English 1213Dr. Maxson

Session 1

Searching techniquesFrederic Murray, M.L.I.S.

DID YOU KNOW…

Library Instruction in the Information Age A single current newspaper contains more

written and visual information than the average person in the 17th Century was likely to come across in their entire lifetime. There are many areas of literacy that all add up to Information Literacy: Cultural, Visual, Media, Network, Computer, Traditional Alphabetic Literacy, and Library Instruction.

Educational Goals for 21st Century

1. Teach Students to be self-directed & understand how to organize more & more of their own learning.

2. Teach our students the importance of global communication.

3. Teach our students to deal with massive amounts of information.

Library Instruction in the Information Age New Search Strategies are required. Critical evaluation is more important than

ever.

Library Homepage

Chat with the reference desk! 8am-8pm M-Th

SWOSU Catalog Page

WorldCat

Basic research

Almanacs, dictionaries, handbooks, and encyclopedias are useful tools for finding quick facts, statistics, or a broad overview of your topic.

If you don't know much about your topic already, these tools can be a good place to start.

The Research Process

Identify main steps to carry out written research

Recognize the cyclic nature of the research process

Main Steps of Research

1. Topic

2. Develop your search strategy

3. Search

4. Write your paper, speech, presentation, etc.

5. Cite your sources

Basics of Searching

Keyword vs. subjects Basic Boolean

Identifying Keywords

Identify the significant terms, concepts, and keywords that describe your topic from your thesis statement or research question.

These terms will become the key for searching catalogs, indexes, and databases for information about your subject.

Keyword Phrases

Single concept, multiple words Some electronic resources require keyword

phrases be enclosed with punctuation Quotation marks Parenthesis

Keyword Phrases

Basic phrase Proper names Hyphenated words Slogans,

advertisements Famous quotes Movie titles, song

titles, etc.

(computer disk) “Native American” (x-ray or fine-tune) “kills bugs dead”

(to be or not to be) “Lord of the Rings”

Other Keywords

Identify the synonyms and antonyms to your keywords

Use a thesaurus Use database tools like descriptors and

subjects

Keyword vs. Subject

Natural language Flexible terminology Less accurate Use with Boolean

Native American

Predetermined terminology

Thesaurus More precise

Indians of North America

Boolean

AND = Narrow

OR = Expand

NOT = Exclude

Exercise: Keyword Building Worksheet

Church-State Separation

College Grade Inflation Evolution and Creationism

Hip-Hop Culture

Television Violence

War Journalism

Budget Deficits

GovernmentMoney Debt

Federal ArrearsCapital

Funds State IOU

Subjects

Predetermined terminology Library of Congress

More difficult to use in searches

Very precise

Boolean Operators If NOT is used too much, it can work

against you!

Truncation (Wildcards)

Non-universal symbols used in searching Common symbols: * ? Used with a root word (jump?) Used to replace a vowel or single character

(wom*n)

Thank You