Researching Online

Researching Online

With good search skills the Internet can offer you a wealth of useful information; without them you may never find what you want, plus you will waste a lot of time going down false trails. Here are some tips on how to make it work for you.

Think First

Before launching into a search, think hard about what you are looking for. Pick out the most important things and make a list; this will help you keep your search focused. Then spend a little time considering related subject areas; this will help you broaden your search if you can’t find what you are looking for.

Keywords Are Crucial

Come up with the right keywords and you might strike lucky first time; choose the wrong ones and you could be searching for hours. Start jotting down potential keywords while you are thinking about your subject; search on them independently and/or in different combinations. If you have no luck, try changing the word order or inserting a different word that means the same thing (a “synonym”); use a dictionary or the thesaurus option in your word-processing program to help you.

Evaluate Your Findings

Anyone can create a website and put their thoughts and findings on it, so always take time to evaluate what you have found before you use it. Make an assessment of its reliability, accuracy and authority. Try to find out things like who wrote it, whether they are selling anything, where they got their information and statistics from, and which organization they are working for.

Take time to practice these skills and you will soon find that searching the Internet becomes one of the quickest ways to find out what you want to know.

Source:

Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy

From Now On (The Education Technology Journal)

Other Student Resources

Online Discussion Postings

Avoid Plagiarism

Making the Most of Online Chat Sessions

Avoid Isolation

Be Effective Within Virtual Workgroups

Researching Online