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How to Find the Information You Need

How to Find the Information You Need. Session Objectives. By the end of this session you should be able to: List the three steps of the information skills process. Use keywords, synonyms, truncation, and exact phrases to search for information . Evaluate internet search results.

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How to Find the Information You Need

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  1. How to Findthe Information You Need

  2. Session Objectives • By the end of this session you should be able to: • List the three steps of the information skills process. • Use keywords, synonyms, truncation, and exact phrases to search for information. • Evaluate internet search results.

  3. What’s on Your Mind? • What do you want to find out? • What questions do you want to answer? Write down your response on your activity worksheet.

  4. ASE Process Model • Analyze the kind of information you need. • Search for information using keywords, synonyms, truncation, and exact phrases. • Evaluate search results in relation to your information need.

  5. Step 1: A is for Analyze Example: What is happening in Tallahassee? • Analyze the kind of information you need. • What is the goal of the search? We want to find something to do with our friends this weekend. • What questions do we want to answer? What kind of events are happening, where, at what times, and how much do they cost?

  6. Team Info Search Worksheet • Write your name and the date on the Team Info Search Worksheet • Working with a partner: • Select a topic. • Write your team topic on your Team Info Search Worksheet. • With your partner, complete Step 1 to analyze the kind of information you need. • What is the goal of your search? • What questions do you want to answer?

  7. Step 2: S is for Search Example:What is happening in Tallahassee this weekend? • Using the internet, how will we search for the information we need?

  8. Keywords What are the main ideas in your topic? Use the main ideas as keywords. • Example: What is happening in Tallahassee this weekend? • Keywords: Tallahassee, happening, weekend Consider using synonyms for keywords. • Synonyms: Leon County, events, November 21.

  9. Keywords • With your partner, complete Step 2 to search for information. • Using your team’s topic, try out a keyword search. Remember, synonyms might be more helpful as keywords. • Record your keywords and synonyms on your Team Info Search Worksheet in Step 2 Keywords and Synonyms

  10. Truncation • Get more results by using all forms of a word • (Note: this does not apply to all words. Example: sheep). • Write keywords that could have multiple forms with an asterisk (*) immediately following them. • Example: • We decide we want musical events occurring on November 21 and all of December. • Tallahassee, music* event*, November 21, December*

  11. Truncation • Using your topic’s keywords, truncate one or more words to get results that include all forms of the word. • Record your truncations on your Team Info Search Worksheet under Step 2 in the section titled Truncation.

  12. Exact Words or Phrase Get more specific results by using quotation marks around the phrase or words or use the advance search option on the search engine. (Note: this is not useful for single words. Example: “girl”) Example: We hear about a country western singer bringing a new show to Tallahassee. “Wide Open 2010: Jason Aldean”

  13. Phrase or Exact Words • Using your team’s topic, try using a phrase or exact words to get more specific results. • Record your phrases and exact words on your Team Info Search Worksheet under Step 2 in the Phrase or Exact Words section.

  14. Results • Record a website address in the search citation column of Step 3. • Website address: Title of site plus URL through domain name. • Example: • Ticketmaster • (www.ticketmaster.com)

  15. Step 3: E is for Evaluate • How do you evaluate the search results to be sure they are what you need? • Are the results: • Relevant? • Credible? • Current?

  16. Evaluate Use the Evaluation Search Results Checklist to evaluate how relevant,credible, and current the information is on your website.

  17. Additional Search Tips • Advanced Search Tips • Exclude certain words. • Specify domains or sites. • Within a domain: .edu (or .org, .gov, etc.) • Within a site: youtube.com (or npr.org, etc.) • Specify date (how recent a page is) • Anytime or past day to past year. • Check out the Advanced Search Tips • www.google.com

  18. Summary • ASE Process Model • Analyze – Determine your goal and what information you need. • Search – Use keywords, synonyms, truncation, and/or exact phrases to find information • Evaluate – Determine if the information is • Relevant. • Credible. • Current.

  19. Reflection and Wrap Up • Complete the post-instruction questionnaire. • Debriefing: • What did you learn today? • Will this session be helpful to you for information searching in the future? • Why or why not?

  20. More Information and Help • Information Buddy (team partner and others from the instructional session – contact list with names, emails and/or phone numbers) • Individual consultations with librarians • Additional instruction with librarians • The project website with information from our sessions today, additional information, and links to other internet sources. http://attaininfolit.org • Library website

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