1

S kills to gather information

U nveil the treasures of the Web

R efine your search

F ind relevant resources

Be Info Smart

2Objective of Research Skills

To teach fundamental search skills that will help you to retrieve the necessary information and

materials needed for the AEM – Fundamentals of Tourism Management Assessments.

3Situation 1: Feel helpless

Help! I do not know where to start for my project.

Help! I do not know where to start for my project.

Situation 2: Feel lost

Like finding a needle in the haystack

Situation 3: Feel dizzySituation 4: Feel Excited

Research for relevant materialsfor projects/assignments

4Please take note

We seek your cooperation not to access other sites other than those needed for the scavenger hunt

during this session

Let’s play a game quiz

““Treasure hunt in the cyberworld”Treasure hunt in the cyberworld”

5

Choose a topic oryou are given a

topic

1

Identify main concepts

2

4Know the tools to

find info

Find various sources of info 5

Evaluate theinformation

7

Improve search and refine

6

Research SkillsCycle

Use Boolean Operators

6

Choose a topic

I already know

something about this…

This is interesting!

I think there are

lots of information

on this…

Which topic should I choose?

7Explore the forms of information

Dictionaries

Books

Encyclopedia

Magazines

VideosNewspapers

INTERNET

LIBRARY

8Primary vs Secondary Sources

PRIMARY SOURCE

• Original documents: autobiographies, diaries, e-mails, interviews, letters, minutes, news film footage, official records, photographs, government documents or data, speeches

• Written by the author or organisation that collects the information

SECONDARY SOURCE

• Explains or reviews research works

• Examples: textbooks, newspaper articles, encyclopedias written by a reporter who had nothing to do with the actual research.

9DictionariesTo find meaning of words

Librarian’s Top Picks

• Dictionary.comhttp://dictionary.reference.com/

• Merriam-Webster Onlinehttp://www.m-w.com/home.htm

• BioTech Life Science Dictionaryhttp://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/search/dict-search.html

10

Librarian’s Top Picks

• Encyclopedia.comhttp://www.encyclopedia.com/

• About.com ( Biology)http://biology.about.com/

• Columbia Encyclopediahttp://www.bartleby.com/65/

EncyclopediasTo find overview of a topic

11Reference Sources Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Directories, Almanacs etc.

Librarian’s Top Picks

• Bartleby.comhttp://www.bartleby.com/

• Ref Desk.comhttp://www.refdesk.com/

• Library Spothttp://www.libraryspot.com/

• Wall Street Executive Library http://www.executivelibrary.com/

12

Identify main ideas

1

Find keywords & alternative terms

2 3

Use Boolean Operators

UseWildcards 4Use Double Quotes

& Parenthesis

5Construct search

strategy

6

Construct a Search Strategy

13Construct Search Strategy

Step 1: Identify main ideas

Project:

Marketing of tourist destinations

14Search StrategyList Alternative terms

Step 2: Find alternative terms

Keywords:

Alternative terms:

attractions

holiday spots

visitortraveler

advertising

selling

promoting

destinationstouristMarketing

Search StrategyBoolean Operators

Step 3: Combine keywords with Boolean operators : OR, AND, NOT

OR broadens search

marketing advertising

or

AND narrows search

destinationsmarketing and

Step 3: Combine keywords with Boolean operators : OR, AND, NOT

Search StrategyBoolean Operators

NOT limits searchmarketing and destinations NOT shopping

destinations

marketing

and

shopping

NOT

Step 3: Combine keywords with Boolean operators : OR, AND, NOT

Search StrategyBoolean Operators

Useful for searching variations of a root word

market*– market, markets, marketing etc…

touris*– tourist, tourists, tourism

destination*– destination, destinations

Step 4: Use of wildcards (*, ?, $)

Search StrategyWildcards

Step 5: To group parts of terms for meaningful search

“tourist destinations”, “holiday spots”

Words appear as a phrase

market* AND touris* AND (destination* OR attraction* OR “holiday spot*”)

Nesting group parts of the search strategy together using parentheses. Works like

complex expression in algebra

Search StrategyPhrase/Parenthesis

Form meaningful search phrases using Boolean operators and wildcards

Use search phrases to search in Library OPAC & Internet

SEARCH STRATEGY:

(market* OR advertis* OR promot*) AND tour* AND (destination* OR attraction*) NOT shopping*

Marketing of tourist destinations

Search StrategyConstructing Search Strategy

Sources of Information

Search for Web resources

Use search engines

Materials available in

National Library or NP Library

How to locate?

22

Find resources in the Library using

OPAC

23

2. Click the blue Subject button for Subject Search

1. Access NP Library OPAC through http://libopac.np.edu.sg

24

3. Type in one or two keywords for your topic

e.g. corporate sponsorship

25

You will get a list of Subject Terms containing

the word you typed

4a. Click on one of the Subject Hyperlinks

4b. Or to select more than one subject, place checkmarks beside subjects of interest,

click Display Selections

26

You will then be presented with a

results list

5. If you are interested in a particular title, click on

the Title hyperlink.

27

The Subjects field describes the content

nature of the bookExpand your search with these subject

terms

28

6. Locate the book from the Library

29

LIFESTYLE COLLECTION

The Book Collection is categorised under the following clusters:

biographybusiness & management

cartoons & comicscomputers & Internet

creativity & innovation

entertainment

fiction food & beveragesgeneral – social sci, pol.

health & medical hobbies home & family

humour languages lifeskills

science & technology sports travel & culture

true stories design

30

Let’s try another topic in the Subject Search e.g.

food beverage

31

You may sometimes encounter this screen in

OPAC.Usually due to wrong use

of words.

32

In other words, to find the proper terms for

Subject Search, you need to know what subject

headings the LCSH uses for your topic of interest.

Keywords used in Subject Search must be

in accordance to the Library of Congress Subject Headings or

LCSH in short.

33

1. Type the your keywords into Quick Search and do a Title

Search e.g. food beverage

34

2. Click on one title which is most relevant.

35

4. Click on New Search icon

3. Look through the Subjects field and take

note of the Subject terms used by OPAC.

36

5. Click the Subject button for Subject Search

37

6. Type the subject terms noted earlier e.g. food service management

38

7. You will get a list of Subject Headings related

to the topic of interest

Another useful type of search is the Advanced Search

40Select field to search in.

To expand your search, choose

Anywhere.

Select Boolean

Operator to use.

Type keywords. Use ** to expand

your search.

You may also choose to limit

the material type. e.g.

Videorecording

Search for OPAC Videorecordings

41

Type in your subject term here e.g.

tourism

Run the search

Search for OPAC Videorecordings

42Search for OPAC VideorecordingsBrowse through your results list

Finding information via NLB OPAC

• National Library Board’s OPAC: books, magazines and AV in public libraries

• Call numbers used follows the Dewey Decimal Classification

• Use the advanced search option in NLB catalogue to limit your searches (by year, language & form of material)

Search NLB online catalogue

000 Generalities

100 Philosophy & Psychology

200 Religion

300 Social Sciences

400 Language

500 Natural Sciences & Mathematics

600 Technology

700 The Arts

800 Literature

900 Geography and History

000 Generalities

100 Philosophy & Psychology

200 Religion

300 Social Sciences

400 Language

500 Natural Sciences & Mathematics

600 Technology

700 The Arts

800 Literature

900 Geography and History

Go to NLB website

http://www.nlb.gov.sg

Allows searching by multiple keywords, Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) &

Wildcards (*)

Search by subject fields e.g. Subjects

Select the relevant subject term

48

Select the title that is of interest to you

List items on Tourism Marketing

The subjectsdepict the

nature of contentin the book

Check the location and

the availability of the book

50

Hint: Search NLB OPAC (Keywords Search) (http://www.nlb.gov.sg)

I would like to find a book on fast food restaurants from a public library.

1. What is the subject heading used for the book entitled “Resisting McDonalization”?

2. Name one library where I can find this book.

Scavenger Hunt: #1Find a library book

AnswersAnswers

• Newspaper / Magazine Articles– Current and up-to-date information

• Subject Specific Web Directories– Business-related websites and information

Specialised Web Sources

Newspaper ArticlesCurrent & Back Issues

Librarian’s Top Picks

• AsiaOne.com: Gateway to local online newspapers.http://www.asia1.com/

• Yahoo! Singapore news: News search enginehttp://sg.news.yahoo.com/

• Singaporenews.net: updated news headlines with links to local newspapers http://singaporenews.net

• AllYouCanRead.com: online directory of magazines, newspapers and news from Singapore http://www.allyoucanread.com/news/singapore_news.asp

• Newslink: Gateway to foreign and local newspapers.http://newslink.org/

• Online Newspapers.com: Covers newspapers worldwide.http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/

• Asian News Archives on the Web: Archives to local and foreign newspapers.http://www.ibiblio.org/slanews/internet/asia.htm

53AsiaOne.com: http://www.asia1.com/

Type keywords of your search

Type keywords of your search

Newspapers Archives

• Channel News Asia http://www.channelnewsasia.com

• 7-day archives

• The Electric New Paper http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/

• 7-day archives

• Today Online http://www.todayonline.com/index_home.htm

• 6-day archives

• Newspaper Articles archivesFactiva Database in NLB libraries

• From 1992

The following requires subscription:Straits Times Interactive (http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/) 7 days archives Business Times Online (http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/) 7 days archives

Newspaper ArticlesCurrent & Back Issues

• Use the Multimedia Stations at all branches of National Library

• The news database is called Factiva

• The charge for using the multimedia station is 3 cents per minute

• Printing at $0.30 per A4 page. No saving on diskette. You can send e-mails of the articles.

• Pay with Cashcard

Find back-issues of newspaper articles at National Library

Newspaper ArticlesCurrent & Back Issues

56

Hint: AsiaOne.com website (http://www.asia1.com.sg/)

Find a newspaper article about the winning design of the winner of the IR bid.

1. Which newspaper did the article appear and what is the date of the featured article?

2. What was the design that won the hearts of the judging architects in paragraph 5?

Scavenger Hunt: #2Find newspaper articles

AnswersAnswers

Librarian’s Top Picks

• FindArticles.com: collection of full-text articles from over 500 publications http://www.findarticles.com/PI/index.jhtml

• E-journal articles (Open access): electronic gateway to global journal literature in open access domain http://openj-gate.com/

• Google Scholar: search for article across the Web http://scholar.google.com/

• HighWire: a collection of scientific and medical journals http://highwire.stanford.edu/

• MagPortal.com: a free service that helps you find individual magazine articles posted on the Web http://www.magportal.com/

Magazines/PeriodicalsTo find relevant articles

Type the keyworde.g. ASEAN tourism

industry

Magazines/PeriodicalsTo find relevant articles

59

Click on any title

of interest

Magazines/PeriodicalsTo find relevant articles

60Magazines/PeriodicalsTo find relevant articles

61

Hint: Find Articles (http://www.findarticles.com)

Scavenger Hunt: #3Find a magazine article

AnswersAnswers

I would like to find articles about resort management.

1. Double Diamond Cos. is the owner of what type of resort?

2. Which system is used to centralise their operations?

Finding treasures on the Web

Major Search Engines & Subject Directories

Which search engines & subject directories to use?

Meta Search EnginesWhen do I use meta search engines?

Local Search EnginesWhen do I use local engines?

Specialized Search EnginesWhen do I use local engines?

Search Engines Tips

“ ” Double quotes Phrase searcheg. “tourism industry”

+ plusWord must be present in results eg. +management

- minus Word must not be presenteg. +tourism -casinos

* AsteriskWord stems must be

present eg. tour*

• Read Help / Search Tips

• Use lower case when typing in keywords

• Be specific when using keywords

– eg. marketing tourist destinations

• Consider synonyms and alternative terms

– eg. marketing or promoting (use “or”)

• Consider British & American spelling

– eg. organisation, organization = organi* (use wildcard)

• Use more than one search engine to be more

comprehensive

Search Engines Tips

65Search Engines Tips

• For definitions of words or phrases, use either define word or define:word

Examples: • define itinerary• define:itinerary

• To search for particular file type, use filetype:[extension]

Examples: • filetype:pdf• filetype:doc

Librarian’s Top Picks

1st

http://www.google.com

2nd

http://www.yahoo.com

3rd

http://www.msn.com

• Search engines use spiders or crawlers (robot programs) to find the sites you want

• Query the search engine by typing keywords

• Nowadays search engines are accompanied by subject directories

• Web resources are organised under broad subject headings for easy browsing (subject directory)

• Use more than one search engine

MAJOR SEARCH ENGINES & SUBJECT DIRECTORIES

Fast, ranking of relevant websites by popularity

Award-winning, has over one billion URLs

Winner of Outstanding Search Service

Retrieves websites linked by many others

Search by keywords

Browse by subject areas

World Wide Web Local Search Engines

Librarian’s Top Picks

1st

http://www.sg

Powered by Google!2nd

http://www.yahoo.com.sg

3rd

http://www.msn.com.sg

Looking for Singapore

information and

websites?

• Allows you to find information within different fields

• Focused searching

Specialized Search Engines

Librarian’s Top Picks

http://smealsearch2.psu.edu/index.html/

72

73

Hint: smealsearch.com (http://smealsearch2.psu.edu/index.html/)

I am interested in finding a web article on marketing tourism

1. What is the title of the first article retrieved?

2. Name at least three topics that are covered in the article.

AnswersAnswers

Scavenger Hunt: #4Find information from SMEALSearch

• Also known as metacrawlers

• Concurrently searches many search engines

• One-stop shopping search site

Librarian’s Top Picks

1st

http://www.dogpile.com/

2nd

http://clusty.com/ (Vivisimo)

3rd

http://search.ask.com/

World Wide Web Meta search engines

75World Wide Web Meta search engines

World Wide Web Meta search engines

77

Hint: Vivisimo (http://vivisimo.com/)

Scavenger Hunt: #5Use Meta Search Engine

AnswersAnswers

Use Clusty search engine to find information on dark tourism.

1. What is the other term used for describing dark tourism?

2. What is dark tourism usually associated with?

Analyse & evaluate your results

1. Currency- When was the web-site last revised?- Does the date of update correspond to the information found?

2. Authority - Check if documents are reliable - Check the author’s credibility - Is the site from a reputable organisation?

Are my search results good? Is the information correct

and reliable?

3. Reliability - Is the site biased in any way?

5. Accuracy- Check if it is free from errors (factually, typographically, etc.)

4. Scope - Check the length & content- Does it contain facts OR opinions?- Does the coverage differ between printed and web format?

ImagesLibrarian’s Top Picks

• Google multimedia searchhttp://images.google.com/

• Altavista multimedia searchhttp://www.altavista.com/sites/search/simage

• Clip Art Galleryhttp://school.discovery.com/clipart/index.html

• Getty Imageshttp://www.gettyimages.com/

• Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/

• Pics4Learning http://pics.tech4learning.com/

Images

82

Hint: Google Images (http://images.google.com/)

Scavenger Hunt: #6Find images

AnswersAnswers

I need a photo of tourism products.

1. What is the title of the news article that was retrieved in the results?

Overview

Search for Web resources

Use search engines

Materials available in

National Library

How to locate?

Choose a topic oryou are given a

topic

1

Identify main concepts

2

4Know the tools to

find info

Find various sources of info 5

Evaluate theinformation

7

Improve search and refine

6

Research SkillsCycle

Use Boolean Operators

Congratulations!You’ve learnt the skills to

find information effectively!

86Scavenger Hunt: #1Find a library book

I would like to find a book on fast food restaurants from a public library.

1. What is the subject heading used for the book entitled “Resisting McDonalization”?

Consumer behavior, Franchises (Retail trade), Marketing, Consumption (Economics), Capitalism, Fast food restaurants, Industrial management, McDonald's Corporation.

2. Name the branch library where I can find this book.

Lee Kong Chian Reference Library

87

Type some keywordsof the title

Answer to scavenger hunt 1 : Find a library book

Search by subjects

88

Click on the subject heading

Answer to scavenger hunt 1 : Find a library book

89

Click on the relevant title

Answer to scavenger hunt 1 : Find a library book

90

Look under thesubject field

Branch library that holds the

book

Answer to scavenger hunt 1 : Find a library book

91Scavenger Hunt: #2Find newspaper articles

Find a newspaper article about the winning design of the winner of the IR bid.

1. Which newspaper did the article appear and what is the date of the featured article?The Straits Times, 27 May 2006.

2. What was the design that won the hearts of the judging architects in paragraph 5? The design had three slanting hotel towers overlooking three low-rise waterfront domes with roofs like waves.

92

Answer to scavenger hunt 2 : Find a newspaper article

Type the keywords e.g. IR and win*

93

Click on the title to retrieve the full text article

Answer to scavenger hunt 2 : Find a newspaper article

94

Answer to scavenger hunt 2 : Find a newspaper article

95

I would like to find articles about resort management.

1. Double Diamond Cos. is the owner of what type of resort?

Golf resort and spa.

2. Which system is used to centralise their operations?

Micros Systems OPERA Enterprise Solution

Scavenger Hunt: #3Find a magazine article

96

Type the keywords e.g. resort

management

Answer to scavenger hunt 3 : Find a magazine article

97

Click on the hyperlink

Answer to scavenger hunt 3 : Find a magazine article

98

Answer to scavenger hunt 3 : Find a magazine article

99Scavenger Hunt: #4Find information from SMEALSearch

I am interested in finding a web article on marketing tourism

1. What is the title of the first article retrieved?

Rural Tourism: An Annotated Bibliography

2. Name at least three topics that is covered in the article.

Topics covered include tourism planning and development, tourism marketing, tourism and rural development, tourism and sustainable development, economic and other effects of tourism, heritage tourism, nature-based tourism/ecotourism, and agritourism.

100

Type the keywords

Click on the title hyperlink

Answer to scavenger hunt 4: Use SMEALSearch search engine

101

Answer to scavenger hunt 4: Use SMEALSearch search engine

Article title

Read the abstracts for topics covered

102

Hint: Vivisimo (http://vivisimo.com/)

Scavenger Hunt: #5Use Meta search engine

Use Clusty search engine to find information on dark tourism.

1. What is the other term used for describing dark tourism?

Thanatourism

2. What is dark tourism usually associated with?

It involves traveling to sites associated with death and suffering.

103

Type thekeywords

Answer to scavenger hunt 5: Use Meta search engine

104

Answer to scavenger hunt 5: Use Meta search engine

105

Answer to scavenger hunt 5: Use Meta search engine

106

I need a photo of tourism products.

1. What is the title of the news article that was retrieved in the results?

“Turn off-road events into tourism products”

Scavenger Hunt: #6Use Meta search engine

107

Type the keywords

Answer to scavenger hunt 6: Find images