Computer Skills
Beginner
60 mins
Teacher/Student led
Learning Goals
Learning Outcomes
+80 XP
What you need:
Chromebook/Laptop/PC or iPad/Tablet

Effective Searching: Traditional Search and AI Search Tools

Learn to search like a professional using keyword operators and AI tools, then verify answers by checking the sources an AI cites. You'll build a reusable search log that proves you can find trustworthy information fast.

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    1 - Introduction

    Welcome

    Any fool can type a question into a search box. The skill worth having is getting a trustworthy answer back in under a minute, and knowing whether to believe it when an AI assistant hands it to you. Today you'll learn the search operators that professionals use and the verification habit that keeps you out of trouble when an AI sounds confident but is wrong.

    By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

    • Use keyword search operators (site:, quotation marks, minus sign) to get precise results
    • Write a clear AI search prompt and ask the assistant to cite its sources
    • Verify an AI answer by opening at least one cited source and comparing it to the AI's claim

    Warm-up

    Imagine you're on Work Experience and your supervisor asks, "What's the minimum wage for someone your age in Ireland right now?" You have 60 seconds to give an answer you're confident about. Would you rather (a) open Google, (b) ask an AI assistant, or (c) both? Hold onto your answer. By the end of this lesson you'll know which tool actually wins that race.

    👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

    +5 XP

    2 - Key Concepts

    Five ideas you'll use every time you research for your project, your Work Experience, or your Key Assignment.

    ConceptWhy it mattersExample
    Search operator — a special symbol or word you add to a search to narrow results (site:, filetype:, "quotes", -minus)Operators turn a 3-million-result mess into the 10 results that actually answer your question, huge when you only have a class period to researchsite:citizensinformation.ie minimum wage under 18 jumps straight to Citizens Information's own page instead of random blog posts
    Exact-phrase match (quotation marks) — wrap a phrase in "…" to force the search to match those words in that orderStops the search engine from "helpfully" guessing synonyms when you need a specific job title, law, or product name"junior motor mechanic apprenticeship" finds that exact role, not every garage that ever mentioned any of those words
    Exclusion operator (minus sign) — put -word before a term to remove results containing itCuts out noise when your query keeps pulling in results from the wrong country or wrong topicapprenticeship electrician -usa -canada drops the American results when you only want Irish SOLAS info
    AI search prompt — the instruction you type into an AI assistant (ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini)Vague prompts get vague answers; specific prompts with a role, a context, and a request for sources get useful ones"I am 17 and in Ireland doing Work Experience at a Centra. List three health-and-safety rules that apply to me and cite the Irish source for each."
    Source verification — opening a link the AI cited and checking the page actually supports the claimAI assistants regularly make up sources that look real but don't say what the AI says they do; this is the single habit that keeps you out of that trapAI says "according to the HSA, under-18s can't use angle grinders" — you open hsa.ie, search "under 18", and either confirm or reject the claim

    👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

    +10 XP

    3 - Step-by-step Task — Same Question, Two Tools

    Work through a worked example: answer one real question ("What is the minimum wage for a 17-year-old on Work Experience in Ireland?") using a traditional search first and an AI assistant second, recording both in a search log document. You'll use this same log structure for your own project in the next step.

    +15 XP

    4 - Common Issues

    Common Issues

    IssueSolution
    The AI gives a confident answer but no source at allReply in the same chat with: "Cite the Irish source for that with a link I can open." If it still can't, treat the claim as unverified and search the question yourself.
    The cited link opens a page that doesn't say what the AI claimedThat's a hallucinated citation. Do not use the AI's answer. Record it in the log with Verified = No — source didn't match and search the question traditionally instead.
    Google returns mostly American or generic results when I want Irish infoAdd site:citizensinformation.ie, site:gov.ie, or site:revenue.ie for official Irish sources, or use -usa -canada to strip out non-Irish results.
    Too many results, all slightly off-topicWrap the phrase you need in quotation marks to force exact match, e.g. "junior motor mechanic apprenticeship" instead of the unquoted words.
    +10 XP

    5 - Search Log — Your Project

    Independent Practice

    Your goal: Build a search log for your own project that proves you can find trustworthy answers fast, using search operators when a traditional search is quicker, and an AI assistant (with verification) when it isn't.
    Time:~20 minutes
    Task: Open your {{code:Digital_Portfolio}} folder and open your {{code:25_search_log}} document. The worked example is already there. Add three new rows for real questions you have about your project, Work Experience placement, apprenticeship research, or Key Assignment. At least one row must use a traditional search with a search operator (site: and quotation marks are the safest choices since you've seen both in the worked example; minus sign is also fine), and at least one row must use an AI assistant where you opened and checked a cited source. For your AI prompts, use this template: "I am [your role] in [your context]. My question is [X]. Cite the Irish source so I can verify." Fill in every cell in every row so the log is something you can actually reuse later in the course.
    Success criteria:
    • Your log has at least three new rows (in addition to the worked-example rows), each about a real question from your own project
    • At least one row visibly uses a search operator (site:, quotation marks, or minus sign) in the Search / prompt column
    • Every AI row has the cited source opened and a one-line verification note in the Verified column saying whether the source matched the AI's claim
    • The document is saved as {{code:25_search_log}} inside your {{code:Digital_Portfolio}} folder
    +15 XP

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