Target Audience: Secondary, tertiary.

Language Proficiency: Variable, according to task.

Learning Focus: Internet searches, critical thinking, reading, summarizing.

Technology Needed: Web browser and Internet connection.

Instructions:

The following approaches can serve as a concise common-sense guide for effective searches related to Business English or other topics.

• Check the web sites of publishers of materials and authors that you know. Many offer free resources that complement classroom materials and academic publications.
  
  
• Check web sites of professional organizations in your field. They often offer papers, research, data banks, position statements, and instructional ideas. In this way learners can avoid digging through dozens or even hundreds or thousands of marginally useful web sites on the more "generic" search sites. Example:
  IATEFL Business English Special Interest Group
  
  
• Use profession-specific search engines or portals. There are many business-specific portals in English, just a few examples of which are:
  Africa Business for market reports and news.
  AsianNet for suppliers and product information across Asia.
  Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC) Business issues and news in Latin America and the Caribbean, from University of Texas at Austin.
  Small Business Research Portal from UK.
  
  Business intersects with almost every profession in one way or another. Examples of portals from other fields are:
  Medscape for medical information
  Poynter for journalism
  Eco-Portal for environmentalism
  
  
• Use the Help or Advanced information on directories and search engines to more narrowly restrict a search. Be aware that different search sites may cover different spheres of information and may catalog/retrieve it differently. No one search site houses information on all web sites around the world.
  Business.com A directory of finance and other resources, including international ones.
  Google Finance An ad-free interface with user-friendly searching.
  Yahoo! Finance Widely known directory-style search site. Has many ads and is openly commercial.
  DMOZ Business Directory-style search site with few ads; part of the "open" movement.
  Kartoo Displays results in semantic webs or "mind map" style format (requires Flash plug-in).
  
  
• Choose your keywords wisely (spelling counts). Try synonyms. Use an online thesaurus such as the online ones at the Thesaurus.com or Merriam-Webster if you need help with synonyms.
  
  
• For hard-to-find items, try metasearch engines. They search multiple search sites and compile the results. Examples metasearch engines include:
  Dogpile A flexible, user-friendly site.
  Ixquick Has multilingual capability.
  Meta-search An older, very simple metasearch site.
  
  
• For tips on evaluating resources from the Internet, see Educator’s Reference Desk (formerly AskEric):
  
  To learn more about the "deep" or "hidden" web, also use the Search ERIC Database to find :
  "Uncovering the Hidden Web" by Marcia Mardis, in 2 Parts. Search with the ERIC Reference numbers: ED456863 and ED456864, respectively.

More on this Topic:

See: Effective Searches for Business English.

Kay Westerfield, Global Communication Consulting,kwesterf@uoregon.edu