The Web Searching Process--Keywords, Day #5--Searching and Evaluating like a Pro

It is important to know how the searching process works, but it is almost important to know how to search. When I taught research skills, my students not only struggled with understanding how search results were organized, but how to search. And, oftentimes, I could not get them to evaluate like a pro because they did not know where to even begin to search or what keywords to use when searching. Hence, searching like a pro is a multi-step process:

1. Understanding how search results are organized
2. Knowing where to search
3. Comprehending keywords
4. Understanding searching techniques (ex: Boolean)

Without an understanding of ALL of these, it is difficult for students to become effective Web searchers. 

 So, where do you begin to search? Well, Google does yield the highest number of users. However, knowing when to search involves knowing where to search AND when. Though the internet is full of resources, it does not contain all of them. In fact, it only contains about 15% of the world's information. Therefore, it is important to teach students where to find information. Search engines like Google are a great starting place, but they do not provide all of the information. Sometimes, students will need to interview, collaborate with others in an online format, look through encyclopedias, or visit locations. It depends on what the topic is. 

So, to begin, all students should answer the following questions in order to decide where to search, what to search, and when to search. Below is a sample needs assessment for search strategies. This provides a good discussion on how to search, where to search, what to search, and when to search.

So, how do you change those search questions into searching keywords? It helps to think like an advertiser. In fact, Google offers a good help sheet for Google Adwords clients. Though this sheet is not for students conducting research, it provides an interesting look into how searching works. It assists advertisers in linking their products to specific keywords. Hence, the philosophy can be adapted to fit students.

Another good activity for students to use when changing search questions into search keywords is the University of Maryland's Libraries tutorial. It provides examples and opportunities for students to practice creating search keywords.

The MLA provides generous resources for building effective keywords as well.

There is even a Searching for Dummies tutorial on building keywords.

Commonsense Media has several lessons and activities for students (grades 6-8) learning to search. These can all be adapted to fit a variety of grade levels.

eHow has a quality series on searching and keywords for students in elementary grades. These are activities that can also be performed at home with parents.

And, the University of Wisconsin provides a very useful Webpage with keywords and their associated lessons, activities, and evaluations.

The key is building search questions to figure out the who, what, where, when, why, and how of searching. From your search questions, you can develop keywords to guide you to quality resources. Searching and evaluating like a pro starts with developing quality search keywords.