Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Haunted Search Challenge

At this time of year, scary attractions abound: yard displays, haunted houses, horror film festivals. It's also possible to find creepy hiking trails open year-round.

Where can you find this year-round haunted trail?

Use these clues to locate the name of the park, all associated with this allegedly haunted location.

Haunted
Trail
Park
Think of keywords associated with Halloween

Once you locate a likely place, verify you found the right one
by reading its history of mysteries that go back well over a century.


Monday, October 15, 2018

Squirrelly Challenge

Here's how Merriam Webster's online dictionary uses Squirrelly in a sentence:


It was the end of the school year, when all the kids get a little squirrelly

It's easy to find what the word means. But what causes squirrels to behave this way?

Help us build this search challenge. Send the URL of an authoritative article or document that provides a clue to wizard@21cif.com



Monday, October 8, 2018

Acorn Challenge


Try this search challenge.


Inside an acorn's tough leathery shell is a thin coating layer that sticks to the nut meat. What is that coating called?

Submit your solution and how you found it here: wizard@21cif.com


Friday, October 5, 2018

Harvard Citation Wizard Updated

The last of our Citation Wizards is now updated to our new look and feel. Harvard Style may be used more outside the US, but a large number of visitors are from overseas (Australia is second only to our US traffic).

Three formats are available:

  • Webpage (Website)
  • Online Journal
  • Online Book
If you would like other Harvard style formats, let us know.

In all, we offer up-to-date bibliographic citation for these styles:
  • MLA
  • APA
  • CSE
  • Chicago
  • Harvard
Avoid Plagiarism. Cite the information you use.

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Keyword Search Strategy

No one has come forward with the solution to the Search Challenge posted two days ago.



Admittedly, this is not an easy challenge; probably a Level 6 or 7. To make headway requires search strategies and persistence.

Without giving too much away, here's a strategy that will work:


  1. Describe what you see. A close look reveals abbreviated terms such as libre, janit, admin, playg, pk, etc. Taken together, these point to a bigger concept. There's a keyword for that (school). There's also a better word for what the image represents (I'll leave that to you).
  2. Other keywords may be derived from the image, e.g., shapes. Most of the elements appear to be some type of hexagons. There's a better keyword than that, but you may not be able to think of it immediately.
  3. Test queries. Use the words that you have to look for better keywords. Finding better keywords is a key to this challenge.
  4. Know where to look. This is also a key to the challenge. What search engine can you use to locate similar pictures?
  5. Keep in mind what you are looking for. Don't expect an answer to be obvious. Look for words and images that share features with the picture. 
  6. Use the information you find in new searches to get ever closer.
  7. Be persistent. The only way to guarantee you won't find it is to give up. Study snippets and images beyond the first page of results.

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Keyword Search Challenge

Looking for a challenge to keep your search skills sharp? Identify the author of the image below:


Send your solution to wizard@21cif.com

Friday, September 28, 2018

Updated CSE Citation Wizards

The make-overs continue: CSE Wizards are now fit for service.

CSE is actually the most popular of our Wizards. Citation-Subject, Citation-Name, Name-Year formats are available for:

Webpage
Online Journal
Online Book

In completing the upgrade, we discovered a few bugs (hyperlinks that didn't go where they should and a copy the citation function that failed). For that we apologize and are happy to say all's now been fixed.

If formats would be helpful other than the six we already offer, please let us know.

Try it out: https://21cif.com/tools/cite/cse/

For kicks: complete a C-N citation for this article: http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/11/549/eaav1646

Compare your experience to another CSE Citation Machine