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What is a search engine?

A search engine is a tool which helps you to find information on a given subject from among the billions of pages that exist on the web. It has several components: search engine software, spider software, an index (database), and a relevancy algorithm (rules for ranking). The search engine software consists of a server dedicated to indexing web pages, storing the results and returning lists of pages to match user queries. The spidering software constantly crawls the Web collecting Web page data for the index.
On this page I'll show you how to make the most effective use of search engines to get the most relevant results.

How the literature search techniques pages work

I've put together a series of linked images of web pages showing the whole process step by step. Simply click anywhere on an image, or on a green arrow button, to go to the next step in the search sequence.

Bear in mind that the results of looking up a topic using a search engine won't be the same every time: the indexing process is continuous and new pages are constantly being added. The screens that you see on the following pages won't necessarily be what you'll get if you repeat my search examples.

Simple search techniques

You can improve the quality of the results you get from using search engines dramatically if you take the time to learn a few basic techniques. Applying these techniques will greatly reduce the number of irrelevant hits that will be returned from a particular search.

Most search engines will provide a page which tells you how to make effective use of the program. Look for a link marked Help or Tips, or similar, on the main search page.

• It helps to write out your search in plain English and then underline the key concepts
• Use your imagination or a thesaurus to think of synonyms for the words you have underlined. You may need to include them in your search strategy
• Be specific: tell the search engine exactly what you want to find
• Entering more search words will narrow your search results
• Use the plus symbol + immediately in front of your search words to make sure that a search engine finds pages that have all the words you type in, not just some of them. For example, +computer +virus +macintosh will help to focus the search on the topic that you are interested in
• To exclude a word from your search, put a minus symbol - in front of it

For example, +java -coffee will help if you are looking for java programming information rather than the stimulating beverage.

Useful links:
Finding Information on the Internet Tutorial (University of California, Berkeley). The section on searching the Web is excellent!
Bare Bones 101: a basic tutorial on searching the Web. (University of South Carolina).
Web searching tips (from the Search Engine Watch site)
Search Engine Features Chart (from the Search Engine Showdown site)

Advanced search techniques

Advanced searching is usually offered by most search engines - look for the link to Advanced Search on the main search page - and will certainly help to improve the relevance in the results that you obtain.

You'll also find advanced techniques such as the use of logical or Boolean operators (and, or, not) are essential when you are using electronic databases to find journal articles on a particular topic.

Useful link:
Boolean Searching on the Internet (University of Albany Libraries) - an excellent, easy to understand explanation.

Evaluating your results

It is crucial when you are searching the web for information to know the criteria that indicate that a particular web page has academic merit; the websites you choose to explore and utilise for your assignments must meet all the evaluation criteria before you accept them as part of your literature search and refer to them in your bibliography.

A web page must meet all of these criteria:

Accuracy | Authority | Objectivity | Currency | Coverage

Accuracy:
Is the information reliable and error-free?
Is there an editor or someone who verifies/checks the information?

Authority:
Is there an author? Is the paged signed?
Is the author qualified? An expert?
Is the sponsor of the page reputable?
Is there a link to further information about the author or the sponsor?
If no author or sponsor, look for a header/footer, the domain in the URL (eg .edu, .com)

Objectivity:
Does the information show a minimum of bias?
Is the page designed to sway opinion?
Is there any advertising on the page?

Currency:
Is the page dated?
If so, when was the last update?
How current are the links? Have some expired or moved?

Coverage:
What topics are covered?
What does this page offer that is not covered elsewhere?
How in-depth is the material?

For rationale and further information, see: Evaluation criteria ( Susan Beck: New Mexico State University Library)

Useful links:
Pacifici, SI Getting It Right: Verifying Sources on the Net
Grassian, E Thinking critically about World Wide Web resources
Grassian, E Thinking Critically about Web 2.0 and Beyond
The ABCDs of Evaluating Internet Resources (Binghamton University Libraries)

Referencing websites

A question that I am often asked these days is how to cite references that you find on the web/Internet and other electronic sources. Here is a very straightforward explanation of how to do this within the MLA style parameters:

Works cited: electronic sources

Part of Purdue University's excellent Owl website. You'll find the Basic style listed as well as specific information about citing web pages, articles in online journals and email communications.

Here are some other places to go to for information on web and e-resource referencing:

Internet Citation Guides: Citing Electronic Sources in Research Papers and Bibliographies

Lists web sites for every style: APA, MLA, CBE, Chicago, Turabian and others. A comprehensive listing from the University of Wisconsin - Madison Memorial Library.

Columbia Guide to Online Style

Useful summaries from The Columbia Guide to Online Style by Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor (Columbia UP, 1998). A guide to locating, translating, and using the elements of citation for both a humanities style (MLA and Chicago) and a scientific style (APA and CBE) for electronically-accessed sources. It even includes a section on how to reference information derived from emails.
We have a copy of the book in our Reference collection at call number 808.027 W181c, and I've ordered a copy of the second edition today, 22 March 2007.

Citation Guides for Electronic Documents

Maintained by IFLA: the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. Useful links for referencing electronic resources.

Let's find some web pages !

Now it's time to start learning how to use a search engine to find literature resources on the web. The structure is a series of linked images of web pages showing the whole process step by step. Simply click anywhere on an image, or on a green arrow button, to go to the next step in the search sequence.

Click the arrow to begin