To Google or Not To Google
To Google or Not To GoogleInformation Retrieval Tips by Teresa
HowardLIBR 202 Finding ToolsThere are a variety of tools to help
you find what you need, and most fall into one of three
categories:1. General directories (ex: Yahoo! Directory, Open
Directory)2. Search engines (ex: Google, Bing)3. Specialized
directories (Yahoo! lists thousands, used when you need general
familiarity for a particular area of study)Hock, R. (2013). Basics
for the serious searcher. In R. Hock (Author), The extreme
searcher's internet handbook (4th ed., pp. 8-12, 43). Medford, NJ:
CyberAge Books.
General StrategiesHere are a few questions to think about before
beginning a search:1. Exactly what is my question?2. What is the
most appropriate tool to start with?3. What search strategy should
I start with?
Hock, R. (2013). Basics for the serious searcher. In R. Hock
(Author), The extreme searcher's internet handbook (4th ed., p.
13). Medford, NJ: CyberAge Books. Pick A Search EngineThere are
many search engines to choose from and everyone has their
preference. The 3 main search engines are:
Choose A Topic To Search ForOnce you know what you are looking
for, start your search. Ex: Turtles (How many species are
there?)
Lets try Google and Yahoo for this search
Phrasing Your SearchThere are two basic Boolean search commands
supported in Google, AND and OR. ANDGoogle defaults to AND searches
automatically, so you don't need to type "AND" into the search
engine to get that result.ORIf you want to find one keyword or
another, use the term OR. It's important that you use all caps, or
Google will ignore your request.To find all documents containing
either sausages or biscuits, type: sausages OR biscuits. You can
also substitute the | character for OR, so sausages | biscuits
searches for the same thing.
Karch, M. (n.d.). Boolean - how to find some or all of your
search terms in google. Retrieved December 2, 2014, from
http://google.about.com/od/searchingtheweb/qt/booleantip.htm Begin
SearchingGoogle produced 5,560,000 results
Yahoo produced 20,300,00 results
Which results do I pick?Knowing which source to pick from a list
of search results can be tough. Always check at least three to five
sources. Compare sites by seeing if they state the same (or close
to the same) information about your research topic.Sites ending
with .org, .edu, and .gov are considered reliable.If you need help
figuring out if a source you choose is reliable/reputable, try
using this evaluation
website:http://21cif.com/tools/evaluate/Choose A SourceFrom the
Google results list, lets choose allturtles.com
From the Yahoo results list, lets choose a source from the Yahoo
Answers (which I highlighted)
The page gives a vague answer, not a specific number. So, not a
very good source.The Other answer is actually the best. She
provides the actually number (285) and a link to a website
(highlighted at the bottom). Meylan, P. A. (2001, May 31).
Testudines. turtles, tortoises and terrapin. Retrieved November
1,2014, from Tree of Life website: http://www.tolweb.org/Testudines
Rephrasing Your SearchLets try another search in Google. This time
well use a different phrasing of our words: number of species of
turtles
Comparing Sources: Double Checking ResultsThis time we got more
results (10,800,000), but possibly better results. Now we must
choose a source. From the list, it looks like the ask.com is
closest to our previous answer, so lets click on it
Verifying InformationSince ask.com is known to be a reputable
website and its answer (270 species) is close to our previous
findings (285 species), I would choose this source for my research.
They even list their sources at the bottom of the page.
Ask.com. (n.d.). How many types of turtles are there? Retrieved
December 2, 2014, from
http://www.ask.com/pets-animals/many-types-turtles-2e64bac766545980
Searching For Another TopicSoap (how do you make it?)Choose your
search engine or other source.Type: how do you make soapChoose a
source: I choose the highlighted one. It provides step-by-step
instructions.
Using Other Online ResourcesAir conditioners (how do they
work?)For this topic, I used a resource I already knew:
Infoplease.comType: air conditionersChoose a source: I choose the
one most relevant to my search, plus its from an encyclopedia,
which is considered a trusted source.
References
References Continued
