🔍 Part 1: Research Skills Assessment

1. Which of these is the MOST reliable source for academic research?

Wikipedia

A government website (.gov.uk)

A personal blog

Social media post

2. True or False: Using quotation marks around search terms helps find exact phrases.

True

False

3. Which search terms would give you the BEST results for finding information about recycling plastic bottles in the UK?

"recycling"

"plastic bottle recycling UK"

"bottles"

"environment"

4. When evaluating a website's reliability, which factors should you check? (Select all that apply)

Author's credentials

Publication date

Website design

Sources cited

📝 Part 2: Practical Research Task

5. Research Challenge: Find 3 reliable sources about recycling in the UK. List your search terms and evaluate each source.

Search terms used: ________________________________

Source 1:

Reliability rating (1-5): _____ Why? ________________________________

Source 2:

Reliability rating (1-5): _____ Why? ________________________________

Source 3:

Reliability rating (1-5): _____ Why? ________________________________

6. Keyword Challenge: The search term "dogs" is too vague. Write 3 more specific search terms that would give better results for someone looking for family-friendly dog breeds in the UK.

1. ________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________

💭 Part 3: Critical Evaluation

7. You find an article about climate change on a website called "TruthAboutClimate.com" with no author listed and no sources cited. The article was published in 2018. How reliable is this source?

Very reliable

Somewhat reliable

Not very reliable

Completely unreliable

Explain your reasoning:

8. Compare your search results: How did using specific keywords instead of general ones change the quality and relevance of your search results?