would be more likely to
trust.
• Extract A
• Many more people prefer to shop online than go into
cities. An increase in internet shopping has been seen
over the last few years with the improved security
measures put in place on many web sites.
• One interviewee mentioned that she “did not enjoy the
hustle and bustle of people fighting around each other in
shops” and would much rather “sit in the comfort of [her]
home” to do the shopping.

Extract B
Several research projects (Hool, 2003; Ruby
and Cartell, 2001; Frank, 2000) suggest
there is a direct correlation between age
and online shopping. Ruby and Cartell
stated that 63% of young adults surveyed
between the age of 18 and 30 enjoyed
shopping online, while only 18% of adults
over 50 enjoyed this activity

• Which source are you more likely to
trust?
• A. Extract A
• B. Extract B

Supporting evidence can be:
• References to documents that support the
author’s arguments (look for bibliographies and
footnotes)
• Links in online information to sources of
supporting evidence (e.g. other websites,
electronic articles)
• Results from a research project that support the
argument that the author makes (data or
diagrams)

Have your say:
• Last week you carried out some research
based on Richard III. How did you decide
whether the information you found was
correct? Did you take it at face value or
did you verify its credibility by asking the
questions posed this week?

An information journey
• This week you have explored a number of ways
in which you can assess, evaluate and critically
analyse resources.
• In this exercise you can put these skills into
practice by finding a number of suitable sources
that provide information about a topic over time.
This will help you to develop your researching
skills and help you to consider how the
understanding of a topic can develop.

Have a go:
Your task is to spend some time researching
a topic of your choice and create a
timeline

Assess your understanding
Which of the following search criteria would be the best to
use if you wanted to find information about Jupiter
published on NASA’s website between 2000 and 2006?
A. jupiter 2000-2006 nasa
B. jupiter 2000..2006 site:nasa.gov
C. jupiter 2000..2006 site:nasa
D. “2000-2006” jupiter NASA

3.
• Which of these sites would be best to use if you wanted
to find cultural artefacts?
•
• A. Europeana Collections
• B. Bing images
• C. WorldCat
• D. Refseek

4
• Which of these questions might you ask to
establish the objectivity of a source?
• A. Has the information gone through an editing
process?
•
• B. What is the author’s primary purpose?
• C. Is the information provided up to date?

5
• When selecting a source it is important to ensure
that:
• A. The information is completely up to date
• B. The information is written by a top academic
• C. The information is produced by a reputable
organisation or individual

• that is correct. The best way to ensure that
the information you find is accurate is to
only use reputable sources. For example,
use websites, journals and other sources
written by organisations or individuals who
are known to you and respected within
their discipline.

6
• Which of the following are good pieces of advice when
selecting what to read? Select all that apply:
A. Read as much as you can
B. Don’t read any texts that don’t come from academic
sources
•
C. Choose sources written by experts in the area
•
D. Start by reading a text that will give you an overview of
the topic

• It is important to remember that using a
variety of different sources will help
provide rich context for your work, but you
must make sure you are selective: quality
over quantity is the key!

End!
References:
Futurelearn.com
Live C. Angga
University of Leeds United Kingdom
UL professors and students

Online research and research skills

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