Teach and They Shall Find

Students who turn to the Internet for research usually head straight for the major search engines. That's too bad, because there are important differences among search tools in terms of the scope and quality of information they provide. Sure, any kid can go to Yahooligans!, type in "WWF," and get a list of Web sites. But if that same child types in "WWF tag team champs" in hopes of finding out who last year's champions were, he or she will not have such an easy time getting the right results. That's where librarians and teachers come in. We need to educate children in the kinds of logical thinking, critical evaluation, and search strategies they need to use when doing research on the Web.

What skills do kids need to be successful at research? They have to master certain key concepts, which may sound daunting but which are actually quite straightforward: alphabetization; classification using "hierarchical taxonomies" (breaking down topics into subtopics); classification using symbolic systems (such as Dewey Decimal); the principles of keyword searching; how to search by targeting specific domains, such as .gov or .edu; and searching for non-text files, such as video or audio.

Perhaps most important, kids need to have a search strategy. Librarians probably take this for granted, but we forget that young Web users may not have a systematic approach ingrained. Fortunately, some good search guidelines have been developed that you can adapt to accommodate the developmental abilities of different-aged children. One of the best lists of search tips was developed by the University of California, Berkeley, and can be found at www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Strategies.html. Ernest Ackermann and Karen Hartman offer similar advice in their books on searching the Internet. You can find their approach at www.webliminal.com /search/10steps.html.

Here's my own guide to search strategies for use with elementary and middle school students. You can modify it to create a brief, step-by-step guide to Internet research for your own students:

Once students know their research topic, they should write down a word or phrase that describes it. They should avoid abbreviations. For each word or phrase they've written, they should also try to jot down broader categories that might include their target word. For example, if they're doing research on Columbus, a broader term would be "explorers," while a narrower term would be Christopher Columbus. Next, students should consider whether their concept could be made narrower by adding another word or by substituting a different word that is more specific.

If students need only a little information, or an overview of a topic, they should try an online or print encyclopedia. But remember, encyclopedias probably wont cover proper names related to popular culture, commercial products, or current events.

If they need more information, they should use a search tool designed for kids. Some examples are Searchopolis, Kids Click!, Ask Jeeves for Kids, Awesome Library, or Yahooligans! (Yahooligans! is particularly good for pop culture and recreational searches.) These search tools contain databases of Web sites that have been selected by actual people rather than those automatically compiled by special Web-crawling software. If the search tool has a list of categories, students should think of the broadest word to describe what they're looking for. For instance, if they're searching for the Normandy Invasion, they would look under U.S. History or World War II. Then they should see if that word would fit in any of the categories listed. If it does, they should follow the path of subcategories to see if they can find their target word in the list of terms under the broad category.

If they cant figure out which category might lead to their target word (or if the search tool doesn't have categories) tell them to try typing the target word into the "search" box.

First, students should check their spelling. (A few search tools link automatically from failed searches to online dictionaries.) If the typed word included punctuation, try leaving out the punctuation. For instance, if a student searched under "roller-blading," they could try "roller blading" or "rollerblading." They should also try typing in a broader word or narrower word in the search box.

Try the same search plan in a different kids search tool. Students in middle school and up might try the larger, mainstream search engines, rather than children's search services. If that doesn't work, its time to ask an adult—parent, librarian, or teacher—to intervene. Remember that for certain topics, print materials—books in the library may offer much more complete information and better illustrations than Web sites do. And full-text databases, available in most libraries, may offer more specific and more current information. Tell elementary school children that they shouldn't spend more than 10 minutes searching without finding anything before asking for help; older students could search for 15 or 20 minutes.

Of course, the strategy I've outlined is very general. You could develop more focused strategies for finding different types of materials, such as images, sounds, maps, biographies, or science projects. In this case, instead of using general search services, students would want to use specialized search tools that limit themselves to certain subjects or file formats. For instance, the KidsClick! Picture Search page (www.kidsclick.org/psearch.html) lists both general image databases and topic-specific image databases for animals, art, history, and astronomy. But the basic steps still apply: analyze the topic, start with general sources, move on to more specific sources, check for nonelectronic sources, and ask for adult help when necessary.

The Internet is not designed according to any one organizing principle, so there is no magic search button. Effective research still requires a series of discrete steps. Teachers need to be aware of the length of the search process that their assignments entail. And librarians should encourage students to follow a search strategy, and should be the safety net for the inevitable problems that will occur along the way.