Research process & search strategies

1. Research process & search strategies CO100 Finding Information Class 2 (Week 3)

2. What is research ? “Diligent and systematic enquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover facts or principles” (The Macquarie Dictionary) Students conduct research to gain a deeper understanding of their chosen discipline.

3. The Research Process Decide Find Use Evaluate Record Present

4. 1. Decide What am I expected to do/produce? What do I know already? What questions do I need to answer? What do I need to find out? Concept maps may be useful at this and the following stages.

5. 2. Find What sort of information do I need? Where do I find this information? Should I use catalogues, indexes, directories, databases, statistical data, reports, design a questionnaire, interview people, etc.?

6. 3. Use What do the resources tell me? Do I have the skills to extract and use the information?

7. 4. Evaluate Have I found enough information? Have I found the correct information? Is the information relevant Is it current? Are my sources reliable (e.g. peer-reviewed academic journals)? Is bias evident in the material?

8. 5. Record What do I need to make a note of? Remember to record bibliographic information which will be needed to create correct references for each source Can I make effective notes? Paraphrase / summarise Limit the use of direct quotes How will I organise my notes? What system can you use to easily find and access information?

9. 6. Present How am I going to pull this information together and communicate / present it effectively?

10. DECIDE: develop search strategy Find focus – understand what you need to do Carefully read the question or topic of your assignment You may need to consult some background material such as encyclopedias

11. Concept Maps Concept maps = mind maps Useful tool in planning research Visual representation of concepts and relationships between them Very useful format for planning and generating ideas Also, good learning and teaching tool

12. Concept maps Usually three basic elements: A list of concepts Lines that represent the relational links between the concepts Labels for those links

13. Concept map - advantages Helps you to organise key ideas/knowledge you already have and see existing links between concepts Allows you to find new connections between concepts – you see information in different ways Information can be viewed on a single page (good framework for recalling and reviewing information) Allows you to create, to discover and to think differently.

14. Research process concept map Catalogue Books Question Statistics Newspapers Abstracts Reference Collections Resources Reports Keywords E.g. Scopus e.g. Encyclopedia Dictionary, Thesaurus (print or electronic) Conference papers Online databases People Websites Journal articles Full Text Search engines Subject directories Synonyms Subject headings Descriptors e.g.Ebsco

15. Drawing a concept map Free-hand maps: Good for brainstorming, organising information at the initial stage Computer-generated designs: Legible to the audience Inspiration: available on campus computers. See C:\Program Files\Inspiration7or Inspiration8IE Webspiration : http://myWebspiration.com Good for sharing work with others, Accessible from home. Free but you will be asked to create an account.

16. Understand the question Understanding the question will help you to design your search strategy. Questions usually contain 2 elements: Operative (directive) words – tell us what form the response should take; they are not used in your search. These words are not used as search criteria. Concepts/Keywords – tell us what topic the response should focus on; you will use these when searching for information.

17. Examples* of operative words LIST DEFINE DESCRIBE IDENTIFY SHOW EXAMINE Do not include operative words in your searches. * See also Operative Words handout in Blackboard

18. Using keywords Typing your essay question verbatim into a catalogue or a database is unlikely to give you the result you want. To correctly design your search strategy you need to first identify the main concepts / keywords in your question.

19. Concepts / keywords Identify the key concepts in your topic Refer to a dictionary if you are not sure about the meaning of a word Using natural language in your search may give you very narrow results Consider using “controlled vocabulary” – thesauri / list of subject headings available in some databases, e.g. MESH (Medical Subject Headings) used in Medline Example: Breast cancer = breast neoplasms

20. Alternative terms / “-nyms” • Think about synonyms: mobile phones -- cellular phones – cell phones men -- males • Plural forms: women -- woman • Spelling variations: behaviour -- behavior • Variations of a root word: feminism / feminist / feminine • Acronyms: CEO – chief executive officer

21. Informal language Expand your search results by finding formal alternatives to informal terms. Examples: cars: automobiles, vehicles fat : obese, overweight drunks: alcoholics

22. Practice: find synonyms for the following : • Cats • Careers • Death penalty • Old people • Arctic • Aboriginal • TV

23. Practice: answer key • Cats -- felines -- kittens • Careers – jobs -- vocations • Death penalty – death sentence – capital punishment • Old people – senior citizens – elderly – aged • Arctic – polar – Antarctic • Aboriginal – Indigenous • TV – television

24. Search topic - example Examine the effect of globalisation on the economic status of Australian Indigenous people. Operative word: Examine Main concepts/keywords: globalisation / globalization economic status / economic situation Australian Indigenous people / Aboriginal people

25. Provide evidence that outdoor activities in primary schools improve student academic performance.

26. Combining search terms You can combine your search terms with Boolean operators: AND OR NOT Watch a video explaining Boolean operators

27. Non-Boolean operators • Truncation - school* will retrieve school, schools, schooling, etc. • Brackets - useful for grouping synonyms e.g. (“attention deficit disorder” or ADD) • Wildcards - organi?e will retrieve organise and organize • Quotation marks – to search for a phrase (adjacent words) e.g. “climate change”

28. Truncation • parent* retrieves parental, parenting, parent, parents • pollut* retrieves pollute, pollution, pollutant, polluting • stereotyp* retrieves stereotype, stereotypes, stereotyping, stereotypical But don’t truncate too severely: Ag* retrieves agricultural, aged, aggregate, etc.

29. Examples of search strategies (playground activit* OR outdoor exercise* OR outdoor game*) AND (primary school* OR primary education OR elementary education) AND (academic performance OR academic achievement* OR result* OR outcome*)

30. Use only essential words in your searches • Avoid “fluff” words like: relationship, link, implication, effect Example: What is the relationship between stress and depression? It’s best to omit “relationship” from at least initial searches to make sure that you retrieve articles which imply “relationship” but do not mention this word.

31. Where to look? Think about where to look for the sort of information you need, e.g. Current information – Internet/news; Scholarly – journals, Background – encyclopedias, Comprehensive – books This video explains types of information sources. Improve your results Your initial searches might not find enough or too much information. Review your search terms and either broaden or narrow your search

32. Build on what you find: If you find a book on the library shelves look at those next to it; they will be on the same subject Look at the bibliographies in the books you have found. They will give you references to other books When using online catalogues or a databases, click on subject headings to expand your search results

33. Summary Be as specific as possible about what you are looking for Become familiar with the phrases and concepts using background information, your textbook and reference tools Divide your question into concepts for searching Think about and look for alternative search terms Review your strategy and your results Use what you’ve found to find more information

34. Research process - summary Understand the assignment! Answer questions like: What? Why? How? Where? Return to beginning when necessary ! Define the keywords Search Discover information EVALUATE INFORMATION Communicate your findings!

35. Research cycle tutorial For more information on research process view the tutorial available on the Library home page under the “Help & Training” tab: http://www.nd.edu.au/libraries/pilot/index.shtml

37. Blackboard materials Refer to Blackboard for additional support materials. Watch this video on creating and applying search strategies.

38. QUESTIONS? awieszczeczynska@nd.edu.au (08) 9192-0645 Thank you Note: some examples quoted in this resource have been copied from Gavin, C. (2008). Teaching information literacy : a conceptual approach. Lanham, MD : Scarecrow Press.