Pros & Cons
Search engines are important tools, but be aware of their strengths and weaknesses.
1) Best at finding unique keywords, phrases, and quotes.
2) Thousands, sometimes millions of returns.
3) Fnd both fully related pages, and those that just mention a word
from your search string once.
4) "Machine centered" services; no evaluation of quality.
Return to Subject Directories & RCHS Media Center
Return to "Welcome to English 7 & 10"
Return to Advanced Searching
To Google or not to Google?
Of course!!
1) Google is great; it's regarded as the best
general purpose search engine today. BUT, even Google doesn't access
more than 20% or so of the web. Don't lock yourself into just one
search engine no matter which one it is. Try some other search engines
on the right. You may have some overlapping results, but each will find
resources the others can't.
2) Also, most people don't use Google (or any search engine) very effectively. Take
advantage of at least two Google "extras" by trying the advanced search
feature and by trying "Google Scholar" for your research projects.
(Google Scholar describes itself as "... a simple way to broadly search
for scholarly literature... from academic publishers, professional
societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly
organizations.")
Metasearch—What's That?
Although they generally can't handle complex queries well, metasearch
engines allow you to send your query to several search engines at once.
The results are then displayed on one page.
|
|
Better Googling
Life Beyond Google
Meta-Search Engines
|