Empowerment Technologies

Contextualized Online Search and Research Skills

Goal
At the end of the lesson, you will be a better user of search engines. In
particular, you can be more deeply aware of search techniques that will give
results that are useful for your academic and chosen career

CHALLENGE QUESTIONS
Are you a smarter user of search engines?
Do you always rely on the first search results online?
Have you “Googled”14 yourself lately? Are you happy with the results?How do
you find answers to questions from the simple to the complex?
Google might naturally come to mind. Did you know that you could also use
Wolfram as an alternative search engine?

ANSWERS
⚫ I think I can say that I’m a smart user of search engines since I know how
to validate my researches.
⚫ No, I don’t rely on first search results for there may be much more
information on other results aside from the first.
⚫ I have but on a different platform and and I can say that I am really private
when it comes to info’s about myself. I think it’s a good thing that only my
friends and family are the ones who really know me personally. I often
read all of them to sort whether they’re simple or complex.
⚫ I did not know that until now. Google is the only thing that comes to mind
when I’m about to search on things.

What Matters in a Query?

On the next opportunity that you have an Internet connection, do the
following “What Matters in a Query” search tips. To validate the results
of your search, get a screenshot24 of the resulting scenarios. Be ready
to present the results in class.

Every word matters.

Try searching for [who], [the who], and [a who]
Order matters.
Try searching for [blue sky] and [sky blue]
Capitalization does not matter.
Try searching for [barack obama] and [Barack Obama]
Punctuation does not matter.
Try searching for [red, delicious% apple&] and [red delicious apple]
There are exceptions!
$ C# C++ Google+ but not ¶ £€©®÷§%() or @
Below is the screenshot to prove that I have sent my presentation to my
classmates through Gmail.