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Utilising ICT in academic communication Academic Communication for Advanced Secondary Schools

Exercise 4�2

1. Assess how you use library resource to access academic information.
2. What are the challenges that one is likely to face in using physical resources
of academic information?

FOR ONLINE READING ONLY
Techniques for searching for academic information
We use search engines to access information from websites. Search engines are programs
designed specifically to locate websites on the internet with items in a database that match
the keywords or characters entered in the search engine. Some social media platforms can
also provide reliable academic information. It is essential to gain knowledge on search
techniques, such as using keywords, subject headings, Boolean operators, truncation
and wildcards, and controlled vocabulary for effective academic material searches. The
following explanations will guide you in using ICT to access academic information
through different search engines.

(a) Keyword searching

When searching for information in a database or on a website, you use one of the
most basic search strategies. Keywords are words or phrases users type into search
engines to find information. That way, the search will be focused and will return
results quickly. However, if the search terms are too broad or narrow, one can get
irrelevant information or no results. A phrase is one way to focus on a search with
keywords to ensure that your search returns the best results. If you are searching
for two words that should appear together in a certain order — for example, “cell
division” in a biology context — you would enter those two words together in
quotation marks: “cell division”. This instructs the search engine to look for that
particular phrase, not any document containing the words “cell” and “division”.
(b) Boolean operators
Simple terms like AND, OR, NOT, or AND NOT are known as Boolean operators.
They are used as conjunctions in searches to combine or exclude keywords, producing
more targeted and useful results. The user can locate one concept, another concept,
or both concepts on a single web page by using this kind of “logical” or “nesting”
searching. They become handy when a word has several different spellings or
meanings. For example, a search using the phrase “business” AND “management”
would look for a web page with both words. However, searching for “business”
AND NOT “management” would look for web pages containing the word “business”
but not the word “management”. Subsequently, the search using the “OR” operator
finds either one concept or another. This can be a helpful way of grouping similar
concepts or synonyms. For example, using the search term “internet” OR “web”
will find web pages that contain either the word “internet” or the word “web” or
both words. Such a search would be useful if the user wanted to search for pages

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Student’s Book Form Five

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Academic Communication.indd 41
Academic Communication.indd 41 30-Jun-24 11:02:05 AM