Google and Beyond Finding Information Using Search Engines
Google and Beyond: Finding Information Using Search Engines, & Evaluating Your Results Elizabeth Geesey Holmes, M. A. , M. S. L. I. S. Cataloging Services Librarian Alexander Campbell King Law Library University of Georgia School of Law Athens, Georgia March 2006
Basics of Search Engines
What are search engines? l Term “search engine” used generically to describe both Directories and Search Engines l Directories (Yahoo, Google’s directory) l l l Meta Search Engines l l Links to Web sites organized by hierarchy of topics Created by human editors Cover only a tiny portion of the Web Access via browsing or searching site Send searches to multiple Search Engines at one time Search Engines (Focus will be on these) l l l Database created by software programs Search database by keyword to find Web sites Cover larger portion of Web than Directories
Why use them for legal research? l Material only “published” on the Web l l E-journals Newsletters Postings to e-discussion groups Search engines = one important tool to locate Web-based resources l Useful for general Web searching
Meta Search Engines l l l Do not crawl the web themselves to build databases Allow users to search multiple Search Engines at one time with one search Present results from various Search Engines together on one page
Dogpile (http: www. dogpile. com)
Dogpile sample search
Dogpile search results
Vivisimo/Clusty (http: //clusty. com/)
Clusty search results display
Pros and Cons of Meta Search Engines l Pros l l l Search a variety of Search Engines with one query Clustering feature on Clusty Comparison tool on Dogpile l Cons l l May time out if search processing takes to long Only retrieve the top 1050 hits from each Search Engine Less advanced search features Differing syntax of various Search Engines makes Boolean searching difficult
General Search Engines l What makes one search engine’s database different from another? l l l Contents Size Currency Ranking/relevance algorithm Three main Search Engines at this time: l l l Google Yahoo! MSN Search
Basic Search Tips l l Use multiple Search Engines [LINK] Use advanced search pages l l Single most efficient way to increase your effectiveness as a searcher Set your options Read search help and additional information pages [LINK] Remember: Not all Web information is indexed on these Search Engines
The Invisible Web l l l Info not readily indexed by Search Engines Only small portion of info posted on the Internet is indexed by Search Engines. Why? l l l Format that Search Engines don’t recognize Site not submitted to be indexed Search Engine has chosen not to index a site Site has blocked Search Engine’s indexing software Site requires a password Information is in a database that must be queried before data can be retrieved
Invisible Web Example: Info in Webaccessible Databases
Invisible Web Example: Info in Webaccessible Databases
The Invisible Web: Other ways to find information l l Subject-based Directories Invisible Web portals l l l Complete Planet Pro. Fusion More information in “Sources for Further Learning” section of my paper
Unique Tool: Google Scholar l l l http: //scholar. google. com/ Agreements with publishers, associations, universities and others allow Google Scholar to index databases that search engine crawlers normally cannot penetrate, Covers “peer-reviewed” papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports.
Advanced Search Strategies
Advanced Search Pages l l l After choosing a Search Engine go directly to the Advanced Search page [LINK] This is the most important strategy you can use Advanced Search pages give you significantly more options l l l Boolean searching Limiting by format, domain or date range No need to remember specific terms and commands
Google Advanced Search Page SEARCH: Martha AND Stewart AND trial OR court OR case AND "insider trading" BUT NOT jimmy AND PHRASE OR AND NOTE: YOU CAN MIX AND MATCH THE BOOLEAN SEARCHING
Modifying a Google Advanced Search
Modifying a Google Advanced Search
Searching By Format l Excellent strategy for targeting your search and returning more relevant search results l l l Google -- Power. Point, Word, Excel, PDF Yahoo! -- Power. Point, Word, Excel, PDF, RSS/XML and plain text (. txt) files MSN Search – Does not have this feature
Searching for a Power. Point Presentation l Use Google to restrict your search to a Power. Point presentation if you are looking for information such as: l l l Your expert (or the opposition’s) presentation at a conference A hot topic that no one has written about yet, but that someone may have given a recent presentation on Many presentations are created in Power. Point and posted to the Web
Power. Point search on Google
Results of ppt search
Google’s HTML and PPT version of first hit
Audio and Visual Material: Images l l All three Search Engines offer image searching I recommend trying Google first l l Offers an Advanced Search Offers a limit by domain Indexes nearly half a million images Determines image’s content by using surrounding text, accompanying captions and file names, among other criteria
Image search example
Audio and Visual Material: Multimedia l l Yahoo! and Google offer video searching. Google’s is still in beta testing l l l It can be found at: http: //video. google. com At present it only searches about 20 TV channels and videos uploaded to the site Yahoo!’s search is of video on the Web l Select the “Video” tab and then select advanced search – you are taken to a customized search page to enter your search terms.
Video search example
Video search results
Searching for News l l All three Search Engines offer a News search Google’s News search l l l Collects recent (only covers past 30 days) news stories from sources all over the world Updates continuously throughout the day Sorts results by relevance OR date/time Limit by country/state OR publication Option to use search in News Alert service
Getting to Google’s News Search
News Search Example
News Search Results
“Hidden” tools
Searching within your results l l l Of the three search engines featured this handy tool is only available on Google Hidden just below visible bottom of page Useful for further narrowing relevant searches
Searching within results Example
Toolbars l Google, Yahoo! MSN Search, Dogpile, and Clusty all offer a toolbar l l Customizable Easy to download Sit at top of browser window Advanced Searchbar (http: //www. advancedsearchbar. com/) l One toolbar access to over 100 search engines
Google’s toolbar l l Search the Web using Google without going first to their Web site With the click of a button use advanced search techniques such as: l l l Searching within a page Searching within a site Searching Images, News, Google’s Directory or Dictionary Highlight search terms Block pop-ups Fill in forms automatically
Highlighting terms using the toolbar
Getting to Google’s toolbar (1)
Getting to Google’s toolbar (2)
Google’s Synonym Feature l Search for a word and its common synonyms using l l l Basic search box Advanced Search page “find results with at least one of the words” box Enter the word you want to search preceded by the tilde [~word] l l ~law This retrieves sites with the words: law, laws, lawyers, legal, attorney and regulations
Google’s Synonym Feature: Example Time saver!
Yahoo! Shortcuts
Assessing the Quality of Information on the Internet
“So you ran a web search for it? ” “Yes. ” “And the word returned hundreds of references, no doubt. ” “Thousands. ” Kohler said. “Yours, however, contained references to Harvard, Oxford, a reputable publisher, as well as a list of related publications. As a scientist I have come to learn that information is only as valuable as its source. Your credentials seemed authentic. ” Excerpt Angels & Demons, Dan Brown
Judging Authenticity l Look for site documentation l l About us links View source Web address structure Ask basic questions about the source of information l Who is the author?
Assessing Information Quality l Who said, “Question Authority? ” l l l Timothy Leary? Socrates? Unitarian Universalists? Maynard James Keenan Bumper sticker?
Assessing Information Quality: Am I in the right place? l Searching for Cases l l Searching for Statutes l l Go to the web site for the court that originally published the opinions Go to the web site for the state or federal legislature Don’t use secondary sources for material readily available online from the actual source
Determine Accuracy l l l Assess objectivity How does it compare with print resources? Check for errors Verify information Check for use of common technical tricks used to make information appear to be something it is not
Currency l l Decide if timeliness is relevant Last updated?
Assess Completeness l l l How comprehensive is the resource? Watch for selective fact citation Compare coverage with print resources
Conclusion l l Amount of information on the Web makes it overwhelming to locate relevant sites Learning to use the above mentioned tools and tips will make your search for information on the Web efficient and successful l l Consult my paper for additional tips! Please contact me with any questions: l eholmes@uga. edu l 706 -542 -5082
Advanced Search guide has a link to a one page cheat sheet at: www. google. com/help/cheat sheet. html
Clusty Help page Back
How to get to the Advanced Search page: Example
BACK
Google and Yahoo compared http: //www. langreiter. com/exec/yahoo-vs-google. html Back
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