FIVE HINTS FOR BETTER SEARCHING

  1. Put a plus sign (+) in front of words that must be in the documents found by the search. Do not put a space between the + and the word. For example: +geese+migration or +migration+salmon+river
  2. Put a minus sign (-) in front of words that should not appear in any documents. Do not put a space between the – and the word.
  3. Use double quotation marks (” “) around words that must appear next to each other. For example: “geese migration’ or +migration+salmon+river+”spawning grounds”
  4. Capitalise proper nouns – that is names of people or places. Use lower case for all other searches
  5. Use an asterisk (*) after a word to select a range of possible endings. For example: +”bird*migration”+geese

FINDING RESOURCES

How will I know the right search terms to use?

  • Look at your topic
  • Pick out the main words that describe your topic
  • Now think about any other ways of saying or spelling any of your words
For example, for an assignment on Eygytian clothing and make up you search:
  • ‘costume’ or ‘fashion’ instead of ‘clothing’
  • ‘cosmetics’ instead of ‘make up’
Now think about broader terms that might descrine your topic or narrower terms that might describe your topic.
For example, if an assignment was on ‘Life in Space,’ the following terms could be used:
Broader topics
space
moon
universe
solar system
Narrower topics
astronauts
astronauts training
rockets
spaceships
spacecraft
spacefood
space waste
weightlessness

Researching a Topic

How do I get started?

The best way to begin is by brainstorming ideas and thoughts about your topic.

Ask yourself:

  • What do I know?
  • What do I need to find out?
An ideas map or ‘mindmap’ can be very useful at this stage. These maps can help you to see the connections between you thoughts and allow you to begin sorting these thoughts into related topics.
  • Mindmaps can take many shapes. The most common has branches coming out from a central title
  • Mindmaps are best on a rectangular page. This suits the way our eyes look across a page and how our minds remember
  • Mindmaps are best remembered when coloured pens and highlighters are used to show different ideas on the topic