KEY WORD SEARCHING TIPS
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Tips
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For example...
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Be as specific as you can
Use nouns and unique words
Put the most important words first
Use synonyms, multiple terms when possible
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If you are researching locust plagues in Northern Africa;
Locust grasshopper plagues swarms Sahara “North Africa”
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Use quotation marks around phrases so that the search engine will look for the entire phrase and not individual words. This is an excellent way of increasing the relevance of your results.
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Instead of world health organization use “world health organization”
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Use a plus sign + in front of a word or phrase so all results must have that word or phrase.
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A word or term preceded by a + must be present in all results
+Locust +grasshoppers +plagues +swarms Sahara +“North Africa”
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Use a minus sign - in front of a word or phrase you want to exclude from search results.
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If you want information on St Bernard but not the dog breed St Bernard, use the minus:
“St Bernard” -dog
or Siamese +cat -twins
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Use lower case letters to find words that are
in either upper or lower case.
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japanese prisoners
“world war ii”
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Use parentheses (brackets) around terms that are alike. Enter connectors (Boolean Operators) in capital letters.
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(locust OR grasshoppers) + (plagues OR swarms) + (Sahara OR “North Africa”) NOT Asia
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Use truncation (*) to include closely related terms.
You can use the * at the beginning or middle of a keyword on some sites.
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Patriot* will also return results including patriotic, patriotism, patriotically
*phobia will return hits for the words agoraphobia, arachnophobia, aerophobia, claustrophobia etc.
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EVALUATING WEBSITES
Don't believe everything you see on the Internet!
Anyone can post anything on the internet - you are the one to assess whether it's true or not! These Evaluation Criteria can help you.
1. Accuracy
Is the information reliable and free of mistakes? Poor spelling and grammar can reflect unreliability. Is there an editor or someone who verifies/checks the information?
Does it contradict what you have found in reliable sources such as encyclopaedias?
2. Authority
Is the author qualified? An expert? Who is the sponsor? A government? A university? A private enterprise?
Is the sponsor of the page reputable? How reputable? Is there a link to information about the author or the sponsor?
If the page includes neither a signature nor indicates a sponsor, is there any other way to determine its origin? -
Look for a header or footer showing affiliation
Look at the URL. http://www.fed.gov.au/
Look at the domain for clues about the origin
.edu - educational site
.com - commercial site
.gov - government
.org - organisation
.net - network
.mil - military
3. Objectivity
Does the sponsor of the page seem biased? Or does the information show a minimum of bias? Is the page designed to educate, entertain, inform, promote, persuade or sell? Is there any advertising on the page?
4. Currency
Is the page dated, and if so when was the last update? How current are the links? Have some expired or moved?
5. Coverage
What topics are covered? What does this page offer that is not found elsewhere? How in-depth and detailed is the material?
6. Presentation
How attractive is the website? Is it logically laid out with clear menu’s? Are the text colour and size readable? These qualities can be an indication of quality. Is it easy to access?
Does it clearly show when you are leaving the site via a link?
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“I need to find out general information on a topic”