Unit 1 Reference Search Tips

Pre-Search Activities	ask yourself what type of information you need - general vs specific, scholarly vs popular, authoritative vs casual, current vs historical consider your online environment - NVCC, public library, and WWW develop a list of keywords or synonyms related to your topic establish remote access connection using your NVCC student user identification and password visit your online environment and identify a few reference sources to begin your search
Search Techniques	READ the screen when you visit a web site, especially for the first time locate the database banner and notice what navigational options are available - home, search, index, previous, next study the screen layout and look for value-added features - e-mail, search editing, links to related topics find the search box and enter one of your key words, a phrase, or question related to your topic if you don't find a search box, look for an alphabetical range and select the most appropriate letter for your topic avoid "stop" words like "a, an, at, in, the, on " in your search most online tools ignore them select the button that initiates the search review the list of hot linked article results select the most appropriate article to review locate the help button if you have questions
Search Techniques for Printed Sources	locate the index or table of contents search for key words related to your topic note page and/or volume number to obtain information
Post Search Activities	did you find the information that you needed? what information do you still need to locate? what resources have you not yet tried? repeat the presearch activities and keep searching if you need assistance, consult a librarian