The document provides guidance on conducting research and evaluating online information sources. It discusses defining a research question, selectively reading relevant and reliable sources, and using research tools like search engines, Wikipedia, and library databases. It also offers tips for validating information on the web such as checking the URL, author, links, and using the Wayback Machine. Students are advised to be selective and critical in both their searching and reading.
Influencing policy (training slides from Fast Track Impact)
CT231: Research & search skills
1.
2.
3. Stages of
Research
Define the
research
question
(THINK before
you SEARCH)
Read &
Refine
Read
selectively, activ
ely, critically
Research
Tools
Search
engines, Wikipedi
a
Google Scholar
Advanced Search
Library resources:
Books,
Electronic
journals, Databas
es
4. Read Selectively
• select the LATEST / CURRENT
• select the most RELEVANT
• select by RELIABILITY
(e.g. Source? Bias? Bibliography?)
• select by AMOUNT
8. R Read the URL
E Examine the content
A Check out the site Author / Owner
L Look at the links
How to validate information on the web
Check out the Wayback Machine at:
www.archive.org
9. SEARCH: some questions...
1. How do I find recent articles?
2. How do I find Irish examples?
3. How do I find recent journal articles?
4. How do I get full text of articles, if not
available on Google Scholar?
12. Personalised search means that the search
results we are served are based on what we
have clicked on in the past...
Search technologies make the world's
information “universally accessible”,
as Google's motto puts it, but it is not “making
universal knowledge universally accessible”.
Siva Vaidhyanathan
The Googlization of Everything
14. Your filter bubble is a unique, personal universe of
information created just for you by an array of
personalizing filters. It’s invisible and it’s becoming
more and more difficult to escape.
“We are turning media into a mirror that reflects our
own prejudices back at us. Even worse, services like
Google and Facebook distort the mirror so that it
exaggerates our grosser characteristics. Without our
knowing, they reshape our information worlds
according to their interpretation of our interests.”
Eli Pariser
The Filter Bubble
16. Be Selective & Critical –
in your search and your reading
• Select the LATEST / CURRENT information
• Select by RELIABILITY
(e.g. source, bias, bibliography)
• Evaluate the AUTHORITY of the author/website
• check the URL
• check “About Me”
• check the links to/from
• If in doubt, check the Wayback Machine:
www.archive.org
Be more critical! Change privacy settings, use other browsers, use other search engines, go to the 2nd page, etc.
We are living in a time when your knowledge and my knowledge, based on what search results we are served, may be very different from each other.
Your filter bubble is this unique, personal universe of information created just for you by this array of personalizing filters. It’s invisible and it’s becoming more and more difficult to escape. We are turning media into a mirror that reflects our own prejudices back at us. Even worse, services like Google and Facebook distort the mirror so that it exaggerates our grosser characteristics. Without our knowing, they reshape our information worlds according to their interpretation of our interests.
We’re used to thinking of the Internet like an enormous library, with services like Google providing a universal map. But that’s no longer really the case. Sites from Google and Facebook to Yahoo News and the New York Times are now increasingly personalized – based on your web history, they filter information to show you the stuff they think you want to see. That can be very different from what everyone else sees – or from what we need to see. We are living in a time when your knowledge and my knowledge, based on what search results we are served, may be very different from each other.