Building Good Search Skills: What Students Need to Know

Getty The Internet has made researching subjects deceptively effortless for students — or so it may seem to them at first. Truth is, students who haven’t been taught the skills to conduct good research will invariably come up short. That’s part of the argument made by Wheaton College Professor Alan Jacobs in The Atlantic, who says the ease of search and user interface of fee-based databases have failed to keep up with those of free search engines. In combination with the well-documented gaps in students’ search skills, he suggests that this creates a perfect storm for the abandonment of scholarly databases in favor of search engines. He concludes: “Maybe our greater emphasis shouldn’t be on training users to work with bad search tools, but to improve the search tools.” His article is responding to a larger, ongoing conversation about whether the ubiquity of Web search is good or bad for serious research. So what are the hallmarks of a good online search education? Related Related: ISS Learning Commons

Field Trip Library 12 Ways to Be More Search Savvy Google has made it possible for us to have instant information gratification. Just start typing the first letters of your search word and the site intuits your question and offers you the smartest choice of answers. Seems simple enough. CONTROL F. To those who wonder if Google is making us stupid, Russell has a pithy response: “Plato said that about books.” I better go search that. Related Advanced Fiction Writing: The Best Books On How To Write A Novel There are zillions of books on writing, and many are listed in the catalog of the Writers’ Digest Book Club. I have a whole shelf of them. Many of them turned out to be excellent compost. Some of them have proven useful. The following are the ones I think you’ll find most useful, with links to Amazon where you can buy them right now. The Most Wished For book in the Fiction Writing Reference category on Amazon is Writing Fiction for Dummies, the complete guide for writing and selling your novel. A classic textbook on writing by one of the master teachers of fiction writing. A summary of the fiction writing wisdom of Sol Stein, the legendary editor, writer, and teacher. A very useful guide for learning the craft of fiction writing. A massively popular book on how to write a massively popular novel by upping your fiction writing game. A recent book on story structure that will teach you everything you need to know about the three-act structure and a whole lot more.

Teach Your Kids the Secrets of Smart Web Searching Help Your Child Search the Web Like a Pro “Let’s google dinosaurs.” Sound familiar? Searching the Web is so commonplace that even young children know what it means to “google.” But when your children really need to do research for a report – or dive deeper into a subject they’re interested in – it helps to know some strategies for improving their results. Effective online searching can make a huge difference in the quality and relevance of the content your children find on the Internet. Why It Matters Everyone knows there’s a huge amount of data on the Internet. Different search engines work differently. Finally, the links that come up in searches may have some strings attached – not to the research topic, but to advertisers. Smart searching will help avoid a lot of wasted time. Tips for Effective Online Searches Choose your search terms carefully. Adding more words can narrow a search. Use synonyms! Point out sponsored links. Be aware of your browser's safe-search settings. Write "site."

Not So Distant Future — technology, libraries, and schools Search tools and filters - Web Search Help - Web Search Help Depending on the type of place you searched, you could see some of these filters: Your past visits: Narrow results to places you have or haven't visited. Rating: Filter by the rating given by other people who use Google. Cuisine: See results based on the type of food served. Price: Filter by how much a restaurant or other place costs. Hours: Limit results based on when the place is open. Add or remove places you've visited To get better search results, you can tell Google whether you have or haven't been to a place. On your phone: Under "Overview," tap You visited here __ days/weeks/years ago. Note: To filter by places you've visited, turn on Location History on your Android device or iPhone or iPad, and turn on Web and App Activity.

Civic Engagement Networking Night 2010 Jump to Navigation CU Home LionSHARE for Students Twitter Facebook LinkedIn RSS Feeds General Info Google CSE Home > News > Civic Engagement Networking Night 2010 Main menu Secondary menu Tue, May. 28 The Bowdoin Group Networking Event & Open House Wed, May. 29 Taking the Next Step: Advanced Social Media for Your Job Search Sun, Jun. 2 J.P. Fri, Jun. 7 IvyLife-Columbia First Fridays Networking Breakfast Civic Engagement Networking Night 2010 February 24, 2010 Department: Administration and Planning (Admin) Access: Writer On February 24 th from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., CCE will host the 2 nd annual Civic Engagement Networking Night in the Low Memorial Library Rotunda. For tips on how to prepare for this event and how to communicate with the professionals attending, be sure to register for the Networking 101 workshop held the evening before this event. Copyright © 2013 The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York • Privacy Policy • Terms of Use

The 8 Pillars of Digital Literacies May 21, 2014 Edudemic has recently published this wonderful visual that outlines the eight elements of digital literacy. I am posting below for those of you who haven't seen it yet. Essential Elements of Digital Literacy "Cultural – Look at the context in which the literacy is situatedCognitive – How do we think when we are using a device (vs when we are not)? Search operators - Web Search Help - Web Search Help You can use symbols or words in your search to make your search results more precise. Google Search usually ignores punctuation that isn’t part of a search operator. Don’t put spaces between the symbol or word and your search term. A search for site:nytimes.com will work, but site: nytimes.com won’t. Refine image searches Overall Advanced Search Go to Advanced Image Search. Search for an exact image size Right after the word you're looking for, add the text imagesize:widthxheight. Example: imagesize:500x400 Common search techniques Search social media Put @ in front of a word to search social media. Search for a price Put $ in front of a number. Search hashtags Put # in front of a word. Exclude words from your search Put - in front of a word you want to leave out. Search for an exact match Put a word or phrase inside quotes. Search within a range of numbers Put .. between two numbers. Combine searches Put "OR" between each search query. Search for a specific site Search for related sites