Web Search - The Basics
- 1. Web Search Tools – The Basics How to get from here To here
- 2. What Is the Web? ● Contains millions and millions of websites ● Content grows and changes every day ● Everybody can create a website, a blog or Facebook page ● Finding information is not the problem, finding relevant and reliable information is!
- 3. Where to Start Your Research? Simple Google Search: 52,100,000 results
- 4. If You Don't Know Much About Your Topic ● Start with a Subject Directory like ipl2 ● Subject directories contain websites selected by experts and grouped by topic ● Find a general website about your topic to – get an idea of your topic – refine your topic – find other search terms that can help you find more specific information on your topic
- 6. When You Know Something About Your Topic ● A Search Engine like Google can help you find very specific and timely information on your topic ● Google “crawls” the web to create an index of websites ● When you search Google, websites are retrieved from this index and ranked in your results list based on a complex algorithm ● The ranking is NOT based on reliability
- 7. Like an Expert ● Don't write your search term in question form ● Use quotation marks to group your search terms, e.g. “stem cell research” ● Use more search terms to make your search more specific ● Use the Advanced Search for more options
- 11. Evaluating Web Pages ● Evaluating your results is the most imporant part of your research ● WWW technique – Who? Is it clear who is responsible for the content? – What? What is the goal of the website? – When? Is the information outdated? ● Never use a website for your paper unless you have evaluated it!
- 12. Using Your Results ● Keep a log of websites you have looked at ● If you are going to use information from a website in your paper, you need to cite it and include it in your list of resources ● Make sure you have all the information you will need for your citation
- 13. Last But Not Least ● Websites are not the only resources you should use for your research ● Databases and other resources from the library have lots of good information ● If you need help with your research or citations, librarians are there to assist you ● Don't be afraid to ask!
- 14. Links to Resources ● City College Library Website: http://www.ccsf.edu/NEW/en/library.html ● City College Library Guide to Finding Information on the Web: http://www.ccsf.edu/NEW/en/library/finding-information/web.html ● ipl2 Subject Directory Website: http://www.ipl.org/ ● Google Advanced Search Page: http://www.google.com/advanced_search ● City College Library Guide to Evaluating Information: http://www.ccsf.edu/NEW/en/library/research-help/evaluating-information.html ● City College Library Guide to Citing Sources: http://www.ccsf.edu/NEW/en/library/research-help/citing.html