How to... search the web effectively

Learning Centre
How to...
search the web
effectively
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© Coleg Gwent Learning Advisors 2011
You can find this document at:
http://moodle.coleggwent.ac.uk … Learning Centre Online
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What is the Internet?
The Internet is a huge network of computers that enables communication
(mainly via email) and sharing of information all around the world.
What is the World Wide Web (www)?
The World Wide Web is the network of web pages on the Internet that
carries and presents information. We can access this information from
computers through web browsers like:
Internet Explorer
and
Firefox.
What is on the web?
The web gives you access to text, images, videos and audio about almost
anything you can think of.
Although the web can be a fabulous source of information, you do need to be
aware that anyone can put anything onto the web but no-one monitors it.
How do you know if the information you find is right
for you?
When you first look at a website you should do a quick evaluation of it before
you decide whether or not it is right for your purpose and whether you trust
the information it is presenting.
One of the simplest checks is Kathy Schrock’s ‘Five W’s of website evaluation’
shown on the next page.
You can find this at:
http://kathyschrock.net/abceval
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The five W’s of website evaluation
The Ws
Who?
Questions to ask yourself
Who wrote the pages?
Are they an expert? If the author is an
individual, is a biography of the author
included? How can you find out more
about them? If the author appears to be a
company, have you heard of them? Can
you find out more information about
them?
Tips
You could do a quick
check by searching the
web to find out more
about the individual or
company if you haven’t
heard of them.
What is the purpose of the site?
Is it to inform you, to teach you, to
persuade you or to sell you something?
What?
What makes the site easy to use?
Beware of bias and
personal opinions,
particularly if you are
looking for balanced
views and facts.
Is there clear navigation? Is it easy to
read and well laid out?
When was the site created or last
updated?
When?
There should be at least one of these
dates on a website, although you may
need to search for it.
If you want up to date
information, is the date
given recent enough
for your purposes?
Where does the information come
from?
Is it from a recognised source that is
Where? detailed on the website? Is it the website
creator’s opinion?
Can you cross check
the source of the
information you find by
doing another quick
search?
Why is this information useful to me?
Why?
Is it the information you were looking for?
Do you think you could find more relevant
information on another site?
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The first website you
find is not necessarily
going to be the best
for you. Look at
several sites and also
try refining or
changing your search.
If you would like more information on evaluating web resources, have a look
at:
•
The Quality Information Checklist at: www.quick.org.uk/menu.htm
•
‘How to… find information’ - a guide from the Learning Centre.
How can I find things on the web?
Every web page has a unique ‘address’ which your web browser uses to find
the page’s location.
If you know the web address of a page (for example, www.bbc.co.uk) you can
type it straight into your web browser’s address bar. This is usually at the top
of the page.
If you don’t have a web address then there are a number of search tools you
can use to find what you are looking for.
Search tools such as search engines, subject portals or gateways, and online
databases are described in the following pages.
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Search engines
These work by using special programs that search the web, collecting
information. They then index what they find. When you use a search engine
you are accessing the information the search engine has found, rather than
absolutely everything on the web. Different search engines collect different
information, which is why if you search two different engines you may get
different results.
Some examples of search engines are:
Google
Ask Jeeves
Yahoo!
Dogpile
There are websites available to help you choose which search engine to use,
depending on the information you are looking for.
Two examples are:
• Which Search Engine? from Phil Bradley.
Available at:
www.philb.com/whichengine
• Noodletools.
Available at:
www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/information/5locate/adviceengine
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Subject portals or gateways
Subject portals or gateways contain links to websites relating to specific
information or subjects. They have usually been put together by subject
specialists, so you know that if you search for information in this way it should
be relevant and reliable.
Some examples of subject portals and gateways are:
Bized (business)
BUBL (all subjects)
SciCentral (science)
There are also websites designed to help you find links to portals or gateways
that are relevant to your search, for example:
Pinakes - www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/pinakes/pinakes.html
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Online Databases
Online databases are organised collections of related information. If you search
an online database that is specific to your area of interest your results are
likely to be relevant and reliable.
Examples:
UK Newsstand – a searchable database of national and local newspapers and
magazines.
PubMed – for health and medical information.
National Statistics - for a wide range of UK statistics.
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Web search tips
Although search engines, portals/gateways and online databases all look
and work slightly differently, here are a few things you can do when
carrying out a search to try and make your results as relevant as
possible.
•
Use a number of keywords (up to six or eight) rather than one
word, sentence or question.
For example, to find out what Wales is doing to combat the effects of
global warming you could use the keywords … Wales “global warming”.
•
Be specific. If the keyword is not relevant to your search, don’t
include it.
•
Place your main keyword first because some search tools will use
this when deciding on the order to display the results.
•
Use quotation marks when searching for a phrase or person’s name.
Put them around the search words, so that only web pages where the
words appear next to each other are listed in your results.
For example, to find some information on the UK’s ex-Prime Minister,
Gordon Brown, type “Gordon Brown” into the search box.
•
Try using truncation. If you want to find words with the same
beginning but different endings (e.g. learn, learning, learner), type in
the beginning of the word and then an asterisk (*).
For example, searching for comput* will find web pages containing
computer, computers, computing, etc.
•
Spell carefully and try alternative spellings, e.g. colour/color,
organization/organisation.
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•
Experiment with both the basic search and the advanced search
options. See what effect using some of the advanced options has on
reducing the number of results and improving the relevance of the
results.
•
Some search tools allow you to choose to search websites from all
around the world, or limit your search to UK websites (e.g. Google,
Ask, Alta Vista).
•
Try using Boolean searching. This means that you use:
AND or +,
NOT or - ,
and
OR
along with your keywords. For example:
AND
or +
Search for …
Should find …
cats AND
dogs
... web pages that have information
about both cats and dogs.
cats+dogs
NOT
or -
cats NOT
dogs
… web pages that have information
about cats but not dogs.
cats–dogs
OR
cats OR dogs
… web pages that have information
about either cats or dogs but not
necessarily both.
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Note: Some search tools use Boolean searching as part of their
advanced search options. Some (like Google) automatically do the
AND Boolean search if you enter more than one search term.
•
Use more than one search tool and compare your results. Different
search tools find different results, even when you use the same
keywords.
•
Use any available help screens. The search tool developers know
how their product works best.
For example, www.google.co.uk has Search Help. You can find this by
clicking on Search Tips at the bottom of the search results pages.
Note: When you are researching it is a good idea to keep a record of the
addresses (URLs) of all the web pages you might use in your work. This makes
it much easier to put your bibliography (list of references) together at the end
of your work. See the Learning Centre ‘How to … reference (and avoid
plagiarism)’ guide for more details.
Making sense of your search results
Once you have chosen your search tool, selected your keywords or phrases,
added any advanced techniques (like selecting UK only sites or using a Boolean
operator like OR) and entered them into the search tool, you will be presented
with a page of results. Again, each tool will display them differently but here
are some general hints and tips for making sense of these results:
•
Most search tools will tell you how many results they have found. This is
usually displayed somewhere at the top of the page, for example:
From www.ask.com
From
www.dogpile.co.uk
From
www.google.co.uk
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At this point you can choose to go back to your original search and refine it
to cut down on the number of results, hopefully getting rid of the more
irrelevant ones. You can also expand it if you don’t find many results.
Different search tools have different methods for refining your search. Look
out for options such as ‘Advanced search’, ‘Narrow/Expand your search’ or
‘Search within results’.
•
The web pages that appear first generally have the highest number of the
keywords you searched for. However, you must be aware that there will
probably be web pages trying to sell you things mixed in with the useful
information you may have found. Sponsored links/results are usually
highlighted on the page.
•
The web address (URL) of the pages you have found will give you an idea of
where they have come from. Looking at the main part of the web address
can often give you the name of the organisation the information has come
from and the type of organisation they are. Have a look at the table below:
Web address
Who are they
likely to be?
www.bbc.co.uk
BBC
www.coleggwent.ac.uk
Coleg Gwent
www.wales.gov.uk
Something to do
with Wales
www.harvard.edu
Harvard
University
www.energysavingtrust.org.uk Energy Saving
Trust
http://nationalgeographic.com National
Geographic
magazine
What type of
organisation are they
likely to be?
.co.uk a UK-based
company.
.ac.uk a UK academic
institution (school,
college, university).
.gov.uk a UK government
department.
.edu a US educational
establishment (school,
college, university).
.org.uk a UK
organisation.
.com a worldwide
commercial organisation.
The country of origin can often be identified in the web address too. Just as
UK sites tend to have .uk somewhere in their address, other countries also
have their own identifier: .ie for Ireland, .fr for France, .nl for the
Netherlands and so on. However, US sites are not identified like this.
Each web page tends to have a brief summary of the contents, and reading
this summary can often tell you if the page is relevant.
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Note: Remember that there is no guarantee that your first search will find any
information relevant to your purpose. Don’t be disheartened. Think about your
choice of keywords, choose a different search tool or if you are really stuck,
ask a Learning Advisor for help.
Bibliography
BE WEB AWARE. (2007). Effective online searching. [Online]. Available at:
http://www.bewebaware.ca/english/EffectiveOnline.aspx (Accessed: 13 August
2007)
BURKE, J. (2006). Effective web searching strategies. [Online]. Available at:
http://www.users.muohio.edu/burkejj/ewss.html (Accessed: 13 August 2007)
DUTHIE, A. and SHANNON, K. (1999). Search strategy. [Online]. Available at:
http://users.chariot.net.au/~michaelc/PDCourse/search/strategy.htm
(Accessed: 13 August 2007)
JISC. [no date]. Effective web searching. [Online]. Available at: www.rsclondon.ac.uk/fileadmin/docs/learning_resources/Websearching.doc (Accessed:
13 August 2007)
SHROCK, K. (2007). The ABCs of website evaluation. [Online]. Available at:
http://kathyschrock.net/abceval (Accessed: 13 August 2007)
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