Research Skills

Citemaker - bibliography creation website

How to research online - search tools

When searching you need to make sure you are using keywords to search. These are the important words that relate to the information you are trying to find. If you are research the history of ancient egypt your keywords are : history ancient egypt, not the and of.

Google allows you to filter your search results by selecting the following options:

• Image, news and books. You can also further refine results by searching within a set time frame (e.g. past hour, past 24 hours, past week) or by image size (icon, small, medium, large).

• Search for an exact match by putting a word or phrase inside quotes, e.g. "French Revolution"

• Exclude search terms by putting a - in front of a word, e.g. jaguar speed -car

• Combine searches by adding 'OR' between words, e.g. marathon OR race. You can also use 'AND' to find results with both words, e.g. marathon AND race

• Search social media by putting a @ or # in front of your search term, e.g. @twitter, #worldcup2022

Websites

Websites that are published by a government or educational institution are usually more accurate sources of information. These websites will have edu or gov as part of the website address. Any education websites that are created by a public institution such as a museum or public broadcaster will have more accurate information. Examples of these are the ABC, the BBC, and the NGV.

Choose specific sites like online encyclopedias such as Britannica and the World History Encyclopedia over general sites like Wikipedia. When searching biographical information choose a specific biography resource such as the Australian Dictionary of Biography or an official web page.

Steps for researching

1. Define the task - Understand exactly what the question is asking, so you know how to answer it really well.

2. Locate information - Find great resources quickly and easily using simple search techniques.

3. Select resources - Choose the best, most reliable information to use in your assignment.

4. Organise notes - Turn your information into a good set of notes that will make the writing process quicker and easier.

5. Present the idea - Plan the points you want to make, and decide how you want to make them.

6. Evaluate your work - Check over everything before you hand it in, to make sure your book is the best it can be.

Sourced from SLV Ergo