Searching Google/Internet
Tips for searching in Google or Google Scholar
More than just Google! Different search engines
| Tips for searching in Google or Google Scholar |
Phrase search: Search for an exact phrase by using quotation marks.
Example: "small business management"
Search within a specific type of site: Search for keywords in the specific type of site you want, ie. a government site or websites from colleges and universities, etc.
Example 1: clinical nutrition site:gc.ca (typing site:gc.ca after your search terms, Google will search Government of Canada sites only)
Example 2: early child learning site:.edu (typing site:.edu after your search terms, Google will search educational institution sites only)
Search for words found in the website title: Limits your search to words in the title of a website to make sure the information is relevant.
Example: allintitle:young offenders (typing allintitle: before your search terms will search for your search terms in the web page title, ie. The Young Offenders Act‐Parent's Page; The Great Young Offenders Act Debate, etc.)
Leave out a word from your search: Use a minus sign ( ‐ ) directly in front of an unwanted word to leave out websites that have the unwanted search term. There is no space between the minus sign and the word you want to leave out, and there must be a minus sign before every word you want to leave out.
Example: Inuit ‐Métis ‐First -Nations (Your search results will be websites with only the word Inuit and will not include any websites with the words Metis, First, and/or Nations.)
Search for exact word using "quotations": Type the word or phrase in quotes. Your results will contain only websites that have the word exactly as you typed it, excluding websites with synonyms of your search term.
Example: "financial" (Your search results will be websites with only the word financial; because you used quotations, Google will exclude synonyms like monetary or fiscal from your search results)
Advanced Search: Use the Advanced Search to limit your results by language, field, Internet domain, date of publication, country, and where on the page the words appear (the address, the text, etc.).
| More than just Google! Different search engines |
Dogpile, Kartoo, Surfwax and Metacrawler are metacrawlers. Metacrawlers search through several popular search engines, including Google, Yahoo!, About.com, Ask.com, and more to give you the top results.
Try them out!
- Dogpile: http://www.dogpile.com
- Clusty: http://www.clusty.com
- Kartoo: http://www.kartoo.com (visually displays the web pages from the search results)
- Surfwax: http://www.surfwax.com
- Metacrawler: http://www.metacrawler.com
- Ask: http://www.ask.com (not a metacrawler, but an easy to use search engine)
| Evaluating web sources |
Anyone can publish anything on the web. How do you know if the information is reliable?
Here are 5 criteria to help you evaluate web resources:
1. Author/Authority: Who is the author of the website? What is their expertise in the area? What is the reputation of the organization? Is there contact information available for the author or the publisher of the website? If the website is sponsored, what is the relationship between the author and the sponsor?
2. Currency: When was the information created or last updated? Are the links on the website still working?
3. Accuracy: Has the information been edited or fact‐checked? Does the site tell you where the information came from? How does the information compare with the information you've gathered through your other research?
4. Point of View or Objectivity: Whose point of view or perspective is given? Is there advertising on the page? Is the author promoting a certain product or opinion?
5. Purpose or Coverage: Is the purpose of the web site clearly stated? Is the website geared towards a certain audience or level of expertise? Does the website have a narrow range of information or does it provide full coverage of the topic?
If the answers to some of these questions aren't readily available, the information may not be entirely accurate. The web site address may offer clues to the reliability of the information. For example, .gc.ca or .gov indicates a government site, and .edu is primarily used for educational institutions in the U.S. and the U.K.
| Podcasts |
Podcasts are audio or video clips that can be downloaded from the web on almost any subject, topic, or area of interest. Podcasts play on most computers, laptops and MP3 players as well as iPods.
BBC Podcast Directory: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts
Canada Podcasts (Directory): http://www.canadapodcasts.ca/
CBC Podcasts: http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting
National Geographic: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/podcasts
iTunesU (Free educational Podcasts): http://www.apple.com/education/guidedtours/itunesu.html
Podcast Directory.com: http://www.podcastdirectory.com/
