Find Quality Web Information

Planning Your Search     |     Choosing Search Tools      |        Evaluating Web Information

Planning Your Search

Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and other general search engines work differently than OneSearch and other academic search tools. They're built to handle both keyword searches and questions. Before searching, it's still helpful to think about your research questions and what you want to find.

For more information about choosing keywords, see "What words should I search for?"

Many OneSearch tricks also work on general search engines. For example:

  • phrase searching--the use of quotation marks to ensure that words appear immediately next to each other, such as "prince edward island" or "high school" or "horse behaviour"
  • nesting--the use of round brackets to specify the order in which searching should be done. For example, to search for websites about conservation in any of the Maritime provinces, you could search for ("prince edward island" OR "nova scotia" OR "new brunswick") conservation
  • Boolean logic--you can still use AND, OR, and NOT. Check the Advanced Search page for more information.
    • Google, DuckDuckGo, and other search engines use the minus sign for NOT. For example, to search for information about dogs that does not include information about hot dogs, you could search for dogs -"hot dogs"

Other helpful strategies:

  • site-specific searching--in many search engines, you can use site: to search only on a specific website. For example, site:upei.ca would search only upei.ca webpages. site:.ca would search only .ca websites.
  • filtering--look at the top or along the sides of your search results to see what filters are available, such as limiting by date. On Google, these options are under Tools, with more search possibilities available on the Advanced Search page.


 

Choosing Search Tools

Many people begin their searching with Google, Bing, or another large commercial search engine. These tools often bring up thousands or millions of results, including paid advertisements. Here are some other tools to consider to expand or more specifically target your search.

  • DuckDuckGo is a search engine that does not track your searches or personalize your results. (It does still serve ads.) Because of this, you might get very different results than with other search engines.
  • Google Scholar is a specialized Google product that searches and cross-references sources it thinks are likely to be scholarly publications. If you're looking for academic journal articles or scholarly books beyond what you've found in OneSearch, try Google Scholar.
  • The Creative Commons search tool looks for content (including pictures, videos, and writing) that has a Creative Commons license, allowing you to reuse or edit it in your own work.
  • We have additional recommendations for places to search or to find content in many of our Subject Guides.

Web Searching Tips

  • Look for Help information from each tool's website, or look for a tip sheet or chart showing the details of how a particular tool works.
  • Go to the Advanced Search page and look at what options are available.
  • If a search strategy isn't working, try something else.
  • Remember: the information you’re seeking may not be available for free on the Web. Contact a librarian if you'd like advice on adjusting your search strategies.


 

Evaluating Web Information

It is extremely important to critically evaluate information you find on the Internet, whether you are planning to use it in an academic paper or you're just curious about a topic. Here are some questions to ask:

  • When was this written? Has it been updated?
  • Who wrote this? Who are they? (Once you find the name of the author or organization, try looking them up elsewhere. Do they seem to have an expertise or regular beat? Do they have lived experience, education, or credentials related to this topic?)
  • What website is this on, or what publication was it in? What kinds of things do they usually publish?
  • What country did this content come from? Is it relevant to your information needs?
  • Why was this written? Who is its intended audience? What is the author trying to convince you to think or do?
  • Is it clear whether this content is an advertisement or an "advertorial" (sponsored content)?
  • Can you verify this information using different types of sources? (For example, if you're reading a news article about a scientific discovery, can you find research articles about the scientific work?)

You can use just about anything from the Internet, but it's important to be able to describe its context and purpose. For example, a labour union representative and an employer-side lawyer will describe a workplace issue and its possible solutions very differently. A sponsored article about a beachside resort and an article about the environmental impact of sea level rise will have very different focuses when describing the same landscape.

If you're not certain about a source or how to use it, ask a subject librarian or your professor. 

 

Created by: Betty Jeffery, B.A., M.L.S.
Former Instruction & Education Services Librarian
Date Created: 23-May-2000
Date Revised: 15-May-2024 by Katelyn Browne, B.Sc., M.S.L.S., Instructional Services Librarian

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