Senior Geography Project
Updated Term 2 2021
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Easy ways to modify your search
Getting rid of irrelevant results
If your searches are turning up a lot of results that have your search terms in them but aren’t relevant, try using more keywords to narrow down the search. If there is a common theme to the irrelevant results (eg. getting tourism booking websites when you search for a place) put a minus sign in front of the recurring irrelevant words or phrases and Google will filter out results with that word or phrase.
eg. great barrier reef -holiday
You can also use this to remove websites that keep appearing in your search results.
eg. great barrier reef -site:prezi
Searching as a phrase
For some of these topics it might work better to search for the phrase, which means searching for a group of words in a particular order. To search for a phrase, put the phrase in double speech marks. This works in Google and most other search boxes.
eg. “environmental degradation”
Searching for specific websites
You can use this both to search within a particular website, or to search for particular types of websites, eg. .edu, .gov, .au. Just enter your keywords and add site:[website] at the end.
eg. rivers site:csiro.au (searching within a particular website)
rivers site:.gov (searching for particular types of websites)
Getting rid of irrelevant results
If your searches are turning up a lot of results that have your search terms in them but aren’t relevant, try using more keywords to narrow down the search. If there is a common theme to the irrelevant results (eg. getting tourism booking websites when you search for a place) put a minus sign in front of the recurring irrelevant words or phrases and Google will filter out results with that word or phrase.
eg. great barrier reef -holiday
You can also use this to remove websites that keep appearing in your search results.
eg. great barrier reef -site:prezi
Searching as a phrase
For some of these topics it might work better to search for the phrase, which means searching for a group of words in a particular order. To search for a phrase, put the phrase in double speech marks. This works in Google and most other search boxes.
eg. “environmental degradation”
Searching for specific websites
You can use this both to search within a particular website, or to search for particular types of websites, eg. .edu, .gov, .au. Just enter your keywords and add site:[website] at the end.
eg. rivers site:csiro.au (searching within a particular website)
rivers site:.gov (searching for particular types of websites)
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Click to download a plain text version of this graphic. |
Research resources (Note: A lot of these websites describe themselves as telling stories- they don't mean fictional stories) Sutherland Shire Libraries - Especially the local studies resources Geography resources for secondary schools - University of Queensland [archive*] - This is a big list of websites that cover a range of categories *what does [archive] mean? Google Books - Google has digitised sections of books, so this is a good source for textbooks and academic books. Remember the whole book usually won't be available, though Sutherland Shire Environment Centre - Aims to protect the environment in the Sutherland Shire. National Geographic - A media company with a focus on stories of geographic exploration. Australian Geographic - Stories and photography depicting the natural environment, people and industries of Australia. New Internationalist (Pacific region) - A magazine that covers geography-related stories. Google Arts and Culture - Collections and stories from around the world. data.gov.au - Search and access Australia's public data. Australian Bureau of Statistics - Statistics collected by the Australian Government. Australia - Facts and figures - A list of other places for Australian statistics. Atlas of living Australia - Biodiversity data gathered from around Australia. CSIRO - Australia's national scienctific research agency. Dictionary of Sydney - Information about the history of Sydney. NSW Government Office of Environment and Heritage - The government department that cares for and protects NSW's environmental heritage. The Encyclopedia of Earth - Information about the earth, its natural environments and their interaction with society; written by experts. Geoscience Australia - Government department that advises on the geography and geology of Australia. World Bank Open Data - Freely available global development data. |
Databases and academic articles
Academic articles, or scholarly articles, are articles that have been written by experts and peer-reviewed, which means they are good sources of in-depth, up to date information. You can find academic articles through the State Library's databases using your local library card, which you can register here. We have guides on how to use databases and how to use academic articles if you haven't used them before. Use the advanced search so you can select the full text box. The Conversation is a website with articles written by Australian academics in easy-to-understand language. |
Finding media articles
There are three ways you can do this:
Option 1: Go to a news outlet's website and search for your topic
Option 2: Using Google, search for your topic and add site:[your news outlet] at the end of the search.
eg. pollution site:abc.net.au
If you want to search a number of news sites at once this is the best way to do it- just add OR between each of your sites.
eg. pollution site:abc.net.au OR site:theguardian.com OR site:bbc.com
Option 3: Use Google News, which searches news articles from around the world. You can use the filters on the left hand side of the page to modify your search.
Some high quality Australian news outlets:
ABC News
The Guardian Australia
The Australian - requires a subscription
Sydney Morning Herald - can read five articles for free, need a subscription for any more than that
Australian Financial Review - requires a subscription
There are three ways you can do this:
Option 1: Go to a news outlet's website and search for your topic
Option 2: Using Google, search for your topic and add site:[your news outlet] at the end of the search.
eg. pollution site:abc.net.au
If you want to search a number of news sites at once this is the best way to do it- just add OR between each of your sites.
eg. pollution site:abc.net.au OR site:theguardian.com OR site:bbc.com
Option 3: Use Google News, which searches news articles from around the world. You can use the filters on the left hand side of the page to modify your search.
Some high quality Australian news outlets:
ABC News
The Guardian Australia
The Australian - requires a subscription
Sydney Morning Herald - can read five articles for free, need a subscription for any more than that
Australian Financial Review - requires a subscription
Keeping good notes
Keeping notes that are detailed and organised is an important part of research. It may seem like a waste of time when you need to be doing the actual written part of the task, but if you put the time into making good notes you will spend less time writing the task because the information you need will already be organised and accessible.
Helpful tools
There are many online tools that let you save links, images, PDFs, and make notes. Some have more features than others.
Pinterest
Padlet
Evernote
Microsoft OneNote
Keeping notes that are detailed and organised is an important part of research. It may seem like a waste of time when you need to be doing the actual written part of the task, but if you put the time into making good notes you will spend less time writing the task because the information you need will already be organised and accessible.
- For each source you decide to use, make a note of the details you'll need for your bibliography, including the date you accessed the resource if it's an online source. If you are using a journal article or a chapter in a book, don't forget to make a note of the page numbers.
- Take notes as you read your source. Summarise the points the source is making. If you see a fantastic quote/statistic/graph/picture you want to use, copy it and make a note of the page it's on (if there is a page number) so you can find it quickly later.
- You will probably read more sources than you use in your final product- that's the nature of the research process. The first source you read might seem excellent, but then you might come across an even better one later in your research. So it can be helpful, once you've finished researching and before you move on to writing, to re-read the notes you made on each source and make a note on them about how useful they will be for your final piece. If you find a lot of duplicate information across your notes, highlight the points that aren't duplicated so you remember to use them and so you can find them quickly. This process will also give you a chance to decide if any resources won't be useful for your final product.
- If you hand write your notes, keep track of them.
Helpful tools
There are many online tools that let you save links, images, PDFs, and make notes. Some have more features than others.
Padlet
Evernote
Microsoft OneNote
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