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BIS3350 Oct 2016
Developing critical searching skills
In this workshop we will :
• Consider what critical searching means?
• Start to develop critical searching skills
• Learn how to evaluate information
• Use these skills to find quality information
Coursework marking criteriaIndividual guided literature review: Task 1
Marks will be awarded for:
• Quality of reference
• Quality and detail presented in the reason for selecting
• Range and focus of the search techniques used to
identify and select the reference
What does ‘critical’ mean?Finding fault: negative comment e.g. ‘Not good enough’.
Key, decisive, crucial: ‘a critical moment’, ‘critically ill’, ‘a critical decision’.
In your University work being ‘critical’ means: being thoughtful, asking questions, not taking things you read and hear at face value.
When searching for information ‘critical’ means: thinking carefully about the information you find, evaluating it, asking questions, considering its authority, reflecting on it etc.
Williams, K. 2014 Getting critical. 2 edn. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
“We can describe a book or a journal article as an artefact, a published and describable entity: you look for it, you find it, you’re done. Or we can describe information in terms of its contribution to knowledge…….you find it, you read it, you start answering back to it.”
Emma Coonan, 2014
Trustworthy and reliable sources
Blog Professor
Twitter Teenager
Conference proceeding
An unpublished researcher
Newspaper article The Sun
TV Programme
Oscar winning Director
WikipediaPublished academic
Critical searcher: questions to ask
• Who • What • Where • When • Why Marking criteria:
Describe the reference….include information on what it shows and why you trust it or
believe it to be useful.
Try it out
• Who • What • Where • When • Why
Marking Criteria:Higher marks will be awarded for an ‘open’
search technique.
Marking Criteria:Explain your search method including search engine or database used, search terms used
and the aim of the particular search.
Why research?
Broaden: USA OR America or comput*
Exclude: Apple NOT fruit or -Amazon
Narrow: network AND security
Phrase/exact match: “human computer interaction” or +Ideo or “IDEO”
Academic sources: “project management” +ac or +edu
Get answers: Define: “paper prototyping” or Alan Turing developed*
Streamlining your search
http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/Computing/SearchTips
A critical look at URLs
http://www.nice.org.ukIn the URL What it means
.com (US or anywhere)
.co.uk (UK)Commercial organisation or company big or small
.fr .au .uk .sa The country where the organisation/company is located
.org A non profit organisation
.edu (US)
.ac.uk (UK)Academic institutions
.gov A government agency
Williams, K. 2014 Getting critical. 2 edn. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/computing/Internet
More information
Other resourcesMyUniHub > MyStudy > MyLibrary > Summon
Refine
Abstract
Reference
Marking criteria:
Any reference where a Web address is provided rather than a correct reference will automatically be ignored and not marked.
Marking criteria:
Provide the reference in the Harvard format.
MyUniHub > MyStudy > MyLibrary > Databases > C
http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/CSRef
Give it a go
Avoiding Plagiarism: find out moreMy Library > MySubject > Science & Technology > Computing > Skills
http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/computing/skills
Guided literature review
Description: Describe the reference, include information on what it shows and why you trust it or believe it is useful.
Reason for selecting: How does this reference fit into the ‘story’ you are telling about how your innovation became successful.
In the URL What it means
Summarise: what is it about? • The author’s purpose, aim or question
• Main argument, central idea, findings or conclusions
• What sort of text is it? General? Specific?
Evaluate: What do I think about it? • Who is it written for?• Particular strengths or points of
interest• Similarities or differences with
other things you have read, or ideas you hold yourself
• Any weaknesses or limitations?Reflect: How might I use it • Has the text helped you
understand the topic better? What?
• How useful is it? How?
Williams, K. 2014 Getting critical. 2 edn. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
