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Searching the Web: Tips and Techniques for Effective Research

Learn how to search the web effectively with tips on using search engines, refining searches, and evaluating sources. Improve your research skills today!

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Searching the Web: Tips and Techniques for Effective Research

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  1. Searching the Web Deborah Healey, Ph.D. English Language Institute Oregon State University deborah.healey@oregonstate.edu http://oregonstate.edu/~healeyd

  2. Agenda • Why search? • Vocabulary • Using search engines • Keyword • Directory • Metasearch • Specialty • Refining a search • Evaluating sources

  3. Your opinion • The Internet has a lot of useful information. • I need to know more about searching the Web. • I like searching the Web for information. • Students usually find what they need. • I do a good job of evaluating websites.

  4. Why search? • To find basic information about a topic • To find graphics related to a topic • To find current news • To get different points of view • To find deeper information about a topic • To buy something

  5. Web search overview • Vocabulary • Search engine (Google, Ask, and many more) • Metasearch engine (Excite, Ixquick) • Query (your topic) • Hit or Entry (each website related to your question) • To Google someone >

  6. Using search engines • Think first • What am I looking for? Which search engine is best? • Key words • Techniques • Most important word first • Quotation marks for phrases • Larger category (if not enough hits) • Smaller category (if too many hits) • Advanced search

  7. Using search engines • Choose the right engine for the task • Key word (Google, MSN) vs. directory • Directory: When you don’t know exactly what you want or looking for a topic • Google Directory (directory.google.com, Yahoo Directory (dir.yahoo.com/), About (http://azlist.about.com/a.htm) • High-quality: Librarians Internet Index (http://lii.org/) • Metasearch (Excite, Ixquick)

  8. Sample search: American holidays • Google • MSN • Ask – start screen • Librarians Internet Index • Excite (metasearch) • Ixquick (metasearch) • Ask Jeeves/Teoma – MSN – Wikipedia - EntireWeb – Netscape - Yahoo - Gigablast - Open Directory

  9. Ask.com – American Holidays search

  10. Which search engine? • Choosing the right search engine: Noodle Tools -> Search engine comparison - www.noodletools.com/ • Specialty searches

  11. Noodle Tools samples • Kartoo – visual results - • KidsClick! – good sites for children • Academic links • Google Scholar and Intute – academic sites • Sample concordance search • Yourdictionary.com – Dictionaries • Pinakes – gateway to portals • Biography.com (www.biography.com/search/)– biographical information

  12. Kartoo – American Holidays

  13. Kartoo – American holidays

  14. Refining a search • Most important word first • Quotation marks around phrases • + and - to limit a search • Boolean operators exercise • Expand a search with OR • Site: to keep a search on a specific website >

  15. Practice: boolean operators Which letters show B +C? A +B +C? A OR B? (A OR B) -C? (B OR C) -A?

  16. Practice: Boolean searches • AND (+) => must have both • +Oregon +wildflowers • +peanut +butter • OR => either one • cougar OR puma • NOT (-) => don’t include • peanut -butter • Beavers -OSU

  17. Practice: broader and narrower Put the following terms in order from broadest to narrowest: a) Asia b) Vietnam c) East Asia d) Danang a) grammar b) English c) subject-verb agreement d) nouns and verbs e) language

  18. Alternate phrasing • If you’re not finding the right information • Think: Is there another way to say this? • American holidays – US holidays – holidays United States • Should there be another key word? • American holidays history • American holidays dates

  19. Improving Google searches Adapted from Simson Garfinkel, “Getting more from Google.” Technology Review, June 4, 2003. • Click on Preferences; select 30 or more hits per page • Use OR to broaden a search • Use * as a wild card in a phrase (substitute any word) • “English as a * Language” = 2nd, Second, Foreign, etc. • More possibilities at Advanced Search>

  20. Evaluating sources • Remember: Anyone can have a web site! • You are the librarian for the web • What is the date? Who is the author? • Where is the author from (.com, .edu, .org)? • What is the content? • Bibliography • Balanced view or personal view

  21. Practice: Sources Rank the following sources from 1 (no academic purpose) to 6 (highly reliable). • An article in Wikipedia. • A comment from someone in a Blog called 'Tech Talk.' • An e-mail message from a friend about something that happened to a friend of his last year.>

  22. Ranking, continued Rank the following sources from 1 (no academic purpose) to 6 (highly reliable). • A message on a mailing list for teachers (TESL-L), written by a well-known person (David Nunan). • A recent article in an online refereed journal, with a bibliography. • Three paragraphs' worth of information you found through a web search.>

  23. Teacher’s role • Help students understand about sources and the Internet • Teach students better search techniques • Don’t tell students “Just search for a topic on Google” • Only for advanced language learners • Unless they’re buying something

  24. Teacher’s role • You do the searching – give students appropriate links • Age-appropriate • English proficiency-appropriate • Purpose-appropriate • Let students choose among links you’ve selected • Doesn’t waste classroom/student time • Library analogy

  25. Happy Searching!

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