4.3 Extending skills
Criteria refers to a relevant topic contains all of my keywords included in the first ten results published this year web address contains .org web address contains .ac web address contains .edu
appears in multiple publications published in an academic journal
Possible usefulness
Overall, topical relevance is a very important criterion; generally, it shows a result may well be worth exploring.
This shows that the text may well be relevant. However, the same word may have different meanings in different academic contexts. Largely, the usefulness of this criterion depends on how many keywords were used and how precise they were.
Close matches to search terms are placed higher on the list by the search algorithm, so this is likely to be important if the search is precise. However, it is no guarantee of strict relevance.
Recently published texts are more likely to contain new findings on a topic and are less likely to be outdated. However, this can vary with the topic, as some fields change much more slowly than others.
This signifies that the website is a not-for-profit organization. It may have links to commercial organizations, however.
On its own, with no additional domain name, this signifies that the website is an academic institution. Where a further domain name is used (e.g.,
.ac.uk), it signifies an academic institution in the UK.
This signifies that the website is an American educational institution. This could signify that a result is important, though it depends what the publications are.
Where an article is published is important. Generally, appearance in an academic journal is a sign of respectable research. Some academic journals are especially prestigious by reputation. Academic journals can be:
• refereed, or not • peer-reviewed, or not
refers to an academic specialist
Authorship of a text is very important in signifying whether it is likely to be good quality or not.
C Set for pairwork, and feed back visually.
Remind students that they can use phrases as well as single words.
SKILLS BANK 4.2 Doing effective online research
Remind them that they can use full words as well as acronyms, and that they should also consider synonyms. Refer them back to Skills Bank 4.2 to remind them of search operators they could use if you wish.
You may want to remind students of the difference between a review (which looks at a material from a number of articles) and a research article (which provides a first-hand account of a specific piece of research). Elicit which type of study might be more appropriate for each of these searches. In general, a review is useful when the person searching has a limited knowledge of the topic.
Possible answers 1. “key issues” OR concerns AND database AND security
2. developments OR develop AND “database technology” OR “database technologies”
77
3. “e-commerce” OR “ecommerce” OR “online shopping” AND “database technology” OR “database technologies”
D
This can be assigned for individual work or pairwork, depending on whether students will benefit from the support of a partner when searching.
Assign a specific search from Exercise C to each group. Encourage students to make notes on the results using the criteria in Exercise B.
Encourage students to feed back in small groups on their experience with the different topics and to make notes on what worked well and what didn’t.
Closure Feed back on Exercise D as a large group if possible.
You may want to assign the searches to be done outside of class. In this case, the feedback and sharing could be an introduction for Lesson 4.4.
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