7 Explorers: Research Skills

OPVL Checklist for I&S

To determine how appropriate & reliable a source is...

• Use your own background knowledge
• Listen to "alarm bells" that hint something is not right
• Identify the purpose of the source (to sell, entertain, persuade?)
• Read laterally, opening new tabs, to check the accuracy and identify the bias of the source

View the site below, "All About Explorers" 

Copy this template:

• Category Style Notes

Notes must include:

• Source
• Quoted material
• paraphrase
• comment (optional - but smart!)

Create a Bibliography of the sources you use

• Size 12 font, double spaced
• No empty lines between entries
• Alphabetical order (no numbers or bullets)
• Reverse Indented
• No all caps or repeated information

AND

• will find the words together to narrow your results
• tells the database that ALL search terms must be included in the results
• example: cloning AND humans AND ethics => a result about all three topics

OR

• connects two or more similar concepts 
• broadens your results, telling the database that ANY of your search terms can be present in the resulting records
• example: cloning OR genetics OR reproduction => Results can have 1, 2, or all of the words

NOT

• excludes words you have identified as not helpful 
• example: cloning NOT sheep => Gives results the limit a word, in this case "Sheep" should not appear

   How to Search!

Identify Key Words

• Write out questions
• Circle necessary words
• Anticipate words in the answer
• Use synonyms (words that have the same meaning) to get more results

Use Boolean Operators to narrow or broaden your search

• OR gives more results
• AND gives fewer results
• NOT cuts out specific words or phrases

Use quotation marks to keep exact phrases together

• Example: "Florida Marlins" will give results about the baseball team, not the fish or the US state

Build a search string with Boolify - a puzzle-style google search!