Online resources: Formulating search strategies for effective information retrieval

1. Online resources: Formulating search strategies for effective information retrieval Scholastica C Ukwoma, Ph.D scholar.ukwoma@unn.edu.ng

2. Goals and Objectives Goal: To expose participants to winning strategies for doing original research. Objectives: • To familiarize the participants with online resources available in the university library and other ones. • To expose the participants on how to carry out similarity checks during research using Turnitin • Impact the skill to use Boolean operators in online searches. Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

3. Introduction • This session aims to introduce participants to winning strategies for doing original research. The presentation involves three main lessons- formulating search strategies, online resources and use of Turnitin. Some scholars lack the skills to search for or retrieve the information needed to carry out viable research. Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

4. Introduction Continues • Some copy other peoples work while some are ignorant of the resources available to them to carry out research. These issues mar peoples effort to carry out viable research studies and at times land them in serious problems. • We will look at these issues one by one starting with “formulating search strategies, then onlinne resources and using Turnitin. Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

5. OUTLINE- FORMULATING SEARCH STRATEGIES, ONLINE RESOURCES and TURNITIN Formulating search strategy • Step 1. Introduction • Step 2. Breaking your topic into concepts • Step 3. Synonyms • Step 4. Boolean Operators • Step 5. Truncations • Step 6. Put it all together Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

6. Online resources • Open and secured resources • How to access online resources • Performing a simple search and Advanced search • Creating Google scholar account • Searching the databases • Other search options • Writing your research Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

7. Turnitin (Outline). • Turnitin-Meaning • What is plagiarism • How to avoid plagiarism • Materials that can be checked in turnitin • Similarity index. Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

8. FORMULATING A SEARCH STRATEGY • Get your self prepared. Think about the problem/topic/title (E.g. Competencies for developing Stronger School Libraries). • How many concepts or key words does it contain. Identify similar or related terms (Synonyms) Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

9. Boolean Operators and Parenthesis • Boolean Operators are: AND, OR, NOT. These allow you to link words (form compound searches by combining two or more terms together) for better search strategies. • Parentheses also allow you to group term together. AND narrows a search by finding records that must contain all the terms you have entered. Using AND lets you be more precise by adding additional required concepts. Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

10. Boolean Operators and Parentheses • OR broadens a search by finding records that contain either or all of the terms you have entered. Using OR makes your search wider by searching for similar or related terms. • NOT narrows a search by finding records that contain one term but not another. Using NOT lets you be more precise by excluding certain terms. E.g, “Apple not fruit”. Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

11. Parenthesis and Question Marks • Parentheses forms compound searches by giving you the ability to group similar or related terms together. • Quotation Marks are used if you are searching for an exact phrase. By using quotation marks, your results will return only items that include those exact terms in that exact order.  Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

12. Truncation Symbols or Wildcats • These are symbols that are used to represent any letter. The most common ones are: • * - the asterisk represents zero or more characters and is usually used at the end of a word. • ? - the question mark represents one character and can be used at the end or in the middle of a word. Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

13. Online Resources • These are resources that are accessed via the internet. Some of them can be free while some are secured (need authentication) • Open/free resources are those we can access without authentication i.e Username and Password • Secured resources can have access to the resources with authentication i.e username and password. Or it may be IP based. Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

14. Simple and advanced search. • Searching generally within the database without any specific information as regards to the journal title, or date of publication. One can do a general search in Google or the databases. • In advanced search, one should specify exactly the type of information one want to retrieve. E,g. Document format (pdf, ppt, Ms word etc. Year or Language of the document. Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

15. Various search engines for your online information search. • Google, Google Scholar. Excite, Lyncos, Altervista etc. • The most popular and widely used for academic purposes amongst them is the Google scholar. • Visit the university Virtual library at the University homepage for a feel of Online resources in the University Library. Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

16. UNN home page- www.unn.edu.ng Select Libraries Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

17. Turnitin Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

18. doaj Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

19. Science Direct page Click on all title to select journal titles base on alphabetical arrangement Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

20. Turnitin - Meaning Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka It is a tool used to check the originality of research works of students and academics. Purposes of Turnitin It helps to stay away from plagiarism Students/researchers are accountable for what they submit or publish. To check similarity of text to other sources To improve teaching and learning To guide against misuse of online sources in research writing www.turnitin.com

21. What is plagiarism • Using someone's ideas or words without citing the author appropriately (giving credit to the author). • Copying another persons ideas as if its your own idea. • You may have observed the above in your research, you do not need to use the exacts words of the author, try to summarize using your own words, otherwise you will have high percentage of similarity cheek. Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

22. How to avoid high percentage of similarity check. • You can print out the materials, read them understand the main idea of the writer and put those ideas in your own words. • Avoid copy and paste • If you have read the materials online, try to summarize and write using your own words. • Ensure you always acknowledge the authors/sources you cited or used in your work. Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

23. Materials that can be checked in turnitin Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka • MS Word, WordPerfect, PostScript, PDF, HTML, RTF, and plain text documents • Turnitin.com DOES NOT check files in graphic formats such as TIFF, EPS, PSD, JPEG, PICT, etc. Document Size: Less than 40mb Has a minimum of 25 words Less than 400pages www.turnitin.com

24. Similarity index Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka • BLUE (1) indicates that there are <0% matches • GREEN (2) 1%-25% • YELLOW (3) 26%-50% • ORANGE (4) 51%-75% • RED (5) 76%-100% • https://guides.turnitin.com/01_Manuals_and_Guides/Student/Classic_Student_User_Guide/17_Similarity_Check

25. For conclusion let us demonstrate the turnitin. • Thanks for Listening Workshop for postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka