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PhAST Track Information Skills Module: First Step

Think About It

Before you start searching for information

You need to think about:

WHAT

WHERE

HOW

It's tempting to just start searching and see what you can find, but you get better results if you sit down and think about it first.

Ask yourself a few questions:

  • What do I want to know?
  • Who will be writing the answers?
  • What words might they have used?
  • Where might they have put this information?

You need to think about what kind of information you will find in:

  • A website
  • A journal article
  • A book

And you need to think about what tools will do the best job of helping you find it.

  • Google/search engines?
  • Databases?
  • Catalogues?
  • OneSearch?

The more you plan what you want to look for, and where and how you will look for it, the less time you will waist, and the better the results will be.

Find Your Keywords

Identify the keywords/concepts in your research question

Keywords are the main words, concepts or phrases that outline what your topic is about.

Your assignment task will contain:

  • Keywords
  • Task words

The Task words are the words that tell you what to do ("discuss", "outline", "analyse"), and how you need to relate the key terms to each other.

The KEYWORDS give you the topics or concepts you need to research.

"Outline the precautions, uses and administrations and adverse effects of arsenic trioxideDiscuss how methods of compounding might influence the absorption of the substance."

Learn more about keywords

    Think About It - Keywords

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