Learning Outcomes for this Module
- LO3: Ask thoughtful questions.
- LO4: Turn questions into strategies for retrieving a variety of information sources.
- LO5: Annotate and cite information sources accurately and ethically.
- LO6: Reflect upon your own research process.
Tools
| What You’ll Need | What We Used |
|---|---|
| Forum for posting response | blog post on course site |
Note to instructors
The “how-to” videos are specific to our Libraries’ search tool, OneSearch. We left them in as placeholders for this module but of course we expect that you will replace them with content relevant to your institution.
How to Credit Us
Except where otherwise noted, the lesson plans on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
To credit us for this module/lesson plan, cite the following:
Newman, J., Ward, S.K.L. (2025, July 14). Search Strategies 2. LIBR 100 OER. https://lib100oer.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2025/07/14/search-strategies-2/
Search Strategies 2
Module Introduction
In Reading Strategies you considered how you might approach different types of sources as a reader and researcher. In Search Strategies 1, you practiced asking questions and developing keywords from sources you’ve read. Here in Search Strategies 2, we’ll be combining some of these concepts. You’ll be using the keywords you identified to help you find different types of information, using OneSearch, a search engine that looks through material at the Hunter College Libraries.
This module consists of the following parts:
- Finding Reference Sources Using OneSearch (Video)
- Finding News Sources Using OneSearch & Your Free Newspaper Accounts (Video)
- Finding Journal Articles Using OneSearch
- Search for Different Source Types & Share Your Results (Blog post – 10 points)
Part 1 – Finding Reference Sources Using OneSearch
Watch the following video (2 minutes, 10 seconds).
Part 2 – Finding News Sources…
Part 2.a … Using OneSearch
Watch the following video (1 minute, 34 seconds)
Part 2.b. … Using Newspaper Websites
Claim your free newspaper accounts!
Hunter students can claim three free online subscriptions with a valid Hunter email address: The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times (London). By claiming your accounts, you gain access to both of these major newspapers directly though their websites without having to go through the Hunter Libraries site. No more paywalls for you while you’re a student!
- New York Times: NYTimes.com/passes
- Wall Street Journal: www.wsj.com/Hunter
- Financial Times: www.ftt/hunter
You can use the search function on each newspaper’s website to search for relevant content.
Part 3 – Finding Journal Articles Using OneSearch
To filter your results to only material published in peer-reviewed journals, you can use the filter “Peer-Reviewed Journals” under the “Limit To” heading. This filter is circled in green in the following image. Note: filtering to “peer-reviewed journals” will eliminate all other source types (like news sources, reference sources, books, videos) from your search. You should only use this filter when the only sources you want are journal articles.
Part 4 – Search for Different Source Types & Share Your Results (blog post – 10 points)
Search Instructions
- Find your post from Search Strategies 1 and look up the research question and keywords you developed, OR use a research question and keywords you developed for a class.
- Using your keywords, search for one of each of the following source types using OneSearch (or your newspaper accounts for the news source). Use only one keyword a time when you search.
- reference entry
- news source
- journal article
Blog Post Instructions
- Create a post on our site using your name in the title like this “Your Name – Search Strategies 2”, then respond to the questions below in your post.
Questions to answer in your blog post
- What is your research question?
- What 3 sources did you find? For each source include the following information:
- An APA-style citation – see samples below. (You will have 3 total citations: 1 reference entry, 1 news article, 1 journal article. If you use a citation generator please make sure your citation is complete – there should be enough information for someone else to find your source again, including a permanent link)
- What word(s) did you enter into the search box? Please be specific and include all the words you used in your search, exactly as you entered them.
- What filter(s) did you use?
- How could this source contribute to your understanding of the topic or help you answer your research question?
- What is one thing you learned doing this activity, OR one thing that remains unclear to you?
APA style samples
Your citation must include all the information needed to find the source again. Use the APA style site for reference: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples
AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstInitial. (date, or n.d. if no date is available). Entry or article title. Title of the publication. permanent link (if available)
News article:
Carey, B. (2019, March 22). Can we get better at forgetting? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/22/health/memory-forgetting-psychology.html
Reference entry:
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Just-world hypothesis. In APA dictionary of psychology. Retrieved January 18, 2020, from https://dictionary.apa.org/just-world-hypothesis
