RESEARCH BASICS: GRADE 12 LEVEL 

1. Search the SCS catalog  

Search the SCS catalog AND Webpath express AND databases in one search

2. Searching the web. All search engines are NOT created equal—find a good one.

a. Google 

•  Search help: help link at bottom of Google page

• 

Keywords: identify terms that would appear on the page you want:

collect & focus your terms. Keep it simple, use as few words as

possible, but use precise, descriptive words.

• 

Boolean operators & search tips:  

o Bioethics OR DNAo  jaguar  –cars  –football -os o ―macaroni penguin‖ o Isaac Newton discovered * o DNA ~testing o related:http://www.bing.com/  

• 

Search tools (left side): Related searches, reading level, timeline, news• 

Advanced search: get fewer, but better hits

•  CTRL + F to search for words within any webpage

b. iboogie: puts documents with similar content or related topics in same group.

http://www.iboogie.tv 

c. Bing: http://www.bing.com/ You can limit a search by domain: .com, .gov,

net, .edu, .ca) Use NOT

3. Website evaluation. Anyone can post on the web—you are responsible for the

credibility of your sources. How can you know whether a source is trustworthy?

a. Wikipedia is not a credible source (even YOU could edit it), but you might find

good keywords and useful links in an article ʼs bibliography.

b. For website evaluation criteria:  http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html  

4. Other credible sources. When you use search engines you are only accessing 10% of 

the material on the World Wide Web. To make matters worse, many engines offer  ―paid

placement‖ which gives a false sense of authority. The good stuff still costs money, but

we have paid it for you. Use our full-text databases (major universities also subscribe to

access articles here).

A. EBSCO: Three great databases here. Access from the library home page 

At home, username: SCSS password: falcons

OR go to Surrey Public Librar yʼs databases, A-Z (not all the same databases)  

 

 

General advice for all databases 

o Select ―full text‖ 

o Try advanced search o sign in if you want to easily save articles and return to them later  

OR just email them to yourself using ―email‖ link

o CTRL + F to search for a keyword in any document

o Check ALL columns on webpage to refine/expand search  

•  EBSCOhost: a full-text database of published articles.

o  Always ―choose databases‖ 

• 

Canadian Points of View: tips… 

o Browse by category/bioethicso Use subtabs for types of information (i.e.news, mag, reference)  o citation link will give you all the info you need for Word Reference  

o Try ―Find more like this‖ •  Student Research Centre  

o Narrow results by… subject or geography 

B. Infotrac another 2 excellent databases http://infotrac.galegroup.com/default  

Username: fraservalley password: falcons 

1. CPI.Q Canadian Periodicals.  

2. Global Issues in Context  –***incredible resource 

a. Scroll through centre & right columns for types of docs

(podcasts, primary sources, reference, news, mags… )

C. Worldbook Advanced Online : http://www.worldbookonline.com/  

•  Try timeline feature

•  Username: eracwb password: trial 

D. Canada.com: full-text archive of 12 major Canadian newspapers and Global TV

broadcasts. http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html To sign in, give email address: library@surreychristian.com

•  Password: Falcons1

D. The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ click on ―unlimited‖ & enter name username and password as ―Canada.com‖ 

5. Citing your research: APA 

a. Works cited: The easiest way is to use the ―Reference‖ tab in MS Word.b. Parenthetical citations (Smith, 2012)

c. Remember to properly introduce your quotes/paraphrasing