#1. Research Skill: Keywords & Search Strings

1. Create a Keyword Bank:
   1. Write down the important words, names, or ideas relating to your topic that you currently know.
   2. Add more words, names, and ideas as you discover them in your research.
   3. Sometimes your original keywords will not bring you the expected results, so it is important to have a bank of alternate search terms ready to go.
   4. 
2. Create a Search String:
   1. You should always research by searching carefully selected keywords NOT entire sentances!
      1. Putting "and" between two keywords will NARROW your results so only results with BOTH terms will show up.
      2. Putting "OR" between two keywords will EXPAND your results so results with EITHER of the terms will show up.
      3. Putting "NOT" between keywords will LIMIT results to ignore results with certain words.
   2. 

#2. Research Skill: Finding Sources

• When looking for sources, there are three primary "places" you can look. 
  • Books / Ebooks
  • Subscription Databases
  • Free Web
• Research is best conducted using a range or sources from several different "places." Variety is the spice of life, if possible its best not to use only one type of source provider.

• Ebooks (on MackinVia)
  • 
  • GVHS Library now offers more than 1500 e-books & audiobooks.

• • You GV ipads have the MackinVia app! You could also use the browser version if you prefer.
  • Log in to your MackinVia account with your usual GV Office 354 username and password!
  • Find a book you'd like and click "check out!"
  • Learn more about using MackinVia on the MackinVia Padlet!

• Physical Books  (contact Miss Bogan if you'd like help!)
  • Books and E-Books should not be overlooked as a valuable source type for your research. GVHS Library has recently added more than 5000 new e-books, many of which are nonfiction and pertain to the topics you are researching. I highly suggest you see if we have any ebooks on your topic.

• • To see if we have any books or e-books on your topic, search the Destiny Discover Widget below.
  • Found a physical book you want? Order it using our "Contact-less Curbside Pickup" option.
  • Found an e-book you want? Check it out digitally in your MackinVia account (directions here).
  • 

Databases:

The library purchases several excellent subscription databases. Whenever you are lucky to have access to databases, you should always try to use them for research. The sources found in the databases are not available on the free web.

You can view video tutorials for each database on the Tutorials Page.

The username and passwords are available on the library's Canvas course, which should be on your canvas dashboard. If it is not, email Miss Bogan.

   

Free Web 

You can sometimes find great resources on the free web, though it is much harder. You will be expected to carefully evaluate these sources before using them for academic research. Be sure to educate yourself on who wrote/produced/published the resource. Check that the person or organization that wrote/published/produced the information has authority on the subject.

•  Google.com (science of roller coasters filetype:pdf)
  • When using google you might try searching just for PDFs on your topic. Sometimes this will bring you scholarly journals.  
  • Type "filetype:pdf" after the final search term in the search box
  • Always check to make sure the article was not written by other students.
• Refseek 
  • Refseek is a great alternative to google, because it tries to bring more academic sources and less commercial sources.
  • Always check to make sure the article is written and published by reputable, authoritative source and not other students!
• Google's Dataset Search
  • find data sets/statistics using google's dataset search
• Microsoft Academic -
  • Great place to find scholarly articles outside a database.
  • Be aware that not every article that shows up in the results will ACTUALLY be free to access.
    • You'll have to stay flexible and adaptive while searching the results.
    • Expect to run into some barriers you can't get past. When that happens, abandon the article and keep searching for others.
• Semantic Scholar - 
  • Great place to find scholarly articles outside a database.
  • Be aware that not every article that shows up in the results will ACTUALLY be free to access.
    • You'll have to stay flexible and adaptive while searching the results.
    • Expect to run into some barriers you can't get past. When that happens, abandon the article and keep searching for others.

Google Search Tips

Evaluating Sources:

• It is important, especially for free web sources, to evaluate your sources for reliability & credibility.
• You can learn how to do so here.

Wikipedia - How to Use Wikipedia for Academic Research:

1. You CAN use Wikipedia:
   1. Use it to find keywords for your search strings
   2. Use it to familiarize yourself with the broad overview of your topic
   3. Use it to get background info on a topic
   4. Use it to find other sources (go to bottom of page, explore cited sources there)
2. You just cannot quote from, or cite Wikipedia as a source
   1. Why? Because, even though Wikipedia has become an exceptional information resource, it IS a Wiki, which means that someone could technically add misinformation. Since we can never be 100% absolutely certain of the author of the information, Wikipedia itself cannot be quoted or cited as a reputable source.

Finding Legislative Information - There are a couple different ways to find out what legislative action is being taken around different issues/topics.

• Keyword search Congress.gov's Legislation searcher
  • Each state also has a way to keyword search for state legislature. Google "bill search STATE" to find the one you want. This is Pennsylvania's.
• Another avenue to try is the following google search.
  
  • 
• Keyword search Congress.gov's Legislation searcher
  • Each state also has a way to keyword search for state legislature. Google "bill search STATE" to find the one you want. This is Pennsylvania's.

Additional Free Web Resources:

1. News Sources
   
   1. The Wall Street Journal 
   2. The New York Times 
   3. Chicago Tribune 
   4. New York Post 
   5. Los Angeles Times 
   6. The Washington Post 
   7. Newsday 
   8. The Mercury News 
   9. East Bay Times 
   10. Star Tribune 
   11. You also might try looking at Associated Press for news sources.

1. Websites for Issues Research
2. ProCon.org: an independent non-profit founded by Steven C. Markoff “to provide resources for critical thinking and to educate without bias.”
3. AllSides - AllSides curates stories from right, center and left-leaning media so that readers can easily compare how bias influences reporting.
4. ProPublica. ProPublica produces investigative journalism in the public interest.
5. National Discussion and Debate Series: This program was created “to encourage a vigorous, well-informed discussion on the national stage about the major issues of our time.”
6. Debate.org - Gain balanced, non-biased insight into each issue and review the breakdown of pro-con stances within our community.
7. MediaBiasFactCheck - This website is awesome for checking the biases and reputation associated with news sources. It will give you info about the source's political leanings and reputation which helps you decide if your source is reliable.
8. Open Secrets. Tracks how much and where candidates get their money.
9. WHOis.net - find out who owns a website or domain name. You can then search for that person or organization's reputation and biases.
10. isidewith.com - example of ideas
11. Washington Post Fact Checker. Although WP has a left-center bias, its checks are excellent and sourced. Bias because they fact check conservative claims more than liberal ones.
12. The Sunlight Foundation. Uses public policy data-based journalism to make politics more transparent/accountable
13. Snopes.  Often the first to set facts straight on wild fake news claims.
14. Fact Check. This nonpartisan, nonprofit monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by U.S. political players, including politicians, TV ads, debates, interviews and news releases.​
15. Media Matters. This nonprofit and self-described liberal-leaning research center monitors and corrects conservative misinformation in the media.​
16. NewsBusters. A project of the conservative Media Research Center, NewsBusters is focused on “documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias.”​

#3 Research Skill: Noodletools

Click here or the image to go to the Noodletool's Tutorials & How To's page.