Most popular search tools:
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Planning Your Search Strategy | Searching the Web | Evaluating Web Information
A well-planned search strategy greatly improves the chances of finding the information you need.
1. Define the topic in your own words. It can be helpful to state the topic in the form of a question, e.g., what are the effects of television violence on children?
2. Identify the main concepts and keywords. For the topic, what are the effects of television violence on children?, the main concepts would be: television, violence, children.
3. Refine your search terms.
Consider:
4. Combine the terms
AND (+) retrieves records with both terms, e.g., television AND violence
OR retrieves records with either term, e.g., television OR tv
NOT (-) retrieves records with the first term but not the second, e.g., child* NOT adolescent*
NEAR retrieves records with terms within a certain number of words of each other, e.g., television NEAR violence
Also Consider:
5. Construct the search strategy
For: what are the effects of television violence on children?
One strategy could be: (television OR tv) AND violence AND child*
Try this Search Strategy Tutorial:
Searching 101 (Ohio State University)
http://liblearn.osu.edu/tutor/les4/
There are essentially three types of tools to use when searching the Web, i.e., subject directories, search engines, and meta-search tools.
Subject directories are lists of selected Web resources arranged by topic in a hierarchical way. These small databases are compiled by human beings, so are comparatively small, and can sometimes get out of date quickly. Search results are usually highly relevant, however.
Use subject directories when looking for:
Search Engines are word-by-word indexes of web resources gathered by a computer program. These databases are substantially larger and more current than subject directories. Finding relevant documents can be more difficult, however. Use search engines when looking for specific information, or information on a current topic.
Meta-Search Tools allow you to search several tools at one time. They speed up the search process and are useful for searches with unique terms. However, they lack access to all the advanced search features the individual tools provide and might present only the first few results from each tool.
Web Searching Tips
Try this Web Searching Tutorial:
Bare Bones 101 (University of South Carolina)
A basic tutorial on searching the Web.
http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/pages/bones/bones.shtml
Looking for More Information on Searching the Web?
The Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook : A Guide for the Serious Searcher / Randolph Hock
E-book
Finding Information on the Internet (University of California, Berkeley)
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html
Google Search Secrets / Michael P. Sauers and Christa Burns
E-book
An Introduction to Search Engines and Web Navigation / Mark Levene
E-book
Search Tools Chart (InfoPeople)
https://infopeople.org/content/best-search-tools-chart
The quality of information found on the World Wide Web varies greatly. Therefore, it is extremely important to critically evaluate information you find on the Web. Consider the following criteria:
Accuracy
Authority
Objectivity
Currency
Coverage
Site Design
Try this Web Evaluation Tutorial:
Evaluating Web Sites (Ohio State University)
Brief tutorial introducing the techniques for judging the value of websites for research purposes.
http://liblearn.osu.edu/tutor/les1/
Looking for More Information on Web Evaluation?
Evaluating Information Found on the Internet (Elizabeth E. Kirk, Johns Hopkins University)
http://guides.library.jhu.edu/evaluate
Evaluating Internet Research Sources (Robert Harris)
http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm
Created by: Betty Jeffery, B.A., M.L.S.
Former Instruction & Education Services Librarian
Date Created: 23-May-2000
Date Revised: 17-July-2017