Welcome to our collection of Pathfinders.
These Pathfinders are designed to assist you with your study and are the result of collaboration between your teachers and the Library staff.
What is a pathfinder?
A pathfinder can lead you through the 'information jungle'! (Valenza, 2010)
They provide a starting point for your research.
On these pathfinders, you will find:
They provide a starting point for your research.
On these pathfinders, you will find:
- a list of keywords or search terms that will help you when searching the Library Catalogue or the Internet
- some tips on more effective ways of searching the Internet
- a list of books that may be useful from our Library
- a list of websites, videos and other online resources that we have found, which will help you in your research
Search Engines
What would you do if you couldn’t use Google? Did you realise that Google is just one of thousands of different search engines available? Did you know that Google is not always the best choice,
particularly for your school work?
The following are some others that you might like to try.
Boolify is a visual search engine, in which you can access great, student-friendly websites. Boolify works on Boolean searching, which means that you build up the search by using the words ‘and’, ‘not’, ‘or’. There are some help videos on the Boolify site, which help you understand the Boolean process.
Yippy is good because it assists you in narrowing down your search terms. When you put in a search term, it then offers a list of other search terms on the left hand side that might be more appropriate for you.
Glean is very exciting, as it offers a comparison service. If you need to get the ‘pros and cons’ for a topic, you could put in two searches, one for pros and one for cons. You would then receive two lists of results.
Twurdy is an effective search engine as it categorises the results into different reading levels. You can then choose something for your own age and reading ability.
Sputtr is a multi-search engine. It separates all of your results into the following categories: web, images, video, social, news, Wikipedia, music and games. It is then easy to access if you are looking for a particular type of information.
particularly for your school work?
The following are some others that you might like to try.
Boolify is a visual search engine, in which you can access great, student-friendly websites. Boolify works on Boolean searching, which means that you build up the search by using the words ‘and’, ‘not’, ‘or’. There are some help videos on the Boolify site, which help you understand the Boolean process.
Yippy is good because it assists you in narrowing down your search terms. When you put in a search term, it then offers a list of other search terms on the left hand side that might be more appropriate for you.
Glean is very exciting, as it offers a comparison service. If you need to get the ‘pros and cons’ for a topic, you could put in two searches, one for pros and one for cons. You would then receive two lists of results.
Twurdy is an effective search engine as it categorises the results into different reading levels. You can then choose something for your own age and reading ability.
Sputtr is a multi-search engine. It separates all of your results into the following categories: web, images, video, social, news, Wikipedia, music and games. It is then easy to access if you are looking for a particular type of information.
The Information Process
- The Information Process is a set of 6 skills that will assist you with any research or enquiry-based task. You can use the following as a checklist for each assignment task, to ensure that you have completed all areas.
STEP ONE: DEFINING
- What do I know about this topic?
- What do I need to find out? (Focus questions)
- What words would be good search terms? (Keywords)
STEP TWO: LOCATING
- Design a search strategy incorporating all available resources.
- Search the library catalogue, Internet, journals, databases and other resources. Don't forget Primary sources such as people!
- Refine your search terms to make your search broader or narrower
STEP THREE: SELECTING
- Select information by skimming and scanning resources.
- Use indexes and tables of content.
- Evaluate information critically - be aware of bias, prejudice and inconsistencies.
- Does the source of information have authority?
- Record author, title, URL, date etc
- Make notes of relevant information in a notemaking framework addressing focus questions
STEP FOUR: ORGANISING
- Combine information from different sources.
- Look for gaps in the information collected. GO BACK TO 2 if necessary.
- Outline the plan for your final copy
STEP FIVE: CREATING
- Prepare a draft copy and edit it.
- Complete final copy.
- Compile bibliography.
STEP SIX: EVALUATING
- Evaluate the process you used to achieve your end product.
- Evaluate your assignment. Have you successfully addressed the research task?
- Your teachers and peers may also evaluate your process and product