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TECHNIQUES TO USE WHEN SEEKING RELEvANT INFORMATION
If you have access to an online library system you can use keywords in a search to find relevant books, journal articles and papers. This is a quick way of finding the appropriate resources. When reading through these resource materials you will need to do a further selection as the information presented can be vast and overwhelming.
The following two techniques can be useful:
• Scanning
• Skimming
SCANNING
Scanning involves moving your eyes swiftly up and down and side to side across the page, while looking for specific keywords. Do not read the material or attempt to understand it, but simply scan for keywords. also look for the author’s use of ‘organisers’. organisers include numbers, letters, steps, or words such as ‘ first’, ‘second’, or ’next’. note words that are in bold or italic. once you have established whether the document or section is relevant to your research, you can skim through it.
SKIMMING
Skimming is used once you have decided that the document will be relevant to your research. You will then skim through sections that contain certain phrases, ideas or concepts that you have identified with your keyword search. Skimming should be done faster than when you read through an entire document.
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