Spring+2008,+Gcjw

Secondary research is a recursive process requiring the researcher to reapply his/her investigative methods until the sources are exhausted or the questions have been answered. As you enter English 7730; issues in TPC let us illustrate this recursive process for you, giving you a taste of what you will discover in this course this semester. Initially, our group was faced with three topics from which to choose, our group selected ‘website design’. After considering a website design scenario, discussion regarding a sub-topic ensued and ‘navigation’ became our focus. At this point we each chose five terms relating to ‘link navigation’. The terms ranged from ‘website usability’ to ‘link placement’ with many combinations in between. Our first search took us to the Joyner Library, e-journals and the internet. We were pleasantly surprised with the academic material found relating to ‘link navigation’. After assessing our terms and narrowing our options further we conducted a second search revealing more research material. Below, you will find a synthesis of our search findings and then an interpretation of those findings. Process and Results A middle school class is seated before their assigned computers awaiting instructions from their computer teacher. Most are familiar with turning on the computer and accessing games and email, this class will teach them how to google websites they can use for a research paper. They receive the initial set of instructions and are given 20 minutes to find the answer to a basic research question. Frustration begins to build in the first few minutes as each student struggles to navigate through the website in hopes of finding the needed material. It becomes obvious to the teacher that these students do not know how to identify links and then how to use those links to navigate through the site. This scenario is common in the classroom among our students and also in the home and office with many of our adults. Learning to identify and utilize links is a challenge for the web user and therefore should be a concern for the website designer. This scenario served as a mental reference point as we began to narrow the process.
 * Group: cjw**
 * Topic: Website Design**
 * Introduction:**
 * Scenario:**
 * Terms:**

Our original key term suggestions are listed below: Recognizing the need to narrow our topic we looked for key terms that fit best our scenario. After discussion, we narrowed our search into five key terms: We broke these topics into fragmented search terms both in advance and as we searched. The three major resources we used to research "link navigation" were: Applied Mathematics and Computation Jan 2008, Vol. 195 issue 1, p. 285-298 PC Magazine, 2/6/2007, Co9l 26 issue 3, p89-89 Community College Week, 6/21/2004, Vol. 16 issue 23, p33-33 PC World, Nov 2001, Vol. 19 issue 11, p178 PC Magazine, 9/21/2004, Vol. 23 issue 16, p.56-56 PC Week, 7/01/96, Vol. 13 issue 26, p.39 Advanced Engineering Informatics, Jul2004, Vol. 18 issue 3, p. 129-142 OCLC Systems and Services; 2005, Vol. 21 issue 3, p.148-155 Journal of Library Administration, 2006, Vol. 45 issue ½, p. 245-265 Journal of the Medical Library Association, April 2004, vol. 92 issue 2, p.218-225 International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Sep 2003, Vol. 59 issue 3, p. 327 ABI/INFORM Complete, Jan 2008, p.28 Wuhan University Journal of Natural Sciences, March 2001, Vol. 6 issue1-2 (1007-1202) Small Business Report, Jan. 21, 2008 PR Technique, Oct. 22, 2007 Adweek.com, Oct. 9, 2006 http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/3S/links.htm http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2168021 http://www.webusability.com/article_link_affordance_11_2000.htm [|www.useit.com] [|www.usability.gov] [|www.netmechanic.com/news/vol7/design_no4.htm] http://www.efuse.com/Design/navigation.html Auhri Sareni, Abedin, Meimard kermoni Bradley, Helen Goldsborough, Reid Dunn, Scott Sarrel, Matthew D. L.B.S. See, Ji-Hyun and Shiu, Wei-Kun Ghaphery, Jimmy Lawrence, Dan H. Duncan, Vicky and Fichter, Darlene Pearson, Robert and van Schaik, Paul Alicia Buller Wei-Feng, A.; Bao-Wen, X; Xiao-yu, Z.; Hui, H. Traster, Tina Bruell, Alexandra Our first search found journal sources were self-help in nature, designed for web developers. The databases produced articles that were more informative about the online market in general. The online searches produced tutorials for improving websites When performing a second search, we switched search terms to see if different terms affected what each source produced. We were rewarded with different results and the following insights: The journal results this time produced educational resources. The databases once again produced mostly business-related sources. The Google search engine produced articles that described good design procedures. Using search terms gleaned from one source produced more direct information when applied to another source, opening up the grounds for further research. From our results, we learned quite a few things about secondary research and the importance of word selection. No matter how subtle a decision may seem, in web-based research any choice can make an impact on the results.
 * Navigation scheme
 * Well-designed links
 * Navigation friendly
 * Website usability
 * Navigation buttons
 * Web design mistakes
 * Interface design
 * Navigation usability
 * Web page readability
 * Link placement
 * Multimedia elements
 * Content vs. design
 * Pictorial elements
 * Colors and fonts
 * Screen size and browsers
 * website usability
 * link placement
 * search engine placement
 * graphical links
 * navigation scheme
 * Online search engines (ex. Google)
 * Academic journals (accessed via Joyner Library)
 * Online databases (also accessed via Joyner)
 * Our major sources:**
 * Website source:**
 * Major players:**
 * Summary:**

The first factor that impacted our results was the number of keywords: when more than one was used in the search, more links were found with pertinent information. When we used a larger selection of carefully selected keywords, we always came up with more precise results in the search.

The second factor that impacted our results was how varied results can be, regardless of whether the same avenues of research are used. How one combines terms is important, but where one is searching effects the outcome even more. When searching a library database, results will typically be less in-depth than when using a search engine. Academic journals yield a good amount of information, but whether the keywords are related to any published material is always a factor in results.

The third factor that impacted our results was the most obvious: who performs the search. The keyword choices were directly related to the group member conducting the search. While all of our terms were quite similar, the subtle differences in word placement and selection were enough to affect the findings. Of our search results, there was not one instance of overlap in our particular findings, even after we varied search venues and keywords.