Search Tools
Love it or hate it, we all turn to the Internet for our main source of information. With so much information available, however, we have to be smart about how we research and what evidence we use. Anyone can write something online, but that doesn’t make it qualified or automatically count it as invalid either. When searching online, make sure you think about the source before considering it for evidence. Also note if the article you are reading cites another source. You should prefer the original source to an article that quotes the original source. Always go to the primary source.
Despite what your teachers may say, Wikipedia is a great place to start. That does not mean you should ever cite Wikipedia as a source. The pages are reviewed and use information pulled from other websites. This site can provide great background information as well as ideas for different angles and arguments. Throughout each Wikipedia article you will find footnotes that cite the original source of the information. Always go to the cited sources when you are interested in something you find on Wikipedia. There should be a bibliography at the end of the article; these links are a great starting point for research. They not only will be more in depth, but more often than not they will be a credible source you can cite. You should look to Wikipedia for summaries and general information, not arguments.
Effective Search Terms are necessary to finding good sources online. At first, use the resolution’s terms and key phrases. As you read you may find that other terms occur in articles on your topic. Keep a working list of search terms keep track of what you have tried and what has been most effective. Google allows you to customize your searches by:
year ranges
file type (search” file:type”, type being .ppt, or .pdf, etc. then your terms)
site type (search “site: type”, type being .gov, .org, .edu etc. then your search terms)
You can also use search symbols to help with whatever search engine you are using. For examples we’ll look to the October 2012 topic “Resolved: Developed countries have a moral obligation to mitigate the effects of climate change.”
— means without or not.
“developed countries – United States” annual carbon dioxide emissions
This search will yield articles about developed countries except for the United States
+ means with or include the following term
Climate change + agreements + developed countries
This search will yield articles that include all of the terms listed. For example, an article on the Kyoto protocol.
* means wildcard, or will use the root of the word you attach it to and find any words that begin with that root
“Mitigat* climate change” will bring up: mitigate, mitigated, mitigating, mitigation This search will bring up articles that include the phrase “mitigate climate change”, “mitigated climate change”, “mitigating climate change”, and “mitigation climate change”.
“x” means search for the phrase inside the quotation marks. If you were to search for terms outside of quotations, the search will return sites that have all of the words you search but not necessarily in order.
“Moral obligation to mitigate the effects of climate change” will find sites that have that exact phrase. This search will not find articles that do not have this exact phrase. This search will not yield articles with the phrase “moral obligation to fight climate change”.
Google Scholar and Google News are great search engines to use for debate and help weed out less useful sites. Scholar searches for articles from academic publications and News searches for news publications. These search engines can help weed out less qualified sources that Google may yield.
