Things I am picking up from the November Learning online web literacy course:

Noodletools offers a wide selection of search tools specific to certain needs and prompts users to focus a research problem. Prompts such as “I need to see relationships among ideas,” or “I need a subject hub prepared by an expert” help direct students to the right place and get them thinking critically about they are trying to achieve.
http://www.noodletools.com/noodlequest/


For kid-centric databases, try browsing through the lists of databases compiled by Tekmom. Tekmom is both a teacher and mom, and has assembled a good assortment of search tools and databases. At Ivy’s resource centre for kids you will find an even larger selection of resources. This is a great site for students because there are so many search tools available on one page.
http://www.ivyjoy.com/rayne/kidssearch.html
http://www.tekmom.com/search/

You may have heard of blogs or weblogs. If you haven’t you will soon. A blog is an interactive Web page where individuals can post entries, articles, links, and pictures, and ask others to join into conversations. For educators, they are a way to expand the boundaries of learning. Teachers can post entries for students, parents, and for professional development purposes. Students can engage with others in their community or around the world and post their work to an authentic audience.

Blogs are relatively simple to use and very popular. To find out what is going on in the world of blogs, there are new search engines dedicated to searching the Web in real time. The biggest of the bunch is currently Technorati.

Please note that searching through blogs is not a wise choice for students looking for academic information. Blogs are largely personal accounts and subject to bias. Plus there are many that have inappropriate content. If there is a blog you would like your students to see, we recommend that you find it first. Ideas for searching for blogs for educational use might be
to find other teachers in your subject area and/or level that have one. This is a great way to find resources you might want to use – or establish a blog connection between classes
Find scholars or authors in a particular field
http://www.technorati.com/




A three step search plan
When guiding children through the process of researching information on the Internet, one of the best things they can learn to do is make a 3 step research plan.

Step 1 - Define the research problem
Have students think critically about the research problem and break it down. Questions to consider:
Is it a relatively simple question?
Is it a fact-finding mission?
Is the research question complex with a series of questions or relationships I need to explore?

Step 2 - Know what sort of information you are looking for
Once students have a thorough understanding of what they need to find, they might want to consider the best source of information. Questions to consider:
Am I looking for text, video or pictures?
Do I need biographical information?
Is the information I need historic or current in content?
Should I be asking an expert in the field?

Step 3 Select the right search tools
Make key decisions about the best place to find information. Will the information most likely be found from….
A subject-specific database, such as the Sea World Animal Information Database?
An historic primary document from the deep Web?
A regular search engine? (but which one!)
Here are two great sites that can help with all these questions. NoodleTools can help with the selecting of the right tools. The questions provided on these sites prompt students to consider what types of information they are looking for and then suggest search tools best suited to their needs.
NoodleTools--Choose the best search for your information need (http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/information/5locate/adviceengine.html)

NoodleQuest Search Strategies Wizard - interactive version. (http://www.noodletools.com/noodlequest/)
Selecting keywords
Selecting keywords is probably one of the most useful things students can do to get good search results. It is something of an art. A search engine cannot think. The art is trying to think like a search engine.

Remember! The more specific instructions and keywords provided when searching for information, the better your results will be.

For example if you type the keyword, turtle into a search engine, you will receive over one million results. Search engines will not distinguish between a chocolate turtle and a rock band, The Turtles unless you specify.

If you type in the keyword French a search engine will not know if you mean french fries or the French language. This keyword search will access over 17 million results.
The art of searching is to know what to add (or subtract!) around keywords such as turtle and French. (I’ll get more into that in the next lesson.) The trick is to teach students to be creative and dynamic with searches. Have them try various options of search queries and search tools.

A list of keywords
Students may find it helpful to create a list of keywords before they begin their research. It’s a way for them to make key decisions about what they are looking for and how a search engine might categorize the information.

A list of keywords might be put into three categories:
Adapted from: Kajder, S. (2003). The tech-savvy english classroom. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

How to distinguish what goes in each of the three columns? Here are some tips:

I. Keywords that MUST be included in the search
In this column have students select keywords specific to their research problem. These can be single words or phrases. "Keyword phrases" must be used with quotation marks. Quotation marks help ensure you are searching for words in a certain order. Here’s an example that helps illustrate:
If you go to Ask.com and enter the phrase: renewable resources in the search box, here are the results.
This search provides well over 1 million results. If you enter a search for the phrase renewable resources without quotation marks, most search engines will assume you are looking for Web sites that include the keywords renewable AND resources. The words do not necessarily have to be in any certain order on the site.
This search without quotation marks may produce many more results than you need. Putting quotation marks around phrases ensures search results will match the order of words you have specified.
If you enter the phrase "renewable resources" with quotation marks, the results are much different. The number of results is down to just over 300,000.
It's a good idea to include phrases in your list of MUST words. In fact when teaching these concepts to younger students, many find it helpful to first phrase a research problem in the form of a question to ensure all keywords are included. Then students can identify extract words and phrases from their questions. Example:

II. Keywords that MIGHT be included in the search
For this category think of words that MIGHT be included in the search. These would include synonyms, related and variations of words listed in the MUST category. This is an excellent opportunity for students to think creatively about keywords. It is also an opportunity to think more like a search engine.
For example, if you want to know the day Abraham Lincoln was born, a Web page will most likely list the information as Abraham Lincoln’s birth date or date of birth. The word born might not be used. Urge students to think about how the information they are looking for will be presented.
The purpose of compiling a list of MIGHT words is to help if you are having little success searching with MUST words.

III. Keywords that should NOT be included in the search
In this column think of words that might be associated with your topic, but do not interest you. For example, you might be researching horses, but do not want any information about racehorses. You might be researching Shakespeare but you do not want any information about sonnets.