Study Guide: Web Search and News Tools

Web Search and News Tools > 1: Develop a Search Statement and Choose a Tool

What do you want to know? Who do you want to tell it to you?

These are two important questions you need to ask yourself before beginning research. The "what" question helps you know what search terms to enter in a search. The "who" helps you find the place (or search tool) where you are going to begin that search.

1A: Develop a Search Statement

Before finding tools, you must first set the parameters of your search. Begin with key terms or a sentence defining what you hope to find. See the example at the right.

First identify important search terms. Search terms are main concepts (nouns) and aspects (time or place) of your research problem.

Next use boolean terms or mathematical symbols to construct a search statement, which indicates how the search engine should link these terms together. For example "AND" or "+" tells the search engine which terms must be included in the search, and "NOT" or "-" indicates terms that should not be included in the search results.

Your topic:
"The erosion of the wetlands has a direct impact on New Orleans' ability to absorb the blow of a storm like Hurricane Katrina. For every 2.7 miles of wetlands, storm surges are reduced by about one 1 foot."

Becomes Search Terms:
Choose main concepts (nouns) and aspects (time or place)
wetlands
erosion
storm surges
New Orleans

Which become a search statement:
+wetlands +erosion +"storm surge"

wetlands AND erosion AND (hurricane OR "storm surges") AND "New Orleans"

To review identifying key terms and constructing a search statement, see netTutor.com: Searching 101.

1B: Choose a Tool

Questions to ask when choosing a search tool:

Do I need a background information?

Do I need expert information?

Do I need current information?

Do I need interactive information (i.e. I can ask a question, get an answer, and ask another question)?

Experiment with the search engines listed in the following pages. The engines have been categorized in order to focus your understanding of the kind of information provided by the tool and to illustrate who will be supplying that information for you. Practice searching using suggested tasks or search for information meaningful and interesting to you!

A note on Google: Google is a great search tool, but it is NOT always the best tool for every search. Each search engine finds information differently, and no search tool is comprehensive. Further, specialized databases will generally find more relevant information for searches on a specific topic, saving the searcher from browsing through numerous irrelevant Web sites.

Activity

Identify the search terms in this statement: "Dermen and Cooper (2000) found an indirect relationship between drinking and risky sexual behaviors when they assessed 392 college students in an introductory psychology course."

Click to review answers [opens in new window].

Web Search and News Tools > 1: Develop a Search Statement and Choose a Tool

1A: Develop a Search Statement

1B: Choose a Tool

Activity

Pop Quiz