A guide to finding and using information

Architecture Postgraduate

What we’ll look at:

Types of information

Search preparation

Resources

Evaluating websites

Social media

How to store & manage Information

Q & A

Objectives

To understand how to search for and find a variety of relevant, quality resources Understand the need to evaluate and analyse those resources

GoogleThe leading Internet search company, whose primary business mission is to organize the world's information.

Anyone can write a webpage

Anyone can write/edit a Wikipedia entry

Types of informationPrimary, Secondary & Tertiary

sources Primary.

Original materials which have not been filtered through interpretation,

condensation, or, often, even evaluation by a

second party.

Original plans of a building

Secondary. Information about primary,

or original, information, which usually has been modified, selected, or

rearranged for a specific purpose or audience

Article critiquing the building

Tertiary.Information which is a

distillation and collection of primary and secondary

sources

Architecture Encyclopaedia with an entry on the building

The types of information that can be considered primary sources may vary depending on the subject discipline, and how you are using the material

Types of information -decide what you need

Established facts and figures

General information on a topic

Reviews of the literature of a topic

Publications of recent research results

Primary sources – actual documents or scanned images of original texts

Scholarly debates

Reference books- encyclopaedias, ‘companions to’, biographies

Books of collected articles, text books, research monographs, scholarly websites

Journal articlesBooks of collected articles

Journal articlesProceedings of conferences

On-line digitised collections,Library’s Special Collections and Archives.National archive organisationsJournal articles, newspapersWebsites of relevant organisations

Keyword diagramLiving in a contemporary city

LivingFunctioning

ContemporaryModern

CityBuilt environment

SearchingPreparation is key. Define your topic. What are you trying to find out? What search terms?

Do a rough & ready initial search on the Library catalogue

Living AND contemporary AND city

Search results

Choose item(s) – click on ‘more information’

Generate keywords / approach to topic

Keyword diagramLiving in a contemporary city

LivingLife

Functioning

Compare cities

ContemporaryModernFuture

Tomorrow

CityConurbation / Urban / Sprawl

Town / streetBuilt environment

Eco - housing

Return to keyword grid

Compare architects?

Reference works

Now have basic :KeywordsStructureApproach

Next step : relationship between keywords

Relationships between your keywords (Boolean searching)

City AND Green

City OR urban

City NOT American

Search tips

Truncation :environ*environs

environmentenvironmental

Wild card : Wom?n

Globali?ation

“Search for a phrase” in quotation marks

Databases offer help pages, video tutorials, webinars

Record what you findRecord what you find

Make sure you have enough detail to find the information againAlways record:

Source used and the date you used itSearches undertaken and results found

• Keywords used, date range searched, location of materialFull bibliographic details of the material found

• This will help you with your referencing bibliography

Take a photocopy of the title page

Record search strategies

Be flexible – review searches

Remember to:-

Plan ahead

May need to plan:

Inter-Library loansVisits to archivesInterviews

Keep up to dateMay want to set up:RSS feedsSet up alerts in databases

RSS is a way for websites to distribute their content. With Feeds you can authorize a website to send you their updates on a regular basis, directly to your email’s inbox, your favourite news reader and even your cell phone.This is a great way for you to keep track of your favourite websites without having to go to them, if you subscribe for their feed, their newest content comes to you.