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Look out! These (TOUGH!) Qs are Super-Common on Exam Papers

Here’s what I found when I reviewed a heap of last year’s exam papers.

There’s one type of Q that seems to be cropping up more and more.

Even in subjects you wouldn’t necessarily expect it (yep, we’re even talking Art and PE!)

And it’s (unfortunately) the type of Q that many students dread (because it’s also the one that catches many out and where they perform worst – eek). *

So with end-of-term exams looming for many students, I want to make sure I share this now!

* Don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom, because awareness is half the solution! Having your teen look out for these Qs and know EXACTLY what to do with ’em will mean they’re way ahead of the pack (and picking up all those extra marks!) 🙂

 

This week I wanna help you out with one particular type of essay and extended response Q.
This has always been, for as long as I’ve been around as a teacher and examiner, AND even back to when I was a student, the type of Q that students are most uncertain and least confident in.

And validly so – because these are the Qs students overall perform worst in, too! ?

 

So what are they?
And how SHOULD students be tackling them?

Well, I’ve just been going through some past papers and it struck me just how many times this type of Q is coming up these days.

“What type of Q, Katie?”

Evaluation level questions.

These are those dreaded types of Qs that make a statement and then just finish with the word ‘discuss’.
OR the questions that BEGIN with the opening:
‘To what extent’
or
‘Assess…’

They may even have the word evaluate in them, like:
‘evaluate the success of…’ .

But usually they don’t actually include the word ‘evaluate’, which is, or course, part of what makes them more challenging!

But more on that in a moment.

 

Even as a national and state exam marker, I’m a little surprised at how many times evaluation level Qs have crept into all subject exams recently.

Even multiple times in one paper!

And not just on the ones you’d think either, like History or Science or English.

Nope, these are in subjects like Art and HPE.
In fact on the NSW PDHPE paper of 2017 – which I’ll include a link to in the blog notes, just in case you wanna check it out –

In that paper, the phrase ‘to what extent’
–  a flashing, ‘hit you over the head’ wording alarm for an evaluation command! –
that phrase was used for almost every extended response question in the 2017 HSC PDHPE exam and contributed around 30% of the marks on the paper.

Whoa! I know, right?!

‘To what extent’ is often used in ATAR exams and it’s important that it’s recognised as a question that requires you to make a judgement.
For example, Question 23 from the 2017 exam asks:

To what extent does Australia’s health care system benefit from having a healthy ageing population? (8 marks)

Now I know that ‘evaluate’ level questions are almost always the ones that students struggle with most

So I thought I’d share the bones of this with you too.

 

So here’s what I want students to know:

1) How to identify an EVALUATE command in a question, even when it doesn’t actually state the word evaluate.

2) That this means they need to make a JUDGEMENT about the statement being given.
That might be a judgement about how much they agree with the statement, or more objectively, how much it is agreed by others or by other research that the statement is true.
Let me explain using that PDHPE example: ‘To what extent does Australia’s health care system benefit from having a healthy ageing population?’.
Students need to respond with:

Yes it does,
OR
No, it doesn’t,
OR
It does to some extent.

 

3) They need to be able to plan and structure their response in light of this.

They need to outline in their intro their judgement and an overview of the reasons for it, which they’ll then expand on in their body paragraphs through examples, evidence and explanations.

Of course rounding up with a conclusion that shows how these all fit and link together to lead to the overall judgement.

 

So, if your teen doesn’t feel confident in these types of Qs, then it’s definitely time for them to take action to turn that situation around.
Because it’s highly likely they’re gonna be faced with these questions regularly in their future exams, no matter their subjects.

Rather than figuring it out for themselves, I just wanna remind you that I have a whole Catapult module dedicated solely to ‘Evaluations made Easy’ in my 10 Week Grade Transformation Program AND will cover a variety of examples and break down model responses in the monthly GTZ Seminars throughout this year.

 

Please go ahead and leave me a comment, share this blog with anyone else who’d find it useful, and until next week, let’s make this a fantastic week!

EXTERNAL LINKS:

  • The 2017 NSW PDHPE Paper: https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/resource-finder/hsc-exam-papers/2017/pdhpe-2017-hsc-exam-pack

 

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Busy? How to ‘Get more done’ AND ‘Do it better!’

When are you able to do your best work?

In the morning, in the evening?

After lunch?
(Really?!… Seriously, does *anyone* feel at their most alert or productive after lunch?!? Though I AM pretty productive in the chocolate-snacking-skills right around then!) 😉

Point is, we all have a time of day that we’re naturally more able to focus and concentrate and be most productive.

And the question is, at this busy time mid-term, are we maximizing it to really supercharge our results?

This week, I’m sharing how to do just that…

Let’s start with a quick example.
I know of one guy who actually trains people in productivity and is really particular about it and calls it his ‘Power Hour’.
And during that one hour every day is when he sits down and does some of his most important work. Not even his kids are allowed to disturb him!

And I know of another high-flyer who doesn’t schedule ANY meetings or phone calls between 8am and noon because they know that’s their best time for doing their best work.

 

And for me, I know that I’m best in the mornings. I’m pretty useless mid afternoon – and then I often get a kind of second wind in the evening after dinner. (Not always a great thing, seeing as I like to get to bed early!)

 

Anyhow, it’s really important for students to be aware of and recognise when they’re at their best too. To know their ‘power hour’.

And not just so that they can work well during that time – but so that they can optimise it. Make best use of and maximise that time to use it to their advantage.

 

So let’s get specific and dig deeper into HOW to actually do that.

 

During that peak performance time – their power hour – or whatever they want to call it – students SHOULDN’T use this to power through the work they can get done quickly and easily.

There’s a temptation to do that, because we’re feeling motivated and we wanna smash out a load of work, get plenty of ticks on the to-do list (amiright?!!?!)
But those are the tasks that should be left for less-productive times, when our brain cells are only capable of the quick and easy jobs.

Here’s what students should do instead:

Firstly, they need to schedule that optimal brain power time to tackle the tougher tasks.

That is, those that take the most concentration, or the most creative or higher level thinking. Those that really take dedication and often – let’s be honest – this can be those tasks that they really don’t want to do 😉

These difficult tasks are the ones that should get done in the power hour.

Selecting tasks should be about the level and quality of the work, not the quantity.

Let me repeat that!

Selecting tasks should be about the level and quality of the work, not the quantity.

 

Secondly, they can also consider whether there are ways to extend or increase that period of time.
For example, if they’re an early bird, can they go to bed a bit earlier and get up earlier, giving themselves an extra 30mins or even an hour of super productive time each day?

 

Then things can filter down from there…

So, next, take on and complete the ‘medium level tasks’ at the slightly less productive, but not those totally brain-dead times.
For example, this might be proof reading the thing they wrote during their power hour. Proofreading is less creative and requires less high order thinking, but still requires focus and concentration.
So definitely don’t do these tasks at the lowest focus times because the errors or edits will just get missed and need to be re-read again – not efficient at all!

Then finally, students should save the menial, low level tasks, like filing notes, or cleaning up their desk, or making a to-do list, for the times when they’re just not as motivated or focused.
Or of COURSE, use these times for relaxing and re-energising! (Also important but never actually written on a to-do list, right?!)

But actually, re-energising and relaxation are essential for making those power hours as alert and productive as possible.

So, we’ve gone full circle, back to the power hour 🙂
I love it when a system is rounded out and all the dots join together!

So, the key takeaway here is to make sure your teen knows what their most productive and focused time of day is, and THEN have them see how they can optimise that with using it to tackle the trickiest tasks that require the highest levels of cognitive work, and if possible, maximise it by altering their schedule or sleep patterns.

 

I’d love to know – when’s your teen’s power hour? What’s yare they already doing to maximise their power hour and what could they do to make it even better?

Scroll down, leave me a comment, and until next week, let’s make this a fantastic week 🙂

 

Katie

 

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‘Expand your writing’ – Here’s how!

Has your teen ever had comments like ‘extend your points’

or ‘expand your writing’

or ‘more explanation needed’

on their work?

What about something like ‘give more detail’?

Have they ever struggled with those analytical tasks, like essays or expositions or inquiries? Ending up waffling around one point, rather than going deeper.

Well, I’ve got a simple way for them to respond to those situations and up the quality AND detail in their writing.

 

There are a LOT of different tasks and assignments these days where students have to provide extended explanations and be able give detail by linking points together.
And I know that many find it hard to know HOW to actually make or explain those links, or go into detail on issues or case studies without ending up going round in circles, repeating themselves or ending up in the ‘waffle zone’.

 

So, here’s what I get students to do.

Simply ask at the end of a statement or after an explanation or key point:

‘So What?’

 

In other words:

Why is that significant?

What does that or did that, lead to?

Who or what was impacted?

In what way?

And then…
What did that next point then mean?

i.e. Ask ‘So what?’ AGAIN!

What was the knock-on or secondary effect, or what were the impacts of that next point, that next event or linked fact?

 

Let’s use a quick example.

Take the case study of the Haiti earthquake in 2010.

We’ve got the basic facts, the simple descriptive statements, like:

– it measured 7.0 on the Richter scale,

– Haiti is a less economically developed country located in the Caribbean.

But let’s now  ask ‘so what?‘ after each of those.

This is where we get into the effects and the detail.

For example…
SO, as a result of the 7.0 earthquake over 180,000 homes were destroyed.

Okay, now ask again, so what?…
SO, this left around 1 and a half million people homeless.

So what?…

These homeless people were accommodated in over 1100 squalid camps with limited services such as water and sanitation.

So what?…
Well, now we can bring in the other statement of fact – that Haiti is an LEDC (less economically developed country).
So… because of poor facilities and sanitation, disease became a huge problem, for example Cholera claimed the lives of several hundred people mainly children.

Do you see how we’re now not only extending our explanations of the impacts, but also interlinking the facts and information we started out with.

All by asking ‘SO WHAT?’ at the end of each point.

 

Have your teen give this a go, with particular focus on seeing if, in those extended explanations, they can also connect different factors or pieces of research.

Because it’s those interlinkages that really show a higher level of analysis and explanation 🙂

And if you know this will be useful for your teen then go ahead and give this a like (on FB) or a thumbs up (on YouTube, and if you know anyone else who could benefit from this tip, then please go ahead and share it with them, and until next week, let’s make this a fantastic week.

Katie

 

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One Skill – HUGE Benefits. (Master this to ACE exams and assignments)

If you’ve worked with me or been in my VIP community for even a short amount of time, then you’ll know I go on and on about the importance of being able to dissect the wording of any task or exam question and the ability to know exactly what it’s asking.

In particular, doing this by mastering command words.

And I make ZERO apologies for this!
Because I stand by the fact that this is one of the key issues holding so many students back AND it’s a key breakthrough to being able to tackle any question or task with confidence and clarity.

Let me explain why…

 

A solid knowledge and understanding of command words
AND how to respond to them
can be of benefit in multiple ways.

Firstly, it can save a lot of wasted time and effort when you know what a question is really asking. For example, I recall a Year 12 QCS paper I was marking asking students to ESTIMATE a particular figure using a graph.
Now those who went ahead and fully CALCULATED that figure precisely went to a huuuuge amount of trouble.
Some used calculus, others calculated areas of trapeziums.
And many of these students who got all the working and the end answer correct, did get full marks.

However, those that understood and had clocked the word estimate and identified that as the COMMAND WORD, simply found the points on the graph, read across to the required numbers on the axis, and added them up to give an estimate of the figure.
These students ALSO qualified for full marks AND moved on with an extra 10 or 15 minutes or so under their belt to tackle the longer, extended questions to come.

 

The second benefit of being proficient in identifying, understanding and responding to command words is that it can save a lot of disappointment. If your teen’s ever had that experience where they complete a test or a task thinking they’ve done pretty darn well, (you know… where they put in a good effort and wrote some accurate and detailed content), only to have it returned with a low mark or grade, they’re then left feeling totally deflated and perhaps a little upset.
And after that initial disappointment passes, they then feel the confusion seeping in. Wondering where they went wrong.

Well in almost all cases I’ve seen of this, it’s because the student didn’t respond to the command of the question, or the focus of the essay.
This isn’t the topic – that’s usually done correctly.
It’s the level and focus of the question or essay that’s not always addressed or responded to.

 

This can certainly be disheartening and confusing, but the problem lies in the fact that an answer can only be credited for what matched up with the mark scheme.
So if a student’s ‘stated’ rather than ‘described’, or ‘compared’ rather than ‘analysed’, then no matter how correct the information is factually or how well the answer has been written in terms of technical language or sophisticated vocabulary, there is NO way that it’s going to get full marks or probably even close to it.

So, if you want your teen to avoid all that wasted time and effort, avoid the disappointment and instead feel confident in their ability to tackle any question that’s thrown at them, then they need to get conquering those command words – the title of Catapult 7 in my flagship program – the 10 Week Grade Transformation.
Two quick tips on looking this up for yourself is to Google:

  • cognitive verbs

and also

  • Bloom’s Taxonomy (which you’ve also likely heard me mention before).

So go check those out, share this post with any other parents or students you think could benefit from these tips, and until next week let’s make this a fantastic week!

Yours,

Katie

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Building lego without the instructions

Ever tried putting together flat-pack furniture without using the instructions?

Nope – me neither – partly because I’ve heard too many horror stories, and partly because I’m too much of a ‘follow the rules’ type-a-gal for that ?

But I do remember as a kid challenging myself to put together a lego-model without the instructions, just the pic on the box.

(Must’ve been having a rebellious moment, or just extremely bored on a wet English afternoon. Most likely the latter)*

Did I manage it?…

 

 

It was a pirate ship and me and my sister had made it plenty of times before, WITH the step-by-step instructions.

And how did this ‘no instructions’ version of said pirate ship work out?

Well I did it.

Eventually.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty good. Let’s say it was a B grade pirate ship.

But it also took a lot longer of course.

A few false starts and quite a few episodes of taking bits apart and re-doing sections where I’d used a part I then realised I needed somewhere else.

Just like when students try to write an essay or complete an assignment without a clear set of steps, a template, a checklist or a clear plan to help them move step by step towards a clear end result.

 

In fact I see many students fumbling their way through an extended task, with no real idea of what they’re even aiming for, what it should do or say or look like at the end.

They’re working without even having the picture of the pirate ship from the box!

Let alone having any instructions for all the pieces.

 

So to take this a step further – let’s call the picture of the finished model, the ‘Model Response’ (geddit) 😉

Or the A-grade exemplar.

Sometimes students will be shown a model response for a similar task or question

and in exams, these are printed in the retrospectives and marking guides.

 

And they can be reeeeally helpful, for sure.

Just like putting together the pirate ship was a hell of a lot easier with the picture to look at.

 

BUT –

(yep, there’s always a ‘but’, right?!) 

Being given a model response isn’t enough if students are going to be able to work confidently and efficiently on their own task.

Because they don’t necessarily know WHY that’s an A-grade response, or what process the other student went through to create it, or what elements in there specifically make it an A-grade response.

 

That’s why they need to be clear on all the components AND the ways they’re put together AND how to do that for themselves.

 

That’s why I’m such a fan of giving students resources and trainings that are what I call ‘universal’.

Not spoon-fed ‘fill in the gaps’ type scaffolds that can only be applied to one particular task , but proven systems or blueprints if you like, that can be applied to a particular type of task across all different subjects and topics.

Like:

A checklist and system that can be used to proofread any piece of writing effectively.

Or:

A template that can be used to construct a response to any type of evaluation level essay.

And:

Proven steps to brainstorming and then selecting an A-grade idea or topic for an open-ended task.

 

So that they’re not just haphazardly trying to piece together whatever knowledge they have and aren’t having to re-do or re-draft or edit multiple times before they come out with a great pirate ship.

Sorry, I mean great essay/assignment 😉

 

Let me know your thoughts on this!

Does your teen love steps and clear instructions?

Or perhaps they’re the more creative type who is capable of crafting a ship that’s even better than the box cover (not me at all by the way. I’m not the creative type, but I play to my strengths – structure and systems)!

Whatever your feedback, let me know in the comments below.

Let’s make this a fantastic week.

Katie 🙂

*Definitely the latter. Rebel was not in my vocabulary. Still isn’t to be honest. Unless you count the time last week I jumped the take-out queue at a coffee kiosk. I’d never been to it before and I hadn’t realised there was a queue the other side… til I was stood waiting for my cuppa and saw the four people around the other end of the counter – oops!  So I guess even that doesn’t count, and I’m good with that ?

 

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Successful study is like a Christmas tree :) (Yep, really) ;)

I do love a Christmas Special Blog each year, and this is one of those!

Yay!

I also love a good analogy, so here’s my version of
‘Study success is like a Christmas tree’

 

‘Study success is like a Christmas tree’

Yep – Really :0)

 

The tree itself – the trunk and the branches:

That’s having full knowledge and understanding of command words.

Knowing precisely what they all mean, what any questions are specifically asking for, and having the skills and tools to know exactly how to respond to them.

Why?… Because this is what pretty much everything else hangs on.

 

The ornaments and tinsel and other glittery stuff:

This is students’ subject knowledge.

Because remember… without the trunk and branches of the tree, i.e. the ability to APPLY their subject knowledge in the way the Q requires – then students could have all the ornaments in the world, but they aren’t going to be able to do much with em.

They’re just gonna stay in the box with nowhere to show off their knowledge/glittery gorgeousness 😉

 

And the star on the top:

This is QWC – quality of written communication.

It’s what makes their writing ‘shine bright’ (see what I did there) and stand out.

And again if there’s no tree to hold this up high,

then it doesn’t matter how well they write if it isn’t actually answering what the question’s really asking,

or isn’t at the right level of response.

 

I hope you enjoy that as much as I did coming up with it.

#gettingintothechristmasspirit

(Seriously, this is about as creative as I get. But I made a special effort – because, well, it’s Christmas of course…) 🙂

And with that, I want to say a huge thank you for being a part of the Rock Solid Study Community and letting me into your inbox each week. I truly appreciate it and hope that you’ve got a ton of value.

 

I wish you and your family a VERY happy, safe and fun-filled Christmas with wonderful people

(and a very pretty and very sturdy Christmas tree!).

Katie

 

P.S. I just learnt this Christmas joke. I’m terrible at remembering jokes… and at telling them. Just watch the video and you’ll see 🙂

What’s the first thing elves learn in school?

The elf-a-bet!

Okay that’s really it now – Merry Christmas! ?

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Use this Little-Known Resource for Researching and Referencing

Many students struggle at times with researching, finding valid sources (i.e. NOT Wikipedia) and referencing.

Yet one of the best resources for this very task is in schools and just waiting to help!

The problem is that few students even realise this ‘resource’ is there or on offer, and even fewer use them.

Here’s a message I got from a Y10 student back in the middle of Term 4.

She said:

“Hi Katie, I’m trying to do research for my science assignment and I’m really struggling to find good resources. I’ve found a bit of info about the different compounds in laundry detergents but it’s not very scientific and I can find hardly anything on the effects of how it pollutes the rivers and water. I’ve used Google Scholar like you said, but I’m not sure about how to find any journals like you suggested in school. Do you have any other advice?”

I replied to Eliza at the time and she took my advice, and I’m going to share with you in just a moment exactly what I told her to do.

Because she emailed me again a couple of weeks ago to tell me her assignment result and how happy she was with it…  aaaannnd how brilliant that piece of advice was and how well it worked for her.

#happydance

 

So, this wasn’t something I specifically ended up helping her with – which is awesome news because that means ANY student can go do this 🙂

(And I know from experience that there are a lot of students out there who struggle with this, hence this blog video).

 

So, here’s the I advice I gave Eliza, and what any student can do to get extra help with their researching and referencing:

Go see the school’s Teacher-Librarian.

In my experience, they are one of the most under-used ‘resources’ (people!) in schools.

In most cases they are a qualified teacher and qualified librarian who therefore just loves helping students find info whilst also having a knowledge of how assignments and assessments work.

Perfect Combo!

*spreading fingers of both hands and inter-locking them together*

 

What’s more, because they work in the library, chances are they spend most of their time, with books and a lot of jobs that involve managing new orders, organising and admin.

Which is all good, but isn’t necessarily using all their skills and experience.

Which meeeeeans that when an actual real student – and a keen student at that – comes up to them asking for their expertise and assistance in the things they absolutely love to talk about and teach and work on, then chances are they’ll go all out to help them!

In fact – don’t tell them I said this and don’t get your hopes up too much, but I’ve even seen it happen where the teacher-librarian almost sits and does it all for the student, because they got so into it all. Not that that’s a totally perfect situation of course, but the student I saw this happen to, did thankfully sit and watch and listen avidly, following along with them so they could definitely do it themselves again next time.

 

But anyway, my point is, these staff are skilled in the exact thing students are struggling with and can’t wait to share everything and help those who ask for it.

So be sure to have your teen give this a go next time they have to research for an assignment or inquiry, and let me know how it goes when the time comes 🙂

 

Yours,

Katie

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How to come up with ideas (when you’re not naturally creative!)

If you didn’t already know…

I’m definitely *not* naturally creative.

I’m don’t like open-ended tasks.

But they come up often for students (and for me too in my first ever teaching interview!)

So, now I LOVE training non-creative students (like me!) to BECOME creative using the beauty of non-creative, hard and fast, checklists, steps and systems!

 

I’m not naturally great with open-ended tasks or any writing where you have to be imaginative.

(My husband always says I have zero-imagination! He’s quite into movies and I’m just like – well *that* wouldn’t happen).

So imagine my horror, when in my invitation to interview for my first ever teaching job I was asked to prepare to teach:

– a Geography lesson to a class of Year 9’s (no problem)

– that would be observed by the principle (bit nerve-wracking, but again, no problem –  this is what all teaching interviews involve back in the UK).

 

So. Teach a Y9 Geography lesson on the topic of…

ANY-thing!!!!

Whaaaatttt!!!!?!

 

I was like, come-on!

Please, give me something to go on!

 

Maybe they thought they were being kind, but for me, that was the worst possible type of lesson to plan.

I honestly would’ve preferred them to tell me to teach an interesting lesson about watching paint dry.

That would’ve felt like less of a challenge, because at least I’d have had somewhere to start with that. Some guidelines.

 

Because I like direction and instructions and steps.
(You’ve got that by now, right?!) 😉

 

And that’s why, over time, I’ve found ways to make the open >>>> structured.

The fuzzy >>>> clear.

And devised strategies to transform the downright confusing into steps, checklists and templates.
(Ahhhh. Those words are music to my ears)?

 

For a long time, this was just to help me get to grips with certain tasks or concepts myself.

But over time I’ve realised that it’s actually super-helpful to any teens whose brains work (even a little bit!) similarly to mine.

And here’s what I’ve found:

Often it’s best to start at the end and work backwards.

 

And for that, students need to start at the marking criteria and break down, in detail, exactly what the marker is going to be looking for in their work BEFORE they pick their topic or decide on their choice of – whatever options they can choose from!

 

Here’s an example:

If it’s a type of narrative, like a short story perhaps, then when students go through the mark scheme, they’ll realise that their marks and grades are less about the actual story or characters and more about their ability to use a variety of sophisticated literary devices, like imagery and symbolism for example.

So a setting or character that allows them to use plenty of those will be beneficial. Perhaps the story needs to involve some sort of theme or message that comes through and therefore they need to think about making that weave through the plot and/or characters.

 

And that brings us nicely then to the planning. They don’t want to be planning from the point of “hmmm, I wonder what’s going to happen in my story?”, but from the point of,

“OKAY – what sort of story will easily allow me to incorporate a variety of writing techniques like personification, metaphor, alliteration?”

“What sort of character would allow me to give some really interesting and detailed descriptions?”

“What sort of setting would I be able to adapt my writing to in terms of style and vocab?” – like using tech-y words for sci-fi, or lots of extravagant details for a romance.

 

And then they can start to consider what their story could be about.

Plus, now they also have a kind of checklist to work with.
Bonus! (Yay! A checklist!)

 

 

So really, it’s not about pondering on the main task,

like,

“Ooooh, what country should I investigate for my geography project?”

or

“Hmmm, what historical leader should I choose for my inquiry?”
or…

“What on EARTH should I write a story about?!”

 

Students need to figure out what needs to be in the finished product and then, asking themselves ‘What topic will give me the easiest AND most effective way to produce that?’

Or

‘What will give me the most and highest quality opportunities to convey those skills?’.

 

This is what I call the science behind creativity.

 

And it’s not *just* for students who aren’t particularly creative.

For those students who ARE the creative types, then it’ll provide them with that trusty checklist to see which of their wonderful and creative ideas is going to serve them best when it comes to the marking of their work.

#win-win

🙂

Let me know – is your teen naturally creative?

Have they ever struggled to come up with great ideas? (And if so, could this help them?).
I’d love your feedback! 🙂
Scroll down leave me a comment, give this post a ‘like’ or, just as useful – tell me what you didn’t like, or what else you’d like to hear about 🙂

Also, I’d really appreciate it (and so would they!) if you share this with anyone else who’d find it useful.

 

Until next week, let’s make this a fantastic week!
Katie 🙂

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3 (more!) Google Hacks for Research and Referencing

It seems everyone loves a good Google hack.

After last week’s video with the ninja trick to finding the date for referencing websites, I’ve had some super-appreciative feedback, so I’m gonna share more…

Here are my top three non-technical Google-Hacks that I think could be super-useful to your teen.

 

So I’ve had a ton of feedback basically loving last week’s video all about the ninja trick to finding the date for referencing websites, plus I’ve had a few suggestions of other tips and tricks.

I have to admit, I knew of all of them, BUT the more technical ones I always forget,

so in case it’s the same for you,

I’ve come up with my top three that I think could be super-useful to your teen.

Ok, so Google hack number 3 is

(we’re doing this countdown style-ee here, okay) 😉

*start the music chart countdown backing track*

(3)

Adding the subject or topic in the search box in addition to the key word that your teen is searching.

This is because just searching for the name of the person, place, event or concept often gives too wide a variety of results, which then just leads to hours upon hours of trawling a ton of websites and results including many which are totally irrelevant.

The example I always give for this is adding in the subject when researching the definition of ‘depression’ – because of course you’re going to want verrrry different results depending on whether you are researching this word for History, Business Studies, Economics, Biology or HPE, or even for an atmospheric depression in Geography or Science.

Just adding in the subject or topic is going to give much more focused results.

Onto Google Hack number 2:

(2)

Putting quote marks around the word or phrase that is a must-have search term and in the order/exact phrase you have typed.

Often Google gives results that have a sneaky little greyed out bit of text below that shows the part of the search that isn’t included in that result… which, can sometimes be the main thing you really wanted it to find!

So using our previous example, if I was researching the dates for the great depression for history, I might actually include the words –

history date

and then type

“the great depression”

with quote marks before the word the and after the word depression.

This means that the words ‘The Great Depression’ as a whole phrase must appear in any search results. So no more wasted time clicking on results only to realise they don’t actually have the key info or topic I was after.

And – drumroll please – here is my fave google hack for students.

Well, it’s not really a hack – more of a ‘I can’t believe how many students don’t know about this whole other thing’ kinda thing.

But Google Hack number 1 – is ….

(1)

Google Scholar.

This gem of a search engine searches all academic papers and publications, like scientific journals, peer reviewed articles and academically acclaimed books, websites and other publications.

So your teen can say goodbye to good-old Wikipedia

‘Urgh.’ I can tell you that no teacher ever wants to see Wikipedia in a reference list beyond Y7, maaayyyybe Year 8. At a push.

and they can say hello to more sophisticated, more reliable and credible sources for their research.

This is at scholar.google.com

Or, of course, you can just type in Google Scholar into Google!!! *There’s gotta be a meme or other joke-y-joke of google-ing for Google out there, right?*

But extra tip – make sure you’re in google scholar.com, rather than .com.au – which is where it’ll take you if you search it from google.com.au.

You staying with me here?!

So, there are my top 3 Google hacks for your teen – to save them a ton of time AND give them better QUALITY academic sources and references.

I’d love to hear your feedback on these 3 Google hacks – which one will be most useful to your teen and why – tell me in the comments below, and then while you’re there, go ahead and give this a like or a share 🙂

Until next week, let’s make this a fantastic week.

Katie

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