Sources of Information (Edexcel IGCSE ICT)
Revision Note
Written by: Robert Hampton
Reviewed by: James Woodhouse
Sources of information
What is a primary & secondary source?
A primary source is is a source that you have created yourself
A secondary source is a source that has been created by someone else
Examples of primary and secondary sources include:
Primary sources (your own) | Secondary sources |
|---|---|
Sound recordings | Newspapers |
Photographs | Books |
Interviews/questionnaires | Television & radio broadcasts |
Social media posts | Websites |
Emails | CDs, DVDs or Blu-rays |
To select the most appropriate source of information, you must consider:
It's fitness for purpose
It's fitness for the intended audience
Using search engines effectively
What are search engines?
Search engines are tools that locate and display web pages related to the search terms entered by the user
They are essential for navigating the vast amount of information on the internet
They index millions of web pages and use algorithms to rank the relevance of each page to the search terms
How do search engines work?
Search engines work in three stages:
Crawling
Indexing
Ranking
Crawling is when web crawlers scour the internet daily to retrieve new websites
Indexing is how websites are categorised based on the content of their web pages, keywords and metadata
Ranking is how websites are ranked and listed on search engine pages - this depends on many factors to display the most relevant results
How can you use search engines effectively?
To use a search engine effectively you can make use of features such as:
Keywords
Search types
Search tools
Suggested sites & autofill
Search syntax
Feature | Description |
|---|---|
Keywords |
|
Search types |
|
Search tools |
|
Suggested sites & autofill |
|
Search syntax |
|
Worked Example
Describe two ways that a user can make effective use of a search engine to select information.
[4]
Answer
Two linked descriptions from:
1. Use key words/terms (images/video/websites) [1] to return more relevant results [1]
2. Filter by images/video/websites [1] to return appropriate file type [1]
3. Filter date [1] to return more recent results [1]
4. Use search syntax (+ - “”) [1] to ensure results include/exclude key terms [1]
5. Filter by usage rights [1] to comply with copyright [1]
6. Filter by colour/size [1] to return results that are more fit for purpose [1]
7. Compare results [1] to look for accuracy / reliability / bias of results [1]
8. Use different search engines [1] as they use different processes/algorithms [1]
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