Information Literacy Objective

The student will identify and create keyword searches in order to find articles in an online database.

Student Objectives

Introduction (Time = 5-10 minutes)

Ask students to recap what they learned about databases in LOBO.  (The following will probably be mentioned: databases are accessible from the library’s homepage – purchased by the university, databases house articles, databases can be searched by keywords, article title, or journal title, etc., sometimes offer full-text articles or article abstracts). 

Procedure (Time = 30 minutes)

1. Pass out sample topics and worksheets. Students will use these on their own after you model a search.

2. Access Academic Search Premier.

• Go to the library’s homepage, www.lib.ncsu.edu, then click on “Find Articles.”  Click on Academic Search Premier.  Explain that there are several ways to access the databases, so if students know of another way of getting to the databases, they can use whatever is most comfortable for them.

3.      Tell students your sample search topic and write it on the board. 

• Example:  You are going to be writing a speech and your topic is about the effect of advertising on obesity in children. You are interested in how advertisers use characters and cartoons to market food products to children.

• Have students help you pick apart the important terms to use as keywords.  First choose one term and search just that term (e.g., search “advertising” first, then search “marketing”).  See if you get the same results for both. 

• Add other search terms.  Write your search statement on the board as you go. [Example:  children and obesity and (advertising or marketing)] 

• Point out the impact of using AND and OR.  Remind students of the practice they had with keyword searching in LOBO and previous lessons.

4.      Model your search in Academic Search Premiere. Browse through the results list, showing the number of citations you found on your topic. Show students how some articles are available in full-text and others only have the citation and an abstract.

• Show students the option to email an article if it is in full-text.  Show how to email to multiple email addresses.

• (You may choose to only work with full-text today, OR show students FindText@NCSU link)  NOTE: If you choose to show the FindText@NCSU, plan for an extra 5-10 minutes for this lesson. 

• Click on an article link to show students subject terms. 

5.      Have students complete their worksheets.

• Students should follow the same procedures discussed with the sample search.  If there are enough computers, have students work on their own to complete the worksheet.  If not, allow students to work in pairs or groups of no more than 3 to complete their worksheets. (It is best for students to have practice searching the databases by actually using the computers themselves if possible.) 

6.      Explain that there are two sample search topics distributed among the students. When students are finished you will ask for volunteers to show the articles they found. Students will then compare and contrast the articles found as a class, and look at the use of different search strategies.

7.      Walk around the class as students work, answering any questions they might have. Allow enough time (at least 10-15 minutes) for students to complete the worksheet.

8.      When students are done, choose at least one person from each group to explain their search topic, the search statement they used, and the article they chose. 

• Were the articles directly on topic?  How could search statements be made more effective? 

9.      Compare and contrast student findings.  Were the articles similar in any way?  How were they different?  Did students use the same search statements?  How did students use Boolean searches to broaden or narrow their searches? 

• Ask students if their articles were in full-text.  Were they able to email the article to themselves?  If not, was there an abstract available?

Closure (Time = 5 minutes)

• Remind students that it is important to break down their searches into smaller terms when working on their research assignments. 
• Encourage students to talk with librarians either at the Reference Desk or through online chat if they need help finding articles.  Show students the Ask-A-Librarian services at NSCU.
• Summarize the main points of the lesson.
• Collect student handouts (optional).