Abstract
The author of The Essential Guide to Using the Web for Research is a professor at the University of Sheffield’s Information School. At present, he is director of research and over the last 30 years has taught information-seeking skills at undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral research levels. Supervision of students at all levels of university has been successful, and he has examined over 40 research theses at Sheffield and other university institutions.
The objectives of this book are to provide the reader with the knowledge and skills to conduct sound written reports and execute information seeking to a high-quality standard. This book is initially pitched at the undergraduate level. However, taking into account the content of this book, it is suitable to say, students at higher levels of education would find it useful while conducting searches for assignments or suitably useful for students commencing graduate programs.
Nigel Ford has presented the work in this book in a clear and concise manner, initially displaying a tree diagram to illustrate how the format of the book can aid the reader to answer the following question: “How can I write a successful essay/report?” The diagram illustrates the processes to answering this question, identifying which chapter(s) deals with certain subjects: among them, identifying the most relevant, authoritative, and current information; developing the information to create a compelling evidence-based answer; and offering the answer in the most appropriate manner. An additional feature of this book is a “Why you need to know this” information box at the start of each chapter, presenting to the reader that the preceding information is of importance.
Prospective readers of this book have the ability to learn and understand how to execute a research project using web tools, such as Google Scholar and online databases. The author explains in detail the varying functions provided by different databases to assist in conducting a broad or precise search. As the book is pitched at the undergraduate level, functions such as Boolean and quotation marks are explained, illustrating how this approach impacts searches. Additionally, the outline of varying documents that prospective readers will retrieve is explained (conference proceedings, journal papers, and theses), providing supplementary understanding to the importance of such documents and assisting the reader to consider how one document could provide a certain level of information, depending upon the nature of the research questions and final output.
There are several positive elements to this book: (1) The nature in which the author has written the content is clear and concise, enabling ease of understanding of this topic with additional “think” pieces throughout each chapter facilitating the reader to process segments of information before progressing onto the next section. Point (2) relates to the incorporation of plagiarism, citing of evidence, organization of information, and keeping up to date with new literature searches. (3) The author explains the relevant information for each chapter but also discusses the expectation placed on student work, which in conjunction with the execution of a literature search should aid the reader to produce a well-written and researched report. All of these elements are important to students and new researchers, and the author has covered each section within its respective chapter.
From a reader’s perspective, there were several points of interest, which have already been highlighted. However, I would like to highlight additional points: (1) In the section “Transforming Information into Evidence-based Arguments,” the focus is on the user’s making the retrieved information his or her own and being able to critically evaluate and digest the information in preparation for the output. Furthermore, another area of focus is on understanding the process of validity, reliability, objectivity, and generalizability of the documentation, while also applying this to writing up the final documentation. Point (2) relates to the reader/student’s clarifying the expectations and planning of the assignment. For many students undertaking a dissertation or their first journal paper, this can be a daunting process, and although one may know what the content will consist of, determining where to start may be not so easy. Defining and refining a research question is a crucial part of undertaking research, which the author tackles in great clarity. Finally, point (3) relates to the housekeeping of the references sourced by the user. There are several types of software available to facilitate the import of references into outputs. Furthermore, the author discusses how to import data from search tools, providing a detailed, step-by-step guide.
Due to the focus of this book, it is suggested this would be valuable for students across all courses. Students may want to use the book as a means of refreshing/updating their knowledge of online databases, and with a step-by-step approach by the author, this would be ideal. Conversely, the focus of this book enables students from all backgrounds to adopt the approaches discussed to complete a high-quality literature search and a good-quality output. Furthermore, this book would prepare students to gain grounding in executing research via web searches, in preparation for their thesis or dissertation. Graduate students entering master’s or doctoral programs may also find the content of this book useful, if not as a refresher.