In-person (1h15 minute class period)

0:00-0:05 - attendance, settling in

0:05-0:015 - If student’s didn’t already have their research questions written out, ask them to do so now.

0:15-0:40 For this next bit, you can either ask for someone to volunteer their research question or you can pull one from the last day’s activity.

In a PowerNotes project, click on the Brainstorm with AI box.

https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/WB4SP5-myTKIvHMAWbIOBFE7eKZnvPfFk7y3Rtp7GhsebcL-4COEjcS5BmdXoAYyIVn7TZ7bxTfGsO_W6Fjzr1tO5EI1JaZyfoHDqTBfued0JQlqtPk1GSZDe6ZkJ6C_amNpmDeu5GJjq087-69MhJ8

Enter the following prompt:

Generate 10 possible search terms and phrases that I can use to answer the research question “<insert your research question>” for a 100-level college research project.

*(*Instructor Note:  you can be more specific with the type of project it is).

Pose question to the class: Which search terms are most useful in answering the question? Have them explain why.

If none work, then prompt again. You might try getting the AI or students to generate these as Boolean Search Phrases.

0:40-1:00

After you’ve created at least one set of search terms, go to your library’s general search page and use those search terms.

Review the results as a class and do some brainstorming about the value of the results and how those search terms might be changed to better answer the question. If needed, go back to the AI Brainstorm and tweak the prompt to improve the search terms.

Open the discussion for what makes good search terms.How do we know? How do we adapt and change? How can AI help?

Bookmark these as you find useful ones as you’ll want to use them in the future.

1:00-1:15

Wrap up. You might give students time to try this in class on their own topic or repeat the process for a different topic. Assign homework - use the Brainstorm Tool to help generate search terms and then do and track your initial research process. Feel free to adapt the asynchronous version for a homework assignment.

File for Download:

02_Crafting Search Terms_In Person.docx