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Research Skills for Successful Assignments

Searching online

Online search 

After you have identified your keywords you can use them for searching on the internet and in library databases.

If you use the advanced search facility it will help you to structure your search.

Combining search terms (Boolean searching)

The most precise method of searching is to combine terms by searching for two or more words (keywords, title words or authors).

—Combine your search terms using AND, OR, NOT

Use AND between terms to specify that both terms must be found,
e.g. sea AND river

Use OR between terms to specify that either term can be found,
e.g. building OR construction
Or search image

Use NOT to exclude a term from your search,
e.g. football NOT rugby
 NOT search

Some search engines do not support Boolean searching but you can use + or – instead. 

If you want to make sure that a search engine finds pages that include all the words (including common link words such as for, and etc.) you enter put a  + symbol in front of the word.  

If you want to exclude pages that have a specific word, put a – symbol in front of the word.

Phrase searching

Phrase searching can often lead to better results because this will find pages where the words appear together.

Use phrase searching by putting quotation marks around words you want to find together.

e.g. "learning styles"

Truncation 

This allows you to search on variations of your search terms allowing for things like plurals of words. You need to enter the stem of the word you are looking for then add a symbol (usually *) and you can then search on all the words starting with those letters. The symbol for truncation can vary but is usually * or $.

Examples:  

electronic* will search for electronics or electronic

electr* will search for electrical, electronic, electrician and all other words with this stem

child* will search for children, child's,  childhood etc.

Do be aware that different search engines use different methods of combining words in a search string.

Library online resources

The college library has subscriptions to a wide range of online collections of ebooks, journal databases and targeted resources to support college courses. You can apply these search techniques to these resources to find high quality information for your college work. You can easily structure your search using keywords and limiters. They all have online help sections to assist you in getting the best results for your research.

You can access these resources here

Library online resources

Using Google

https://youtu.be/Sz44hZxxtwc

Google Advanced search

You can also use Google Scholar. This searches the internet for academic articles. Most of these articles are in online databases that ask for payment but a significant amount are freely available.

Keeping on track

  • Always keep your question in mind when you are reading and taking notes.
  • Keep a record of your searches.
  • Keep referring back to the question - but don't worry if it changes as you continue to research.
  • Change your search terms as your research progresses - review and reassess.
  • If you are doing a substantial research project don't let yourself become overwhelmed by the “big” question. Try breaking it down into smaller questions to help you handle the volume of material.
  • You may be asked to reflect on your approach to the assignment.

Evaluating your resources           

It is important that you find reliable high quality information for your assignments. Go to the next section to find out about this. Use the arrow on the right.

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