Doing REAL Research...
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"Study, study, study" by pnoeric is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Research Tips, Advice, and Steps.
Not necessarily in that order.
The idea with this page is to provide you with some structure when it comes time to do research. Nowadays, every search engine and app has an default-ish AI tool that they try to force you into using. The problem is that the information brought to you this way can be misleading--you often don't know where the info came from and, just as important, you are missing the context for that information. Finally, the thing you are often asked to do in an academic context, accurately and ethically documenting your sources, is often the very thing generative AI neglects to do itself. So, how can you be academically honest and precise when the tools you use are not? Answer: do the research yourself! This is the best, the only way, to control and be sure about the outside sources you are integrating into your own work. See how below...
Strategy 1. Turn off the AI filter on your internet searches
Of late you may have noticed that your Google search results automatically give you an "AI Overview" first. This overview tries to explain the answer to your question in natural language, but doesn't tell you where that information came from and at which point they are using a particular source. To get the real sources without AI getting in the middle of things, you need to make the following adjustment at the top of your page after you've made your search. Select 'More,' and then 'Web' from the drop-down menu, as seen below:
Strategy 2. Improve your Google searches
There are many tricks you can use to improve the precision of your searches. Here are some of the most common/useful:
1. Putting your search terms "in quotes." Doing this means that Google will only give you results that match your wording within the quotes exactly.
Example: If I type "the right to bear arms" into my search box with quotes, I will only get websites containing those exact words in that exact order. On the other hand, if I don't put those terms in quotes, I could get a website not about gun ownership at all, but that does contain the following sentence:
Suddenly, a sound to my right made me turn--a giant bear was approaching the tent, its arms raised in anger!
2. Add the following to your search terms to get more specific results:
site:.org (This ensures all your results will be .org websites--good for when you're looking for different opinions on the same question.
site:.edu (This ensures all your results will be .edu websites--good for when you need your search results to be more academic--and trustworthy!
3. Adjust your search results by how recent they are. Sometimes you may need information for events that are currently happening. You can adjust how recent your search results are using the 'Tools' control after your initial search, as shown below:
4. Adjust the geographic origin of your website results. The point-of-view of a source is very important, and sometimes you will want a balance of opinion. When your research topic deals with different opinions between countries or regions of the world, adjusting your results by geographic location can be very effective. You can do that, as well as adjust the language of returned results, first by selecting 'Advanced Search' under the 'Tools' drop-down menu, as show here.
Then, once in the 'Advanced Search' screen you will have access to a number of additional controls. In this example the student is investigating a topic which is a source of debate between competing countries. Aside from their search terms (where you also have the ability to control things), they have asked only for results from China, BUT in the English language. It is therefore possible to perform the same search, but receive different sets of results based on the geographical location of the content. This can help to bring a better balance to your sources.
Strategy 3. Move up to Google Scholar
Think of Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) as an academic filter placed over the traditional search engine. The good thing is that it gets rid of all the internet junk that often ends up in our search results, leaving you only with academic sources. Sometimes Google Scholar can lead you to great information from a source that wants you to pay for access. You can get around this by adding the following after your search terms:
filetype:pdf
This will ensure that every article you get as a search result is a complete pdf document that you will be able to open and read. Happy researching!
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