Details of the Search

Research Tutorial

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CONTENTS

Information Basics

Recognizing What You Need

Back to Research Problems
Personal Interest Research
Details of Search

Searching Tips

Evaluating Information

Troubleshooting Tips

Research Ethics

Details of Search - Personal Interest
Bat Information

Alice starts with her library's Web site. Remember? Librarians research topics for people all the time and make links to lots of resources. Alice will also find an email address on the Web site so that she can conveniently email a librarian some questions. She should have an email response within a day or two. Connecting to the Web to search for information about bats is an excellent idea. The Web will have current information about field trips, active local groups, and research studies. She could read the Evaluating Information module of this tutorial to be sure she has found reliable information.

Alice will use a search engine to find Web resources about bats. She plans to return to the library's Web site again to use a search engine on the library's Web site. Before she uses a search engine (like Yahoo! or Northern Light) she studies the library's Web page for suggestions. Through links on her local public library's Web site, Alice finds a great resource, Bat Conservation International, Inc., which has links to a magazine about bats, instructions on building a bat house, and information about field trips and workshops. Since the library has listed this resource she found previously, Alice feels more confident about the validity of the site.

Summary: For a personal information interest, starting at your local library in person or via the Internet is best. Librarians and libraries have quick access to local groups and activities; they research and link on their library Web sites electronic resources such as the BadgerLink collection, and reliable search engines and Web sites of interest to their local clientele. On your library's Web site look for wording similar to Internet Links by Subject or Recommended Links and Databases.

Wisconsin libraries make available a database service called BadgerLink which has free access to magazines and newspapers. Alice uses the BadgerLink URL, http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/badgerlink/ , then clicks on Magazines, a link that takes her to a database service called EbscoHost. Here she discovers a database of magazine articles called Ebsco Animals (Ebsco's Encyclopedia of Animals). A search in this database produces 31 articles about different kinds of bats.

Remember the rules for searching or researching:

Be sure to read the Help pages of web search engines and library electronic tools. They are not all the same! How and what you type will vary depending on which tool you choose.

Look at a list of resources and use your keywords (phrases or ideas) to eliminate or include places to search.

Keep in mind the Questions to Ask. For example, if current information about your topic is important you'll choose databases with a high proportion of journal or periodical information rather than databases or library catalogs with book listings.

An understanding of how phrases, connectors, and truncation work will make your research process much faster and will help you no matter how many papers you have to write.

The Role of the Librarian:
Librarians spend time evaluating and selecting both search engines and Web resources that may appeal to their clientele. They can save time and effort for information seekers because they search for and organize material by topics. They also evaluate Web sites and choose to highlight only accurate and reliable resources. By beginning your research at the library's Web site, you will discover very quickly whether your library has already done some research, evaluation and selection in your area of research.

Return to Research Problems

This Research Tutorial is a product of the collaborative efforts of Ulrike Dieterle, UW- Madison, Health Sciences Library; Betsy Richmond and Jill Markgraf, UW-Eau Claire; Anne Kasuboski, UW- Green Bay; Linda Piele, UW-Parkside; and Debbie Cardinal, Cheryl Olson, and Sheila Zillner, Wisconsin Library Services (WiLS). Original graphics designed by Sheila Zillner. (c March 2000).