You are on page 1of 17

Google an introduction

What is google?
Google, an Intelligent search engine, is a tool for finding resources on the
World Wide Web. Google scans web pages to find instances of the
keywords you have entered in the search box.You can search for more
than just text – check out the options below:
The basic Google search rules you NEED TO KNOW:

 Punctuation doesn’t count. So don’t worry about it.


 Keywords aren’t case sensitive. Google considers uppercase and lowercase letters to be equal.
 You are limited to ten words. Everything after ten words is truncated and ignored.
 Avoid misspellings. You won’t get the same search results. However, Google will show you the
correct spelling and offer you the opportunity to do a search with the correct spelling.
 Be specific. The more targeted your keywords, the better your results.
 Singular and plural forms are different keywords to Google. So if the singular form doesn’t
provide what you are looking for, try the plural form.
 Google ignores most common, short words like the, and, or, after in,, how, I, it, is was, will be,
and so on. Google will notify you at the top of your search results if they have ignored some of
your search terms. (Google will only recognize AND and OR when all capitalized and used as an
operator.)
 Google finds results anywhere in a document, not just in its text (eg- the HTML of a page).
 Word order matters to Google. The first word is the most important word, and so on.
 Google Search – brings you a list of websites
 Plurals and Singulars
Advanced Searching in Google

 The advanced search function allows you to narrow down your search to specific
file types, publication dates, languages, specific sites, and more.
 The more options that you choose, the fewer search results you will receive, and
the more likely they are to be what you are looking for.
 However, you want to be sure that you aren’t narrowing it down too much
whereby you wouldn’t find enough stuff.
 If you don’t get enough results, then try removing some of your limiters. If you
get too many results, try adding a limiter.
 Using advanced search will help you find what you are looking for faster because
you don’t have to sort through as much stuff that is not what you are looking for.
Explanations

 What does “I’m feeling lucky” mean?


 The "I'm Feeling LuckyTM" button automatically takes you to the first web page
returned for your query. An "I'm Feeling Lucky" search means less time
searching for web pages and more time looking at them.

 What does “Similar Pages” mean?


 Clicking the Similar Pages link will return other results that are most similar to
what you are you have found on a particular site. This will most often return
competing sites will similar information, and when you are looking for
information on a particular subject, but need more than one source, this is a
great way to go.
Questions to ask when evaluating websites found in
Google
Authority
 ·   Who are the authors? Are they qualified? Are they credible?
 ·   With whom are they affiliated? Do their affiliations affect their credibility?
 ·   Who is the publisher? What is the publisher’s reputation?
 
Accuracy
 
 ·   Is the information accurate? Is it reliable and error-free?
 ·   Are the interpretations and implications reasonable?
 ·   Is there evidence to support conclusions? Is the evidence verifiable?
 ·   Do the authors properly list their sources, references or citations with dates, page numbers or web addresses, etc.?
 
Objectivity
 
 ·   What is the purpose? What do the authors want to accomplish?
 ·   Does this purpose affect the presentation?
 ·   Is there an implicit or explicit bias?
 ·   Is the information fact, opinion, spoof, or satirical?

 
  
Questions to ask when evaluating websites found in
Google

Currency

 Is the information current? Is it still valid?


 When was the site last updated?
 Is the site well-maintained?
 Are there any broken links?

 Coverage
 
 Is the information relevant to your topic and assignment?
 What is the intended audience?
 Is the material presented at an appropriate level?
Is the information complete?

I
Web Pages to Avoid

 Spam Pages. Spam pages are pages placed by sites that are deceptive in nature. They
contain keywords intended to fool Google and essentially exist for the sole purpose of
displaying advertisements. Google weeds out most of these, but sometimes one gets
through. Fortunately, you can report it to Google at www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html
so that they can eliminate it from their search results.
 Commercial Pages. These types of sites are obviously trying to sell you something, which is
good if you are looking to buy something, but not good if you are trying to find reliable,
unbiased information. These types of websites are typically not helpful to researchers unless
you are looking to buy something or are looking for product information.
 Logon Pages. These sites contain logon pages, which usually means you have to subscribe
to the site in order to view the information. Subscriptions may just require you to fill out a form
and provide personal information, or they may cost you money. Unless this is your last resort,
don’t waste the time. You can always come back later. These pages can be identified by
those asking for usernames and passwords.
 Error Pages. These pages usually contain the word “Error” somewhere in the snippet and on
the page and usually describe the type of error. There’s nothing useful to you here, so if you
see “error” don’t go there.
 Page Moved Pages. These usually contain the words “page moved”, “site moved”, “redirect”
or “redirecting”. Often times this means that the web page no longer exists and you are being
forwarded to the main page of the site.
Fun things in google
How to make researching assignments more
fun?

 Google earth
 Google maps
 Google images
 Groups
 News updates
What is Google Scholar? http://scholar.google.com/

Only deals with academic material. Google Scholar provides a simple way to
broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many
disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and
articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories,
universities and other scholarly organizations. Google Scholar helps you identify the
most relevant research across the world of scholarly research.
What is Google Book Search?
http://www.google.com/books

In Google Book Search you can search the full text of books to find ones
that interest you and learn where to buy or borrow them.
If a publisher or author has given Google permission, you'll see a full page
and be able to browse within the book to see more pages.

If the book is out of copyright, you'll see a full page and you can page
forward or back to see the full book.

Clicking on "Search within this book," allows you to perform more searches
within the book you've selected.

You can click on any of the "Buy this Book" links to go straight to an online
bookstore where you can buy the book.

Don’t forget the Library subcribes to e-books!!


Google groups http://groups.google.com

 1 billion posts – you can read messages, create or moderate your own group
News http://news.google.com
 4,500 news sources updated continuously 
Google Earth http://earth.google.com/
 View the world
Google Map http://maps.google.com
Google Pack http://pack.google.com

Free collection of software


Desktop

Realplayer

Picasa, photo organiser


Mozilla Firefox with google toolbar
Exercises
 Any questions?
 In Google Earth find Ann Frank’s
house – one to practice at home
 In Google News – Ryder Cup
 In Google Books – Pride & Prejudice

You might also like