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10 Search techniques to aid students in conducting effective internet searches. |
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1. Use more than one search engine. Items being listed first on Yahoo might be further down the list or on the next page at Google.
2. Check to see when the web page was last updated. If the website hasn't been updated recently, the information may be outdated.
3. Try multiple phrases or word combinations derived from your research project to aid in your search. If your looking for information on the U.S. Civil War, don't just type in civil war because many countries such as Russia, Great Britain, etc.. have experienced civil wars.
4. Make sure you become familiar with your research topic. If I am researching WWII naval ships, the search will be easier if I know what types of ships I am looking for or names of the ships.
5. Use the advance search. Google's advanced search is easy to use and provides more than one option to find your query.
6. Make sure you spell your words in the search correctly. If you're looking for the country of England and you spell it with a "u" instead of the "a", you will be viewing a list of Freddie Krueger movies staring Robert Englund.
7. Use the + and - sign in your queries. If you are looking for Lincoln, the president, you could search Lincoln + president and - city so you are not looking at Lincoln, Nebraska.
8. Use quotation marks to find a word or phrase in the title you are searching. If I type "The only thing we have to fear", Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first inaugural address will appear.
9. Look at sites with .com or .edu in their title. These sites are probably updated and more credible than other sites.
10. Don't rely on
on-line information too much. The library contains wonderful tools called
books
and newspapers
that are still very useful.
Bonus Tip
If you find something that contradicts the teachers' lessons, talk to the teacher. The web is full of bogus claims that the Holocaust never happened or Adolph Hitler was misunderstood.
5 Recommended Search Tools
1. Google
A simple search engine that is one of the best to use. Google is very simple to use because the tool bar is very plain or uncluttered and easy to navigate.
2. Dogpile
Dogpile allows you to search many different search engines at once and the results show where the website was found.
3. Yahoo
Includes current events, news, weather, sports on it's opening page along with search capability.
4. Search Engine Watch
Lists a variety of search engines available.
5. Yahooligans
Allows for some parental control over what children are searching for on the web.
