Searching Google Ms. Mary Condon Librarian Lowell Catholic High School

Search Engines Complies sites through computer robots and spiders, called “crawlers” Retrieves specific information and pages buried deep in a Web site Use unique keywords or a combination Allows field searching and limiting More up-to-date and larger than directories

Search Results Page

AND or OR Entering two or more words retrieves web pages with all words. Default ANDs all terms. vacation hawaii—returns vacation & Hawaii anywhere on same page

NOT COMMAND virus –computer the word virus but not the word computer bass -music The word patriots but not the word football Works without truncation.

Phrase Searching Search for phrase with exact same words in exact same order. Put phrase in double quotes. Can specify additional terms out of double quotes “New England Quilt Show” “New England Boat Show”

Truncation: * driver, driving, drives driv* exercis* jog* racism, racist racis* to be or not to be“* be * * * be”

I’m Feeling Lucky Only on Takes you directly to first and most relevant web page returned to query. Returns one web page “cure for cancer”

Google NOT Case Sensitive Google is not case sensitive. One can use upper or lower case letters. “martin luther king” “president george w bush”

Search Web Site site: admission site: science site: basketball site:

Synonyms Know of only one word. Want additional words with same meaning ~ ~analysis ~food ~facts ~inexpensive travel

Google can be a Dictionary In search box define:computer define:transcendentalism define:global warming

Finding Words in Title intitle:global intitle:warming intitle:Shakespeare* intitle:analysis

Advanced Search Page You can do a lot more with Google search than just typing in search terms. With Advanced Search, you can search only for pages: that contain ALL the search terms you type in that contain the exact phrase you type in that contain at least one of the words you type in that do NOT contain any of the words you type in written in a certain language created in a certain file format that have been updated within a certain period of time that contain numbers within a certain range within a certain domain, or website that don't contain "adult" material

Evaluating Web Sites What should you be looking for? A) Content: Does this site cover the topic comprehensively? Is it written in a level you can understand? What is unique about this site? Does this site offer something others do not? Are there links to relevant information? Can you tell the date this page was created? Last revised? Are the dates meaningful in terms of the subject matter? Would you get better information from a book or an encyclopedia? Would you include this site in your bibliography?

Evaluating Web Sites B) Authority: Who is responsible for this site? Who sponsors it? Have the authors of this site cited their own resources? What is the domain name? Is it a personal page? Who else links to this site? Hints about Authority: Who wrote this site? HINT: If you truncate the URL you can sometimes back it up to see the author of the site. HINT: If you Google the author’s name, it will list other sites linked to the author. Another way to see other sites linked to this one (link: and the url.-This does not work for the Tree Octopus.)

Evaluating Web Sites What is the domain?.com,.gov,.org, or.net? HINT:.gov=official government page.edu are educational and academic sites..org= not for profit organizations. Be careful of.orgs..com or.net anyone can publish. Be careful. It does not mean good information cannot be found. You just need to think critically. Hints about Author: HINT: personal pages usually have a persons name following a ~ or % or have the words “members” or “users” as part of the URL HINT: Look for links that say “About Us”, “Background”, or “Biography.” IF you can’t find the author, see if you can find the organization

Evaluating Web Sites C) Bias: Why was this site created? (to persuade, inform, sell, parody, promote?) Can you distinguish facts from opinion? Is the argument only one-sided? D) Usability and Design: Is this site easy to navigate? Is it well labeled? Are there content areas? Are there any errors in spelling or grammar? Do the pages appear clean and uncluttered? Do the links on this site work?

Additional websites