Stebbin’s article discussed how to search successfully. It reiterated a lot of what we have been talking about in class such as truncation (*) and using Boolean operators. It also discussed how to limit your search based on characteristics such as year published, publication type, or language. In using Stebbin’s recommendations I’m sure I could do a search and get very successful results.
I didn’t necessarily learn anything brand new; it just reinforced what I have learned previously in our library class about researching. I feel as if class helped me understand more effectively because we were actively learning, discussing, and doing examples. This article just explained the same concepts, but in someone else’s words. This could be beneficial to students who learn differently than I do.
This article is very relevant to a class on information and research because without having an effective first search for a source, you won’t be able to find sources with good information. In being able to truncate and use Boolean operators in your searches, you will find more reliable sources with more useful information.
I can apply this to my life as a student because when I was in high school one of the reasons I struggled with research papers is because I didn’t know where to start looking for information. If I would have known then what I know now about finding good resources, maybe my research would have gone smoother and produced better results.
This reading relates to our library class of course because it is what we have been discussing in class. It also relates to my business classes because we always discuss how when you are trying to effectively prove a point the better synonyms and descriptive words used the more convincing you can be to management or your staff.
