Google Search Wizardry

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How do search engines work? A search engine takes queries as inputs and uses algorithms to find the appropriate outputs. Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Yippy, etc.DuckDuckGoYippy

Forming a Query-Step 1 Choose your keywords.

Choosing Your Keywords 1.What am I looking for? 2.Are there other words I could use for the same thing? Lexipedia Visuwords Wikisummarizer’s Visual Knowledge Map Add “synonyms” to a Google search

Choosing Your Keywords 1.What am I looking for? 2.Are there other words I could use for the same thing? 3.How would someone else talk about it?

Choosing Your Keywords 1.What am I looking for? 2.Are there other words I could use for the same thing? 3.How would someone else talk about it? 4.Which of those terms is specialized to the topic?

What do I do when I don’t know what to do? Look for a gateway page: Use context terms with your search term: tutorial, introduction, background, history, lesson Use an encyclopedia: World Book Online – available on Balko School Library web page Encyclopedia Britannica Online – Balko Library web page Wikipedia – use only as an overview of the subject Sites useful as starting points: PBS.org, Learner.org, Library of Congress.org, etc.

Three Great Gateway Sites WikisummarizerWikisummarizer - A good, quick starting point ReferenceReference - A Wikipedia alternative InstagrokInstagrok - Designed specifically for student research Your school has access to online encyclopedias - Encyclopedia Brittanica -World Book Encyclopedia

Choosing Your Keywords 1. What am I looking for? 2. Are there other synonyms I could use? 3. How would someone else talk about it? 4. Which of those terms is specialized to the topic? 5. What kind of thing am I looking for? (news article, image, definition, etc.)

You Have Your Keywords...Now What? Combining terms – Multiple Word queries Using operators – and, or, not Using filters – images, videos, maps, books

What does Google do with multiple word queries? Example Query: Tiger Woods Google returns all URLs with the word Tiger and the word Woods somewhere within them, but not necessarily together

The Simplest Operators ORContains either word (Tiger OR Woods) ANDContains both words, but not in succession “ “Contains words in succession (“Tiger Woods”) NOTContains one word, but not the other one -Contains one word, but NOT the one with this sign (Tiger -Woods)

Let’s Try It See what happens to your results for these queries without operators, with quotes, with OR, and with not (-) Oklahoma City Academy Awards

Three Other Common Operators Define:a definition of the term Site: can filter by filter by country ( ir (Iran), us (United States)filter by country domain type (gov, edu, com) specific website (espn, cnn, fox) Filetype: PDF, PPT

Less Common, But Useful link: search term is in the link intext: search term is in the text intitle: search term is in the title inurl: search term is in the url

Combining Operators Construct a query to: 1.Find a PowerPoint about the U.S. Constitution from an educational website. 1.Find a result from a UK website with “football” in the title.

Filtering Search by Type of Result Google Images Google Maps Google Videos Google News Google Books Google Scholar

Google Scholar was created to help identify and access works written by scholars for the use of other scholars. A scholar is a specialist who is highly educated in a particular field of study. Represents a collection of more sophisticated materials, written by professional scientist, historians, social scientists…

Deep Web – Invisible Web – Dark Web The part of the web which cannot be found directly by searching popular search tools, such as Google. Invisible Web DOES include: Article databases – EBSCO Collections of Primary Sources – Library of Congress Statistics – World Almanac online Scholarly works – University databases

Related Websites USDA FAOFAO – Food and Agriculture Org. of U.N. Greenpeace Natural Resources Defense Council Nuclear Power Plant Emergency study) Texas Radiation - Pantex

Curating What You Find DiigoDiigo - can only be used with Chrome.

The Next Step: Evaluating Sources

What kinds of sources should you use when working on an academic project?

Consider a source’s... Currency Reliability/Relevancy Authority Purpose/Point-of-View

Sample Passages Use your instincts. Do these pass the C.R.A.P. test?

Consider Tone and Style Examine one of the sources on the session page. Is the writing style professional? Do claims seems plausible? Is there research to support claims? Is there any indication of bias? Review the “C.R.A.P. Test” sheet.

Consider the URL What is the domain type? (.edu,.gov,.com,.org, etc.) Is the word “user” in the URL? Is there a ~ in the URL? user or ~ indicate a personal web page

AnyWhoIs Lookup One example is whois.domaintools.comwhois.domaintools.com This can give you information about who owns a website.

The Wayback Machine Shows a snapshot of the internet over time. Want to see what a particular site looked like five years ago? This will show you.

Other Important Steps Research the author Compare multiple sources

Citing Your Sources EasyBib Add-On to Docs

A Couple of Fun Things Easter Eggs Let Me Google That for You

Thanks! Jake Heister, Education Specialist Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education

Image Credit Image via Sean McGrath on Flickrvia Sean McGrath on Flickr