Contextualized Online Search and Research Skills

Tips on Improving Search and Research Skills

Online search and research are more than just ‘googling’ – typing a word in Google and
then clicking the search button. It is a skill that every Internet user should know to do smart
searching and this starts with improving search and research skills to get better results.

Here are the things that you need to know to improve your online search and research skills. This
will guide you to obtain the most relevant information that you need.
1. When searching online, narrow your topic. Identify the key concepts or important
ideas. Assuming that you would like to search for the answer to this question:
“What precautionary measures should you observe when you are logged in in a
public computer?”
Do not type the whole question in the search box. Typing the whole question often leads to
a large number of and inappropriate search results.
From the question, the keywords are: precautionary measures, observed, logged-in,
public computer.
Keywords are terms that are used in by most search engines to find related documents.

2. Put the word “AND” between each keyword to create a search string.
You may type the following in the search box:
Precautionary measures AND observe AND logged-in AND public computer

3. Identify synonyms of the key words.

Not all databases or articles use the same words to describe a topic. Group similar words
together by using the word “OR” for a quick and relevant search. In the case of our
example: the synonyms of some of the keywords are:
Precautionary measures – preventive measures
Observe – pay attention to
Logged-in – signed-in
You may type the following in the search box:
Precautionary measures OR preventive measures AND observe OR pay attention to
AND logged-in OR signed-in AND public computer

4. Review the first pages returned.

 If these are not helpful, change your keywords for a better description. In this case you may
remove the phrase “pay attention to” and then type the following in the search box:
Precautionary measures OR preventive measures AND observe AND logged-in or
signed-in AND public computer.
This gives you another set of search results.
If you think you have found what you are searching for, then you may stop here. Otherwise, you
may proceed with these other techniques.
5. Use the plus (+) sign for a more specific search.
Just type + before a keyword to indicate that the word after the sign is a required word that
must be found in the search.
Example: +preventive measures
6. Use the minus (-) sign for a more specific search.
If you want to exclude a word from your search, place a minus sign just before (without any
space) the word you want to exclude.
Example: public computers -personal
7. Use wildcards for a broader search.
Wildcard characters (*) let you find variations of a word.
Example: measur*
8. Use quotation marks to find phrases or names. Enclose the phrase or names that
you want to search in quotation marks.
Example: “precautionary measures"
9. Use several search engines.
Search engines are programs that look for documents based from specified keywords and
return these documents where the keywords were found. Major search engines include
Google, Yahoo (which uses Google), AltaVista, Bing, and Lycos.

Evaluating Websites
To help you evaluate the website’s credibility, here are the questions that you need to
answer:
1. What is the domain type of the website?

Domain Types Meaning

.com Commercial
.edu Education
.gov Government
.org Organization
.net Network
.mil Military

2. Who wrote the article?

Check if the author’s credentials or affiliations are listed so you can tell whether or not the
author is qualified to write the topic. Check also the publisher of the article if it is a reliable
publisher. Make sure that the author provides e-mail or a contact address/phone number.
3. What is the purpose of the document and why was it produced?
It is also important to check the document’s purpose and why it was produced. The
document should provide accurate information and must be objective in presenting it. Some
websites produce documents for the purpose of motivating users to buy products. If this is
the case, information might be biased. However, bias is not necessarily bad but you need to
investigate the author or connections.
4. When was the document published and updated?
The document should be regularly updated. As to the freshness of the date, it depends on
the information needed. For some topics you want current information. For others, you want
information near the time it became known. The links should also be up-to-date. There
should be no dead links.

Advanced Word Processing Skill

 Word Processor
Is an electronic device or computer software application that performs the task of
composing, editing, formatting, and printing of documents.
Examples:
Openoffice Writer
Libreoffice Writer
Polaris Office
Kingsoft Writer
Wordperfect
Wordpad
Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word
 Is an word processor developed by Microsoft. It is first released on October 25,
1983. It is also known as MS WORD.
 Presss “Windows Lodo” + R then type “winword” then enter.

Some Features of MS WORD

 AutoCorrect – corrects common spelling errors as well as capitalization mistakes.

 AutoFormat – applies formatting to text, e.g. number listing, bullet, hyperlinks.
 Grammar Checker – proofreads documents for grammar, writing style, sentence
structure errors and reading statistics.
 Template – a document that contains the formatting necessary for specific
document type.
 Thesaurus – provides synonyms for a word in a document.
 Tables – organize information into rows and columns.
 Mail Merge – a feature that allows you to create a document and merge them with
another document or data file.
 Text Wrap – adjusts how the image behaves around other objects or text.

Keyboard Shortcuts in Word Processing Software

  Ctrl + A – Select All
 Ctrl + B – Bold text
 Ctrl + C – Copy text
 Ctrl + D – Show Font Dialog Box
 Ctrl + E – Align Text to Center
 Ctrl + F – Display Find Dialog Box
 Ctrl + G – Go To Dialog Box
 Ctrl + H – Display Replace Dialog Box
 Ctrl + I – Italicize Text
 Ctrl + J – Justify Text
 Ctrl + K – Create a hyperlink
 Ctrl + L – Align Text To Left
 Ctrl + M - tab
 Ctrl + N – Create a new document
 Ctrl + O – Open a document
 Ctrl + P – Display Print dialog box
 Ctrl + R – Align text to Right
 Ctrl + S – Save a document
 Ctrl + U – Underline Text
 Ctrl + V – Paste a copied text
 Ctrl + X – Cut a selected Text
 Ctrl + Y – Redo the last undo action
 Ctrl + Z – Undo the last action

Customizing a Word Document

Home Tab
 Allows you to change document setting, such as the font properties, adding bullets
or a numbered list, adjusting styles, and other common features.
Text Alignment
 Left
 Right
 Center
 Justified
Insert Tab
 Is used to insert different features such as tables, pictures, clip art, shapes, charts,
page numbers, word art, headers, and footer into a document.
Page Layout Tab
 Refers to the arrangement of text, images, and other objects on a page.
Page Sizes
 Short (letter) – 8.5” by 11”
  Long (Folio) – 8.5” by 13”
 A4 – 8.27” by 11.69”
Page Orientation
 Portrait
 Landscape

Image placement
In Line with text

 This is the default etting for images that are inserted or integrated in a document.
Square

 This setting allows the image you inserted to be placed anywhere within the
paragraph with the text going around the image in a square pattern like a frame.
Tight
 This is almost the same as the square setting, but here the text “hugs” to the
general shape of the image.
Through

 This setting allows the text on your document to flow even tighter, taking the contour
and shape of the image.
Top and Bottom
 This setting pushes the text away vertically to the top and/or the bottom of the
image so that the image occupies a whole text line on its own.
Behind Text
 This allows your image to be dragged and placed anywhere on your document but
with all text floating in front of it.
In Front of Text

 This setting allows your image to be placed right on top of the text as if your image
was dropped right on it.
 Advanced Spreadsheet Skills

Microsoft Excel provides an automated way of displaying an statistical data. It can be used to
automatically compute for several factors that are not easy to notice especially when faced by a
large data. Microsoft Excel includes several arithmetic and basic functions that help you compute
faster.

Basic Excel Formulas:

Addition (+)
Subtraction (-)
Multiplication (*)
Division (/)

*typ

 Average – a function to compute for the average of the number of a range.

 COUNTIF- a function used to count the cells with a specified content within a range.
 SUMIF – a function used to compute for the summation of a range if a certain
conditions is met.
 AVERAGEIF – a function used to compute for the average of a range if a certain
condition is met