The goal of this exercise is to become comfortable with searching for the databases by reflecting on your search process - noting areas of the search process where you feel comfortable, and noting areas where you're encountering barriers and may want to follow-up with a librarian or your professor.
Please answer 3 of the following questions, PLUS the final required question. Then, talk with the person next to you about your responses - after, we'll compile these as a class to create a shared document on good research practices.
- What search features am I using, and which do I find to be the most helpful?
- What am I learning about my topic that could inform or change how I am searching for sources?
- What keywords seem to work best? Why? What strategies am I using to identify alternative keywords?
- Am I able to tell what is a credible source and what’s not so credible? If not, why not?
- What strategies am I using to keep track of the potentially useful sources I find?
- In what specific ways am I thinking about using each source in my paper? Give an example.
- What is most difficult for me about searching? Most confusing? What can I change now, going forward, to adjust to these?
- In general, what strategies am I trying / using as I search and explore? Are they working well? What strategies did I start to use only to find out they didn’t work? How did I then modify my approach?
- What questions for follow-up do I have?
- REQUIRED question: What have I learned as I strategized / searched? What advice or strategy suggestions would I give my classmates as they search?
