Google Search Tool

For this week’s research, I choose to delve deeply into “Google” and determine how this search engine handles (or does not) Boolean operators, truncating, and phrases as well as any other pertinent advance features. I use Google for everything and it’s a household joke now that my standard answer to any question is “Google it”.

The most unique thing about the Google search tool is that it analyzes links to other sites and determines the relative worth of that hyper-link for display.

Five really cool things about Google are:

1.       You can used the Google “Advanced Search” option for a fill-in-the-blank option of narrowing your search even further.

2.       Google likes you to use the ~ sign (tilde sign) immediately in front of a word to search for that word as well as even more synonyms.  ~food facts  includes results for "nutrition facts".

3.       Can run a search in any language

4.       Has a powerful algorithm that deals away with spelling mistakes and sloppy queries, and gives the most relevant search results to the original query.

5.       It can only navigate through its own index.

I would definitely use Google for my next research project as not only is it really user friendly, but there is the option of Google Books and Google Scholar as well. I think the more simply you keep your search words, the better luck you will have. Use “headache” instead of “why is my head killing me”

Information I found when using the MetaSearch Tool, Dogpile,  is as follows:

The most unique thing about Dogpile is that it, “Presents results from each of the search engines it queries individually, instead of mixing them all together into a single list. While some love this feature, others find it difficult and less useful.”

 

5 really great things about Dogpile’s, features are:

1.       It has an Advanced Search option that is easier to get to than Google.

2.       It produces a smaller amount of relevant information than Google

3.       It does not duplicate sites.

4.       This means that a Dogpile search can give you many more results to work with, and can be especially useful when trying to find vague articles and the like.

5.       There are a lot of sponsored ads hidden among Dogpile's search results

 

I do not think I would use this search tool for the reason I stated above, and that is I want to see ALL of my options in order from highest to lowest demand of views and not by search tool used.

 

Information I found when using the Subject Dictionary’s, Academic Info, is as follows:

The most unique thing about Academic Info is that you can browse using the Browse by Subject or Search by Keyword options.

5 great things about Academic Info are:

1.       It’s very easy to navigate using the State, Degree Type, Interest, Filter By (class type) options.

2.       AcademicInfo was created in 1998 by Michael Madin.

3.       It is approaching 15 years on the Internet, and has become the premier website for education and university related information and reviews.

4.       You can easily select the tab “View All Schools” to see what is available in your area.

5.       It has an “Online Degree” tab that has even more information about online classes, etc.

I would definitely use Academic Info if I ever needed to compare career paths or gain information on a new career. I think this a helpful tool for narrowing down or getting a quick glimpse of a field of study, but I’m a bit leery that the schools displayed are on there as paying advertisements.

http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=134479&topic=1221265&ctx=topic

http://www.helium.com/items/2244960-Internet-Troubleshooting

http://www.brighthub.com/internet/google/articles/122585.aspx

http://www.academicinfo.net/educational-resources

http://hanlib.sou.edu/searchtools/)

Week 7: Periodicals

The revised statement suggestions for my research (thank you Ms. Bullock) is to use asterisks and not quotation mark’s as quotation marks really limited my past search to that specific phrase.

I entered Internet AND History AND  Invent* (as the internet was developed more than it was invented) into EBsCoHost. My database was pre-set to Academic Search Premier. I typed Internet in my first box, History in the AND box as well as Invent in the next AND box. I did not choose a field as I did not see one that would further extend my research by doing so.

My results did not retrieve relevant results. I had misleading results such as “History Innovators” and “Invention Web Site”.

I revised my search again using all the words “Internet History” AND “Who Invented”. This resulted in the first subject being the most useful, titled, “The Birth of the Internet From Two Present at Creation”. Although my source type was ALL RESULTS, I still only had 6 subjects and the remaining were not useful or relevant. Because there were so few result, I could not search types of articles.

I used the words Internet History AND Who Created AND Who Invented without a single result.

I then used Internet History AND Al Gore AND 1980 without a single result either.

Finally, Internet History AND Created AND Invented gave me several pages of results.

a.) Popular Magazine:  “The Al Gore Quiz”

I chose this article because it is a, “Discussion of Gore's statements including his claim to have invented the Internet.”

Works Cited. Leo, John. "The Al Gore Quiz." U.S. News & World Report 129.14 (2000): 16. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.

b.) Scholarly Journal: “The Big Question: Greatest Thing Since… What Is the Most Significant Invention of the Past Decade, and What Do You Anticipate for the Future?”

I chose this article because it is a review of the greatest inventions of the past decade and include, “Web 2.0, mobile phones, mobile banking, the Internet social networking sites Facebook and Myspace and the business model based on open innovation. “

Works Cited. Frederick Balagaddé, et al. "The Big Question: Greatest Thing Since… What Is The Most Significant Invention Of The Past Decade, And What Do You Anticipate For The Future?." World Policy Journal 28.3 (2011): 3-7. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.

This activity was helpful in reviewing the use of the Clark Library databases even further. Especially since I have many mower years of schooling. Finding source types (magazine, newspaper) was beneficial to my future research needs. I am still at a loss as narrowing down my subject words, perhaps I just have a general subject but it seems there would be a plethora of articles regarding the invention of the internet (or creation).

Unit 6 - Boolean Operators

Part 1: Practice Writing Boolean Search Statements

Remembering that “and” links key concepts and narrows a search, while “or” links synonyms and expands searches as well as allowing either key word to be retrieved, I used Google and the above Boolean operators to research the following five questions:

1.) Does television advertising by the pharmaceutical industry have an impact on prescription drug abuse?

B.O. used: “television advertising” and “pharmaceutical industry” and “impact on prescription drug abuse” or “prescription drug abusers”

2.) What breeds of dogs make good therapy pets?
B.O. used: “breed of dog” and “good therapy pet” or “best”

3.) What stand does the American Medical Association take on natural medicine?
B.O. used: “American medical associations”and “natural medicine” and “beliefs” or “opinion”

4.) Are big box stores like WalMart and Target good for the economy?
B.O. used: “WalMart” and “Target” or “big box store” and “good for economy” or “impact on economy"

5.) Does anti-smoking advertising by the tobacco industry lead to increased smoking among youth?
B.O. used: “anti-smoking advertisements” and “tobacco industry” and “increases smoking”
and “youth” or “young adults”

Part 2: Boolean and your Own Topic

I used the word “internet” as the base for my research in Unit 3. I added “who invented the internet” for further research, and will now use Boolean Operators to research and narrow my topic once again.

B.O. used: “internet” and “who invented” or when invented”

B.O. used: “who invented internet” and “when” or “date” or “time”or “year”

B.O. used: “al gore” and “internet” and “year invented” or “date invented”

B.O. used: “internet” and “who implemented” and “first person” or “name of inventor”

Focus On Books

BOOK RECORDS RESEARCH

Cannell Library Book Catalog

Search Term(s) used: Internet

Citation information for one book: Ryan, Johnny, “A History of the Internet and the Digital Future”, London : Reaktion Books, 2010.

Subject Headings: Internet, Internet – History, Internet – Social aspects.

Is this a Circulating Book or an E-Book? Circulating book – 246 pages

Location and Call Number for the Book: Cannell Library TK5105.875.I57 R73 2010

What clues in the book record lead you to believe that this book is credible, or trustworthy? This book is trustworthy because it is in depth in length and gives an overview of historical relevance.

 Summit Catalog

Search Term(s) used: Internet History

Citation information for one book: Moschovitis, Christos J.P.; et al “History of the Internet : A Chronology, 1843 to The Present”, Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, ©1999.

Subject Headings: Internet -- Juvenile literature, Telecommunication -- History -- Juvenile literature, Internet Telecommunication – History, Communication and technology -- History.

Is this a Circulating Book or an E-Book? Circulating book

Location and Call Number for the Book: Available at many locations by clicking on the link for your college. It is available at Clark College Cannell Library. TK5105.875.I57 H58 1999 

What clues in the book record lead you to believe that this book is credible, or trustworthy? Again, I can trust the information provide in this book because it is in depth in length and gives an overview of historical relevance.

 Books 24x7 – IT Pro Collection of E-books

Search Term(s) used: Internet History

Citation information for one book: William Aspray and Paul E. Ceruzzi (eds) ,“The Internet and American Business”, The MIT Press © 2008.

Subject Headings: I could not find this.

Is this a Circulating Book or an E-Book? Circulating Book 607pages.

Location and Call Number for the Book: I could not find this either but the ISBN# is ISBN:9780262012409 which is always helpful in locations at a retail book store.

What clues in the book record lead you to believe that this book is credible, or trustworthy? Again, as a reference book, the information is verifiable and historical.

 Google Books

Search Term(s) used: Internet History

Citation information for one book: Wolinsky, Art., The History of the Internet and the World Wide Web”, Enslow Pub Incorporated, Sep 1, 2000.

Subject Headings: There wasn’t a “subject field” but here was a reference to another books such as, “Visual Communication: Images with Messages” by Paul Martin Lester

Is this a Circulating Book or an E-Book? This is a circulating book with 64 pages.

 Location and Call Number for the Book: ISBN # 076601746X, 9780766017467

What clues in the book record lead you to believe that this book is credible, or trustworthy? This book isn’t as lengthy as the others I found, but I can trust it for accurate research because of its historical information.

 SUMMARY OF BOOK RECORDS RESEARCH

I used keywords: Internet AND Who Started AND Who Invented in my Cannell Library research which resulted in “No Entries Found”. I added more words: Internet AND Who Started Internet AND Who Invented the Internet (caps for emphasis here, I did not type caps into my keyword search in Cannell Library). Again, “No Entries Found”. Hmmm…. nothing was working, so I simply entered “Internet’ and Bam! Over 40 pages of entries! I scrolled down until I found a title that fit what I was looking for and chose, “A history of the Internet and The Digital Future”. If I were to enter keywords again, I would choose “Internet AND History”. Perhaps my keywords were too specific.

When I moved on to Summit, the single keyword “Internet” gave me multiple entries so I thought I would narrow it down using “Internet History” from my research at the Cannell Library and that helped even more. The first entry was exactly what I was looking for.

“It-Pro” was a really exciting website to check out and one I was not aware of offered through Clark College. It gave you several options once you found the book of your choice such as breaking down the chapter contents, a back cover image and full table of contents were available. This site also prompted me with a citation link that was really user friendly and I could choose from several different formats. It appeared as I hovered over the author’s name. Here is the MLA format simply copy and pasted from the headings by this book:

Aspray, William, and Paul E. Ceruzzi (eds). The Internet and American Business. The MIT Press, © 2008. Books24x7. Web. Feb. 5, 2013. http://common.books24x7.com/toc.aspx?bookid=26537

How easy is that for English class! J

“Google Books” search engine gave the first two book titles that I had found in the Cannell Library and Summit as the first options I could choose from. I scrolled several pages before finding a title that was more specific to what I wanted to learn.