English 1213 Dr. Maxson Session 1 Searching techniques Frederic 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 21 st 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 GovernmentMoneyDebt FederalArrearsCapital FundsState 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