This document provides tips and strategies for conducting effective online research using Google and other search engines and resources. It discusses how to articulate an information need, identify appropriate starting points and search tools, utilize advanced search features and Boolean logic, search within specific domains, directories, and file types, and find new and obscure information sources. Additional tips include using caching and translation tools, understanding how Google rankings work, and playing the "Google whacking" game to find unique search results. The overall message is that with the right search strategies, students can find higher quality information in less time to get better assignment results.

1. Better Assignment Research
More marks in half the time

2. Chris Waterman
St Vincent’s College
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3. Articulate what you need.
 I need information on the Meiji period in Japanese
history, including dates, major players, main facts
and comparisons
Primary Secondary Also rans
Meiji People Global impact
Japan Activities Comparisons
Historical Determinants
period
Ask Jeeves; Bertie
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4. So where do we start?
 Ground floor foundations
 MS student
 Encarta (see search example)
 World Book
 www.mooter.com
 http://www.rcls.org/ksearch.htm
 BUBL (www.bubl.ac.uk) (dewey decimal system)
 Yahoo
 Wikipedia
 Galaxy (national library of medicine)
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5. What’s really new?
 Go for the latest and greatest
 RSS feeds
 Pluck
 Etc.
 Podcasts
 Graylit networks
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6. So let’s Google better.
 Describe your search as completely as possible to
narrow -- don’t capitalize, Google is case insensitive.
(eg. a search for carnivore obtains a game, a type of animal
and an FBI program, so specify your term)
 Add quotes to limit search to those sites with this
specific phrase: “history of chocolate”
 Limit search to specific sites or file types:
“history of chocolate” -.com filetype:ppt site:edu
Most search
 + to include; - to exclude (no spaces) engines have an
advanced search
similar to Google’s
Go see William
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the conker (er)

7. Boolean Logic for Searches
 AND -- This is assumed by Google. No need to add it
in. To be or
eg. Chocolate AND cadbury = chocolate cadbury not to be…
 OR -- finds either term =chocolate OR cadbury
 Stemming now works! Still use your wildcards:
whole words only; * = any word
 Nested Boolean Searches
chocolate AND [diet OR health]
 Don’t discard spelling errors
 Try doing it double! Stop words
internet internet

 I, a, the, of. etc.
Put them in quotes.
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8. Narrowing the search even further.
Special Syntax
 filetype:
 intitle: Date Range
 allintitle: •Remember it’s in Julian
 site: There are many
 intitle & site: (combo) converters available,
don’t worry…
 intext: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/da
 related: ta/docs/JulianDate.html
For the maths dept only:
site:com site:edu assumes an
AND. Use this to make it OR
something (site:edu | site:com)
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9. Directories
When you go to the library, you have:
subject, author, title, etc, searches.
Mostly you stick to „subject‟.
That‟s what you can do with Google too.
The Directory describes the whole
web site, so the result is a reduced
subject specific search.
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10. Remember this about Google
 Advertising, you can pay to have sites
ranked at the top
 Results listing is not accurate; it is transitory
 Will not show more than 1000 results per search
 Will not search more than ten words in search box
use your wild cards here, they don’t count
 Won’t show more than two results per site
 Google gives its highest rating to sites that have
lots of links from other sites.
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11. So why bother with anything else?
 Unseen WEB – Google doesn’t get to everything
You may need to use other engines in conjunction
 Ephemeral stuff
 Use Google’s cache option
 Gray literature
 Academic papers committee reports journals
 Conference papers corporate docs trade papers
http://graylit.osti.gov
http://adt.caul.edu.au
www.slnsw.gov.au
http://www.nla.gov.au
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12. So why bother with anything else?
 Quality, specific Information –
demands better searching skills
 Nature of Structured Documents
Advanced Search Training
 Sometimes you are looking for a more obscure site
 You may be searching a material type that another
search engine will do better
chance… all search engines search
a slightly different database - you
just might be luckier with another!
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13. Only if we have time…
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14. Some more cool stuff
 Google Labs – the coolest feature of all
 Google calculates!
 Calculate in words Try converting Celsius
 Google defines to Fahrenheit and more
 Google translates
 Look up the news
 Where to get pictures
 Speak: Try the definitions search box for
 Swedish chef
 maths or irrational number
 Elmer Fudd
 Klingon  teacher
 Go shopping with Froogle or catalogues
 Give the sets a go
 Join a group (ok, this is daggy but some people like it)
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15. Google sites
 http://alltooflat.com/geeky/elgoog/
 http://www.google.com/coop
 http://www.google.com/trends
 http://www.elgoog.com
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16. Cheat Google
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17. Google Whacking
 The „game‟ of finding 2 words searches (no
quotes) that yield only one result.
 hobo matureness
 gigolo whitethroat
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18. That’s all for now
Applaud or throw money…
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19. Sample searches
 william the conquorer
Incorrect spelling but still 140 results
 william the conqueror
Better but now 142,000 results
 “william the conqueror”
Even better now only 79,600
 “william the conqueror” site:edu
More educational and only 2,800 results
 "william the conqueror" site:edu from the directory
Now really focused and only 321 results
 "william the conqueror" site:edu filetype:ppt
Now seriously focused and only 38 results
Feeling really lucky? Use the button: results =1
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