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Viewing Dance: Keywords and search strategy

Selecting keywords

SEARCH TERMS

For this assignment, you have basically two search terms:   "Dance" and "[your country/culture]".  But you might not find everything you need by only using these terms.  Do a little bit of brainstorming prior to searching to get the most of your search time.

Here is how we explored different search terms in class:

1 - Go to the International Encyclopedia of Dance

2 - Look up your type of dance.  Make sure you look through all of the results to find the closest match to your topic.

3 - Read through the introduction or first few paragraphs, and look on the left for "related topics" in this work.

4 - Now that you know a little more about your topic, make a list of possible search terms.  Include:

  • The main search term and variations (ex., Polynesia, Polynesian dance)
  • Different words to describe the same area (ex., Pacific Islands)
  • If a small area, find the bigger area (Bali --> Indonesia)
  • If a larger area, find smaller areas, countries or specific cultures  (Polynesia --> East Polynesia, West Polynesia or Tonga, Fiji, Hawaii, New Zealand.  The main native culture in New Zealand is the Maori culture)
  • Also look for specific names of dances (Hula, Haka); if you already have a specific kind of dance, add the word "dance" as a larger term

5 - Now you have a large group of terms to work with and to adjust your searches to get the best results.

 

 

 

 

 

Is It CRAAP?

Make sure that any information resource (books, research reports, websites, newspaper articles, etc.) you use for an assignment passes the CRAAP test:

Currency:  When was this information produced?

Relevance:  Is the information important to your topic?

Authority:  Who is the source?

Accuracy:  How reliable is the information?

Purpose:  Why was the information produced?

If you are unsure, look at this expanded list of questions to determine the value of your information resource.