Step 1: Analyse the topic to choose appropriate keywords
Step 2: Do an initial search
Step 3: Evaluate your results
Step 4: Refine and/or reformulate search if necessary.
We will work through Steps 1 and 2 using Google Web Search Engine in this module. Steps 3 and 4 will be covered in the next two modules.
Why Google?
Though there are many other search engines, Google is the most popular one. It is simple and easy to use and usually gives good results for most information queries.
Analyse your topic
As with any search query you have to analyse it first to know the exact information you need:- Identify the concepts of your query
- Decide on which terms or keywords would describe the concepts, including synonyms and related terms
- Look at the relationship between the concepts - do you want the search to include all of the concepts or exclude some?
It is important to spend time analysing your topic as it is key to finding relevant information successfully.
A concept map may be helpful with this process - information in the following links explains further.
- How to develop a concept map
- Tips on selecting keywords
- Boolean operators define the relationship between keywords . The Boolean machine demonstrates how it works.
Let's demonstrate this process with an example:
A student has to do a five minute presentation which includes a PowerPoint slide show. She is looking for a list of children's books that were controversial when they first were published. She doesn't want to use the example of "Where the wild things are" or Dr Seuss' books as many of the other students in her class are using those examples.
The following concept map of this query shows how you can go about deciding on possible keywords to use for your search.
Further considerations:
- Instead of using the term children's books, I used children's literature, the broader term, because she is a university student and I would expect a more scholarly type of document using the term literature.
- Though there are a few synonyms and related terms for controversial (including the variation controversy), I would expect most documents to use the term controversial. So for the first attempt I used the keyword controversial.
- The same with the keyword history.
- At this stage I didn't use the keyword list as it will be easy to identify documents that discuss various controversial children's books or those that discuss only a particular book.
- I didn't exclude the keyword or phrase "where the wild things are" and "Seuss" as those are most likely to occur in any document discussing controversial children's books. Excluding them would then exclude many relevant documents from the results.
- children's literature
- controversial
- history
Do an initial search
We will search using Google as the student wants to first compile a list of controversial children's books so she can decide which book to use in her class discussion. Later she will look for more scholarly and indepth information.- Right click on Google (open up in a new window / tab)
- Note Google's specialist search engines and other services along the top. - In search box enter keywords - children's literature, controversial, history
- Click on the Google Search button or press enter. (I'm feeling lucky button will take you straight to the first search result.)
?? Did you see ??
... Suggested keywords as you were typing your keywords? Google calls it Query suggestions. If you see a combination of keywords (search string) suited to your search query - click on them or use the down arrows to select.
... Choice between searching the web or just pages from New Zealand? You could restrict your search to pages from New Zealand if you only want to use New Zealand sources - but you will exclude other sources on information about New Zealand.
Note: Google is not case sensitive, except when using Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT), which should be in upper case.
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DISCOVERY EXERCISES
Exercise 1:
Now you have an understanding of the process, let's practice developing a list of keywords and doing an search.
- Choose any two questions from the graded lists below
- Analyse your query - using a concept map to develop a list of keywords
- Do the initial search
Note: We will evaluate the results (Steps 3 and 4) in the next two modules
Easier:
- I need to make a poster about a NZ place - can you help me find out what the Moeraki boulders are made of?
- School project - choose a planet and find out how far it is from the earth. (Student chose to look at Saturn).
- A Year 8 student needs to find out about the life cycle of an otter.
- A mother wants information on Marfan syndrome in children - symptoms, diagnosis, management.
- An adult is looking for information on Natural health for animals. She has a pet with chronic health problems and is interested in finding out more about therapies, diet and New Zealand organisations that provide natural remedies. Also looking for recipes for 'home remedies'.
More challenging:
- What are the effects of global trade on the poverty level of developing countries?
- How is genetic engineering being used to treat medical conditions, such as diseases and genetic disorders?
- A high school student needs some background information and details on New Zealand's involvement in the Korean War.
- A year 12 student is doing an assignment on naval battles of the Second World War. He is focusing in particularly on the 'Battle of the River Plate' - including maps and especially in the New Zealand ship HMS Achilles. He wants some facts in general, including a timeline.
- A year 5 student (10 years old) needs to write a speech for a speech contest. She wants information on how to write a speech.
Exercise 2:
Sometimes you don't need to work out keywords for your search because it is likely the phrase will occur on the webpage as is. For example - a question like Why do babies need so much sleep?
Do this search and look at the results - can you see that there are many sites where the exact question occurs?
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Now you are ready to move on to Module 3 where you will learn how to evaluate the search results.
Updated: September 2010
