Whenever you are searching for information ask yourself:
- What am I looking for?
- Background information, general overview, very specific or specialized information/analysis
- Where should I look for this information?
- Where you look impacts the types of materials you will find.
- Search engines looking at open web, vs. library catalog, vs. general database, vs.specialized database
- Library resources are generally: curated by people who assume that patrons will be doing academic research
- Library resources will tell you what kind of content they contain.
- There will usually be contextual information about the material.
- Search results on the open web (materials you find when you use a search engine like Google) are not curated by people, and are algorithmically determined, often with a emphasis on popularity and engagement over accuracy.
- You will have to figure out the contextual information and determine accuracy.
- How am I searching?
- Should I use the Simple/Basic search or the Advanced search option?
- Natural language search using key words, or subject term search,or Boolean search (AND, OR, NOT)
- Who is responsible for this information?
- Who created this information? Who published it? Who is hosting it online?
