ENG 101 (Spring 2017): Class Activity : Search Strategies

Remember to think of possible:

• Synonyms
• Narrower Terms
• Broader Terms
• Related Terms

Group work: Students will form groups of 2-3 students.

1.) Begin by having the students identify KEY TERMS in the question and brainstorm a list of synonyms and related topics.

• A good dictionary and thesaurus are valuable throughout the research process.  A good one to start with is the Collins English Thesaurus

2.) Each group will find the following to answer the question using  Academic Search Premier :

• A Popular Article
• A Scholarly Article
   

3.) Discussion: Groups will each send one representative to board to present their search strategy; discuss results

• Discuss the importance of synonyms
• Discuss database limiters such as date, full text, and peer reviewed.
• Discuss Scholarly v. Popular.
• Discuss if students think that they improved their topic by brainstorming search terms.  Ask, “Were there areas of your topic that you hadn’t thought of before?”