Thinking About Search

摘要

Research doesn't start when you enter words into a search box. It begins with conceptualizing the project. What is the intent of the search? What are you trying to accomplish? And why? Who is interested enough in the topic to have collected data and written about it? What terms will best tease out relevant results? How much do you know before you begin? Is it a topic with which you're familiar or something brand new to you?Presearch contemplation leads to admirable results. Without that, results can be mediocre at best and totally off target at worst. Note I'm talking about research here, not a quick look-up, which may not require much time between a question being posed and terms entered at a search engine.