Internet

• Google is the search engine most commonly used to find information on the Internet. Google Scholar is recommended when searching for academic and scholarly material
• Go to your chosen search engine - for our example we chose the advanced search in Google
  • To get to Google Advanced Search feature (shown left)
    • Do a search, and then click on the word settings and select 'Advanced search'
    • Or type google.co.nz/advanced_search into your web browser
  • To get to Advanced Search in Google Scholar (shown right)
    • Click the menu icon in the top left corner, and select 'Advanced search'
• Try the search strategy of zealand, inquiry learning (as a phrase) and primary or elementary

On 18 January 2019 the Google results were over 55 000 websites. After Ministry of Education websites, many of the others were school websites. In Google Scholar the same search gave over 3 500 results. These were mostly journal articles.

This number indicates that the search strategy was too broad and probably contains many irrelevant sites that will just add to our information overload.

Have a look at the first few pages of results to assess their relevance to your information need. Stay focused on the immediate question of inquiry learning in New Zealand primary classrooms, but keep in mind any sub-questions.

To narrow the search

• add more keywords
• use some of the options available to limit the search within Google Advanced Search screen (see Google Support for more tips on refining searches)