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Research skills for your EPQ

Research skills for your EPQ. Where to begin. Choosing a subject. Choose a broad subject area and carry out some basic research to find out how much material is available. Refine your research to develop a research question. If you really haven’t a clue what to do:

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Research skills for your EPQ

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  1. Research skills for your EPQ Where to begin

  2. Choosing a subject • Choose a broad subject area and carry out some basic research to find out how much material is available. • Refine your research to develop a research question. • If you really haven’t a clue what to do: ask your supervisor for advice and read all the academic journals for inspiration.

  3. Starting the search task for real • Finding and selecting the best resources are the key to any project • Use a variety of different resources • This will show the reader that you have researched fully and increase the chances of using credible resources

  4. Where do you look first? • Google • NO • Wikipedia • NO • Ask your mate • NO • The Library • OF COURSE

  5. Why the Library • It’s the gateway to all knowledge • Books • Academic journals • Electronic resources • ….and more

  6. As a post graduate researcher she will be able to help

  7. Print Resources • Books • Generally reliable • Authors credentials can be checked • Bibliography provides list of other useful resources • Currency, check the publication date. Remember that the publication process can take a long time

  8. Book Resources • Reviews and Abstracts • Both can be used to decide whether an item is likely to be of use. • A review is another’s opinion of the text • An abstract is a summary of the contents.

  9. Search Tip

  10. Search Tip • Often an abstract will provide all the information you need about the contents of a book, and provide another item for your bibliography

  11. Search Tip

  12. Search tip • Use the bibliography to find the titles of other resources that might be of use

  13. Accessing Print Resources • You can borrow books from the following • School library • British library – via school library • Public libraries • The Leeds Library – via school library • Use as reference only • University Libraries

  14. Journals • Magazines written for an academic audience • Up to date • Peer reviewed

  15. World Wide Web • There are billons of pages of information on the Internet • Books • Newspapers • Audio video • Websites

  16. Search Tip

  17. Search Tip • To find the right resources you need to select the right tools. Using the best search tool can save a lot of time and retrieve higher quality more relevant resources

  18. Search Tip

  19. Search Tools • Search engines • Meta search engines • Subject portals • Subject directories

  20. Free Internet • Most of us use search engines and meta search engines to access the free internet • Quick and easy to use • Search engines • http://www.google.co.uk/ • Meta search engines • http://www.dogpile.com/ • http://www.ixquick.com/ • http://vivisimo.com/ • http://uk.altavista.com/

  21. Deep Internet • Invisible web • Largest and most important part of the web • Not accessible using the usual search tools • Online books, subject directories and portals and databases requiring a log-on.

  22. Search Tip

  23. Search Process • Focus • Strategise • Refine • Evaluate

  24. Search Tip

  25. Search tip • A good online search starts off-line. Read about your subject. Think about what you already know and what you need to know • Think about keywords and phrases and where best to search • Adjust your search by widening or narrowing the range. Improve it by adding new words that you come across • Decide how credible the document is

  26. Search and Meta Search Engines • How they work and why is it important • Search engines are best when you want to carry out a comprehensive search. • Meta search engines are less precise and are good if you want something less specific or obscure • Meta search engines return results in varying ways which make searching easier

  27. Search Tip

  28. Search Strategy • Dream senario: Getting the best results and in the first few pages • Beware of sponsored links

  29. Search Tip

  30. Search tip • There is always more than one way to describe what you’re looking for • Brainstorm synonyms • Nouns are better than verbs as verbs tend to be vague • Put the most important words first • Incorrect spellings can be a problem – use the spelling help if there is one • Each search tool uses a different syntax or specific language. Need to know this to use the tool properly.

  31. Search Tip

  32. Search Tips • Boolean operators: AND OR and NOT • Use “to treat words as a phrase” • ~ Use a tilde to search for synonyms • Search in lower case unless you are searching for names

  33. Search Tip

  34. Advance Search • Most search engines have an advance search screen. This allows for a more precise search by using parameters to limit the results. • Restrict by date • Specify which field keywords are to be found

  35. Search Tip

  36. Mine your Results • Use new words or phrases that occur to make your search more specific • Use more than one keyword or phrase

  37. Search Tip

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