Big6 Skill 2-Information Seeking
Strategies
Teacher:
All right, let’s
get started. Who can review for us what
we did already? Elana?
Elana:
We did step 1 of
the Big6 research process: Task definition.
We defined the problem by reading over the assignment sheet and asking
you clarify questions. Then we
identified the information we needed by brainstorming research questions.
Teacher:
Good. Today we will move on to step 2 of the Big6
Research Process: Information Seeking Strategies. What does that mean?
Paul:
It means we have
to figure out where we are going to go to answer those research questions.
Teacher:
Perfect! What is the first part to accomplishing
that?
Elana:
Determine the
range of possible sources, which means we should list out where we could go to
find the answers.
Teacher:
Yes. I’ve asked a special guest to join us today
to help us plan out our Information Seeking strategies. Many of you already know our librarian, Mrs.
L.
Ronald:
Well that sort
of gives it away—I guess we are supposed to go to the library to get the
answers.
Librarian:
Well, most of
the time when you have an information problem, or a research project you can
find the answers in the library, but today we need to figure our what in the
library you should be using.
Ronald:
I always use the
computers.
Librarian:
What source on
the computer?
Ronald:
What do you
mean? I just use the computer.
Librarian:
There are
several resources in our library that can be accessed through the computer, but
I suppose you are referring to the Internet.
The Internet is indeed one way you can find answers for this
project. Let’s start a list. What other resources of information are on
the computers?
Paul:
I use the online
catalog to find books and I use the online subscription databases to find
magazines and newspapers.
Elana:
I use the
computer to access the CD-ROMs like National Geographic and Encarta.
Librarian:
Excellent,
excellent. We have the World Wide Web,
books, magazines and newspapers and CD-ROMs all accessible through the
computer. And do you know how to access
them?
Paul:
What?
Librarian:
Say you wanted
to use the Internet to find some information, how would you do that?
Paul:
You have to use
a search engine like Alta Vista
Elana:
Or there are
directories too, like the Internet Public library.
Librarian:
I’m very
impressed. What is the difference?
Elana:
A search engine
allows you to search for a word or phrase.
Librarian:
Yes that is
called a keyword search. And a directory?
Elana:
A directory
let’s you browse through websites on specific subjects.
Paul:
Like Yahoo!
Librarian:
Excellent!
Ronald:
Like Netscape!
Librarian:
No, Ronald,
Netscape is a browser not a method of searching. A browser is important in that it lets you access the Internet,
but directories like Yahoo let you search.
Ronald:
Oh yeah, I new
that, I meant to say Dogpile.
Librarian:
Yes, Dogpile is
actually a special search engine called a meta-searcher. It allows you to search through several search
engines or directories at one time. For
this lesson, let’s focus on searching by keyword. Most computer accessible resources, like the Internet, CD-ROMs,
or the library catalog can be searched by keyword. And those keywords are very important. Let me show you. (Shown on computer screen) If I use the search engine Google and type
in one word Isreal, I get 56,000 hits as you can see here. A hit is a webpage that has your word in it
somewhere.
Elana:
But, uh, Israel
is spelled wrong.
Teacher:
Ah ha! I was wondering if one of you would notice
that. Very good, Elana. Now let’s look at the results. It is always important to evaluate your
results to decide if they include accurate, helpful information. If they don’t,
we call that a false hit. So since I found 56,000 hits that all have Israel
spelled incorrectly, what could you deduce from this?
Paul:
Well that should
be a sign that maybe the information you found isn’t too reliable.
Teacher:
I should think
not! Let’s try the search again spelling
the keyword correctly. (SHOW ON
COMPUTER) All right, this time I got
almost 7 million amount of hits. Who wants to read through 7 million hits to
find your information?
Ronald:
Not me!
Teacher:
Now if you type
in a phrase like “Israeli Palestinian crisis” you get 5,000 hits. That’s better, but still a lot of hits.
Elana:
It is really
important to choose your word or phrase very carefully and be very
specific.
Librarian:
Yes, especially
when you are searching through a very large set of resources, like the
Internet. Let me show you another
searching tip called Boolean searching.
Boolean searching is when you combine two words or phrases to be even
more specific. Paul, what is your
perspective for this assignment?
Paul:
I’m a
Palestinian Activist!
Librarian:
Okay and what is
one of your research questions?
Paul:
I need to find
out what my religious beliefs are.
Librarian:
Okay. We can do a Boolean search and combine those
phrases (Palestinian Activist AND religious beliefs) and as you can see we get
only 5 hits. Boolean searching is an
excellent technique to use to narrow down those overwhelming searches.
Teacher:
Notice that
those keywords come directly from your research questions that we developed as
we worked through the Big6 step #1.
Librarian:
Yes, exactly, I
can’t stress how important it is that you define your task and figure out what
information you need BEFORE you start seeking the actual information.
Ronald:
Well, duh!
Librarian:
Well, Ronald,
you say that, but I seem to remember you spending quite a bit of time surfing
aimlessly on the web when you hadn’t taken the time to define your task when
you were working on your last English paper. (Ronald looks sheepish). Okay, now that you got the idea of how
important your search strategy can be, let’s get back to our list of possible
sources. What else can we use?
Paul:
We will need to
use atlases.
Librarian:
Good, an atlas
is a reference book. Let’s add it to
the list. What else? (Silence) The resource that I always think is the best
is always forgotten. Say you weren’t
doing a research project…
Ronald:
Now you’re
talking!
Librarian:
…And you saw
something on the news at home about the Middle East and you wanted to find out
more what would you do?
Paul:
Ask my dad.
Librarian:
Exactly! People are excellent information sources.
Ronald:
I don’t think my
dad knows anything about the Middle East.
Elana:
I have a
neighbor who is from the Middle East!
Librarian:
There you
go. We’ll add interview to the list of
possible resources.
Teacher:
Remember when we
did that unit on oral history? Why
don’t you refer to your notes on being a good interviewer as a start?
Librarian:
Let’s move on to
the second part of information seeking strategies. We need to evaluate the different possible sources to determine
priorities. What does that mean?
Elana:
We need to
figure out which ones will be best so we know what to do first.
Librarian:
So thinking
about the questions you need to answer which do you think will be the best sources
to start with.
Paul:
Well, I’d like
to start by finding out some background information so maybe I’ll search our
encyclopedias.
Librarian:
Very good. That’s an excellent place to start as it
helps you determine your keywords.
Ronald:
Well, I’m still
going to surf the web!
Librarian:
Why is that your
first priority?
Ronald:
Because I know
that you have created a link from the library home page that lists a lot of web
pages about the Middle East!
Librarian:
Ronald,
sometimes you surprise me! Excellent.
Teacher:
All right,
you’ve accomplished a lot today. We’ve
listed some of the possible resources you can use to answer your research
questions and you’ve decided which will be the most helpful to you. Remember that as you make progress, your research
questions my change and then you’ll need to revisit this step. But I’m very impressed with your progress
right now. Tomorrow we’ll meet in the
library.