Conducting an Online Research

1. Have a question in mind

- Focus on questions you want answered.
- If it is a series of questions, start with one
2. Narrow it down
- Search engines use several filters to
determine the most appropriate result for you.
- search engines use your previous search
history & your geographical location
- Example: If you are looking for Tom Sawyer,
the animation series use the keywords “Tom
Sawyer animation rather than just “Tom
Sawyer”
 3. Advanced Search
- search a word
- click the Advanced Search option
In MS search engine BING use certain keywords & symbols
for your advanced search
SYMBOL FUNCTION
+ Finds web pages that contain all the terms that are
preceded by the + symbol; allows you to include terms that
are usually ignored
““ Finds the exact words in a phrase
() Finds or excludes web pages that contain a group of words
AND or & Finds web pages that contain all the terms or phrases
NOT or - Excludes web pages that contain a term or phrase
OR or / Finds web pages that contain either of the terms or
phrases
4. Look for credible source
- when using wikis check out the link of the
cited text (indicated by superscript number) to
be navigated to the footnote where the list of
sources is located.
- click the source of the information & see if it is
credible