.Reflection for Lesson 5
? 9:37 PM, Friday, May 16, 2008
Today, the lesson ended quite late. There were some important stuffs we need to know for the Portfolio. First of all, we were lucky to have a look at the works done by the previous 'A' graders (6 pointers). I can only say, they really did a great job! Now I also have an idea about what to present in the portfolio. Hope i can also do something that can make myself go "wow!". Haha.
During the lesson, we were taught about the different types of research facilities. Now, let me briefly describe some of the characteristics of the facilties:
- Search engnes: uses software to automatically generate the results for the users based on the search keywords. It sifts through millions of web pages recorded in the index to find the matches to the search term. Examples, the famous Google, and Altavista.
- Meta Search engines: also known as the multi-search or metacrawler search. It does not have its database. Basically, it transmit the search term to the other search engines to look for the results. Examples, like Clusty (also known as Vivisimo) and MetaCrawler
- Subject-based Directory: Usually contains specific subject focus. Subjects are listed in a hierachy manner. Topics are ranged from the more general ones to the more specific ones. I think this search facility is helpful if we have an idea about the background information of a subject. Examples, like Yahoo! Directory and Galaxy.
Now, we know that other than the well-known Google and Yahoo, there are a lot of other search facilities that can help us do our research more effectively (the required information) and efficiently(the speed of the search).
During this lesson, I also learn about using the right keywords to do research. In the past, I would just put the whole sentence to do research. The results.... Well, as you guess, it return a whole chunk of results with most of them not related to my topic.
My research topic for UIR is "Discuss the development of AIDS research"
The main keywords I need to have are: development, AIDS and research
search query used: (Development OR Advancement) AND (AIDS OR HIV) AND (Research OR Study)
We also learnt about boolean operators such as 'AND' and 'OR' which makes me think of Maths. AIDS AND research will return me the results that contain both AIDS and research. research OR study will return me the results that contain either research or study, but not both. There are also other operators like *, AND NOT and (keywords).
After learning these techniques, we are required to start preparing our Portfolio. Basically, I haven't start my research. Feeling a bit guilty, think I should really start putting my hands on my research topic now. Well, maybe tomorrow..hehe.. cos it's time for me to watch my favourite show now.
Quote to share:
"There is never an end till your last breath… Believe in yourself and keep Trying!"
