Finding more information

In Module 2 we found items from your reading list. However, for most assignments you need to find more information than the sources listed on your reading list.

The purpose of Module 3 is to help you find additional books and journal articles by:

1. identifying keywords or phrases you can use to search
2. choosing a relevant information source
3. using the keywords to search information sources
4. evaluating your search and changing it, if you find too many or too few relevant items

Below is a chart of this process:

Finding Keywords

In the following example of an assignment question the keywords have been underlined.

Today’s mobile phones are equipped with wireless data capability that allows email, games, instant messaging, ring tones and videos.

Discuss the issues for consumers and society that may result from the increased use of wireless technology.

The table below lists the keywords from the topic as well as some alternative keywords.

When writing about a topic, authors may use a variety of words to describe a topic. To effectively search for information, you need to:

• Think of alternative keywords such as words and phrases that have a similar meaning to the assignment keywords
  
  

  Try this exercise in identifying keywords and alternative keywords for a sample assignment question.

• Use both the assignment keywords and the alternative keywords when searching for information for your assignment topic. To do this you need to develop a search strategy using the connectors AND and OR
  
  

  See how connectors work using some of the keywords above.

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Choosing information sources

Now that you’ve identified keywords and considered combining them with connectors you need to choose an information source to search.

In Module 1 we discussed possible sources of information. Two main sources are:

• Books: use a catalogue to find books
• Journal Articles: use a library database to find journal articles

In these sections we will demonstrate how to search for books and journal articles using a range of sample assignment questions to demonstrate the process. You will need to access both sections to complete Module 3.