Janelle Newman
Thank you for your post about conducting an information search using A+ Education. The overview you provided at the outset was informative, describing the database and pointing out that the use of Australian terminology would be appropriate. This certainly makes searching easier, not having to second guess alternate language options. I liked the way you drew comparisons between the results achieved using A+ Education database and the Google search engine. It provided a rationale for using the database over Google. In addition to the rationale, the features of A+ Education that you identified are important for a user to know. You used nodes on Thinglink very creatively to provide additional information about the searches you conducted. I didn’t know that the tilde (~) operator worked in A+ Education. I read that while it used to function to instruct a search engine to include results that included synonyms of the search term, Google no longer recognised the functionality. It was my error to transfer this belief to the A+ Education database without testing it! Reading your search strings, I also learned about the proximity operator % 10. I used NEAR/10 for the same purpose. Your post is very detailed and I enjoyed watching how you narrowed your search results by modifying your search string.
Naomi Rees
Thank you for your post about searching using Google and
Google Scholar. Your post is incredibly comprehensive and allowed me to track
your information search progress in great detail. I enjoyed the links you
shared including the ILA blog post that made mention of the Bermuda Triangle of
Inquiry (a place I could well envisage!). It was wonderful to see how your
search strings were responsive to findings of previous searches, such as
following the query about genius hour. I love the title genius hour. At my
school students undertake passion projects which are the same thing. Your “rabbit
hole” analogy nailed the Google search experience, with so many possible
trajectories. I really liked your annotated screen shots and the favourite
things you listed about Google Scholar – and the cons for a subjective
perspective.
Your use of the AROUND proximity operator was new to me. I used the NEAR operator for the same purpose.
Suggestions
Your first screenshot on this post needs a caption.
I loved the caption instruction that invited me to ‘click to enlarge’ but I’m wondering if there is functionality to open the image in a new tab. When I’d finished viewing the image I closed it down, rather than using the back button, which closed down your entire blog L This was the case for all the links you had included on this post.
I would also suggest that you change the page names from Module One and Module Two, so your website is a more professional digital footprint, which I think the content you have produced warrants.
I noticed one grammatical error you may like to attend to. Underneath the green mind map showing a portion of your Google search session, your comments about the search string state “first few pages has” but should say “first few pages have”.
Your use of the AROUND proximity operator was new to me. I used the NEAR operator for the same purpose.
Suggestions
Your first screenshot on this post needs a caption.
I loved the caption instruction that invited me to ‘click to enlarge’ but I’m wondering if there is functionality to open the image in a new tab. When I’d finished viewing the image I closed it down, rather than using the back button, which closed down your entire blog L This was the case for all the links you had included on this post.
I would also suggest that you change the page names from Module One and Module Two, so your website is a more professional digital footprint, which I think the content you have produced warrants.
I noticed one grammatical error you may like to attend to. Underneath the green mind map showing a portion of your Google search session, your comments about the search string state “first few pages has” but should say “first few pages have”.