Searching
Searching is when a student looks through a variety of sources in order to select appropriate information to answer questions, define words, and clarify misunderstandings.
1. Searching in the Digital Age
In today's classroom, knowledge and information can be found at the click of a button - but do students really know how to effectively use the internet and other search engines effectively? Here are a few tips to help students effectively search for information online.
2. Be Aware of Purpose
When searching for information, it is important to know and keep in mind what you intend to use the information for. Is your search intended to inform you about a topic for a scholarly paper or essay? Or, is it for general knowledge and clarification? Depending on the purpose, you may wish to change your search to include more reliable or scholarly information. Have students evaluate every source they find by asking, "what do I intend to do with this article or website or piece of information? When students can answer this question, they will be able to make a judgement about the source and whether or not it should be consulted or used. This skill will require modelling. You might wish to note that scholarly information is usually fact checked and approved before being published, while websites like Wikipedia are contributed to by the uncredentialed public. While sources like Wikipedia can help in initial searches for information, it is best to move beyond them when writing for academia.
In today's classroom, knowledge and information can be found at the click of a button - but do students really know how to effectively use the internet and other search engines effectively? Here are a few tips to help students effectively search for information online.
- Quotation Marks: use quotation marks when looking for an exact word or set of words. This is most useful when looking up lyrics to a song or poem, or a text from a specific time period.
- Dashes (-): use dashes to exclude information that you do not want.
- Example: Life of Pi -number
- Plus Operator (+): use plus operators to include additional information you want to know. This can lead to a more direct search.
- Example: Palm trees +Hawaii
2. Be Aware of Purpose
When searching for information, it is important to know and keep in mind what you intend to use the information for. Is your search intended to inform you about a topic for a scholarly paper or essay? Or, is it for general knowledge and clarification? Depending on the purpose, you may wish to change your search to include more reliable or scholarly information. Have students evaluate every source they find by asking, "what do I intend to do with this article or website or piece of information? When students can answer this question, they will be able to make a judgement about the source and whether or not it should be consulted or used. This skill will require modelling. You might wish to note that scholarly information is usually fact checked and approved before being published, while websites like Wikipedia are contributed to by the uncredentialed public. While sources like Wikipedia can help in initial searches for information, it is best to move beyond them when writing for academia.