1. WEB SITE
E VA L U AT I O N A N D
SEARCH ENGINE TIPS

2. STUDENTS AND SEARCHING
Even when high school students found a good source, they did not recognize
it and instead tried a new search.
Shu Hsien L. Chen (2003)
Northwestern University study found that students‟ level of faith in their
search engine of choice is so high that they do not feel the need to verify
for themselves who authored the pages they view or what their
qualifications might be.
Eszter Hargittai, et al
Northwestern University
Int‟l J. of Communications
(2010)

3. STUDENTS AND SEARCHING
Not one of the 600 college students surveyed “could give an adequate
conceptual definition of how Google returns results…the word „magic‟
came up a lot.”
Kolowich, ERIAL study
(Illinois 2010)
When middle and high school students were surveyed about how they start
a search, the majority said “I type a question.”
Dulcinea Media
New York (2010)

4. STUDENTS AND SEARCHING
A majority of students:
• Don‟t know how to form a sound search query
• Don‟t have a strategy for dealing with poor results
• Can‟t articulate how they know content is credible
• Don‟t check the author or date of an article.

5. WHY SHOULD I CARE?
Because your teachers do!
And because you want to find the most relevant, most
accurate sites/sources that you can when doing research.
Web Evaluation

6. SPAM CLOCK
CHECK THE URL BEFORE YOU
CLICK!!!
Screen capture from
http://www.spamclock.com/
taken Sept. 8, 2011.

7. SAMPLE GOOGLE SNIPPET
Title
URL
Description

8. GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS SAMPLE

9. GOOGLE TIPS-N-TRICKS
• Exact Phrase Searching – surround a phrase with quotes; i.e., “symptoms of
chicken pox”. Otherwise, Google will just locate these words either separately OR
together.
• Negative Searching - Use the "-" symbol when you want Google to find pages
that have one search word on them, but you need it to exclude other words
commonly associated with that search word. (e.g. professional athletes –
basketball)
• Number Ranges – add two numbers, separated by three periods, with no
spaces, into the search box along with your search terms. You can use this
number range search to set ranges for everything from dates (Al Capone
1920...1930) to weights (500...1000 lb pumpkin).
• Definitions – type define: and then your word and Google will come back with
several definitions
• Domain Search – to limit your results to a specific domain
(.gov, .edu, .org), simply type your search term and then site: and then the domain.
Don’t forget the period! (site:.edu)
Google Search

10. REMEMBER...
Check your websites for:
• Authority
• Currency
• Purpose
• Accuracy
• URL

11. WORKS CITED
Abram, Stephen. “Trust, Credulity, and Search Engines. Is Google Over?” Internet @ Schools. 18.2
(Mar. 2011): 22-23. Print.
Bergson-Michelson, Natasha. “Search Engine Results as the First Defense of Authority.”
Knowledge Quest. 38.3 (Jan/Feb 2010): Print.
Boswell, Wendy. “Top Ten Google Search Tricks.” About.com. New York Times Company, 2011
Web. 7 Sept. 2011. http://websearch.about.com/od/focusongoogle/tp/google-search-tricks.htm
Chen, Shu-Hsien L. “Searching the Online Catalog and the World Wide Web.” Journal of
Educational Media and Library Sciences. 41.1. (Sep. 2003): 29-43. Print.
Hargittai, Eszter, et a.l, Northwestern University. “Trust Online: Young Adults‟ Evaluation of Web
Content” International Journal of Communication. 4. (2010): 468-494. Web. 1 Sep. 2011.
http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/636/423.
Kolowich, Steve. Searching for Better Research habits, Inside Higher Ed., (29 Sep. 2010): n. pag.
Web. 1 Sep. 2011.
http://m.insidehighered.com/layout/set/dialog/news/2011/08/22/erial_study_of_student_research
_habits_at_illinois_university_libraries_reveals_alarmingly_poor_information_literacy_and_skill
s.
Kuiper, Els, Monique Volman and Jan Terwel. “Students‟ Use of Web Literacy Skills and Strategies:
Searching, Reading and Evaluating Web Information.” Information Research. 13.3. (22 Sep.
2008): n. pag. Web. 1 Sep. 2011. http://www.informationr.net/ir/13-3/paper351.html.