Session II (Second day)

                                  

                                     THE WEB RESEARCH 

The second day’s lesson was on the web research. Under this the three main topics covered for our wisdom were on the use of google scholar, Boolean operators, and the use of search smarter.

The focus here will be on google scholar and the use of search smarter since the Boolean operators had been already discussed and posted earlier. What is google scholar? It is a reliable search tool that indexes the full text of scholarly literature in varying publishing formats. It allows us to search across a wide range of academic literature.  The features of google scholar I retrieved on 25^th August present the following:

•  Search all scholarly literature from one convenient place.
• Explore related works, citations, authors, and publications.
•  Locate the complete document through the web.
•  Keep up with recent developments in any area of research.

The above features clearly tell us that there are many advantages in using google scholar.

The next is --- What is search smarter, search faster? I watched the video tutorial and got some insights on this. When we are working on any research topic, we need to refer to different journal articles. There may be hundreds of articles discussing on the same theme. But each one may have used different key words. We must think of how to search our databases. One idea here is to arrange the search format by grouping similar words from each of the articles.  Then we can connect them by using OR for similar terms and using AND to connect words together to create a search. This will cut down our search time and improve the search results.

In the process there was also clarification on the difference between web browser and search engine. Web browser is like chrome and Mozilla Firefox. They display information. Search engine are like yahoo and google. They retrieve information. Some of the participants were not clear on the difference between search bar and the address bar. Tutor was kind enough to elaborate on this. Address bar can be used when we have the complete address otherwise we make use of the search bar.

Critical Analysis/ future commitment

To be honest, I gained some knowledge on google scholar and search faster. This was possible through three ways. Firstly by attending classes during residential hours. Watching the video tutorial then added to my comprehension. And browsing net for more information broadened my understanding.  I know the difference. I know what they mean. But let me confess here that I may not be in a position to make use of them in my field of study. And the reason is that I need some practical hands on experience. We did not have that opportunity during class hours due to time.

My strong commitment here will be to learn how to make use of them. I know both the tools are important and handy. I will have to have practical learning from the IT teachers. I am lucky that there are enough IT experts in the place where I work. With google scholar we can have access to many of the open literature. It provides access to unique content that are not in other search tools. This is going to make our work easy and also get more information. In the present world, life and work is full of research. Thus knowing the tools would be vital.