Search the Internet

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Search the Internet

• LRC / Library
• Shengli Xie
• 8 Nov. 2007

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Contents

• Internet as a search tool
• How to use Google effectively
• Evaluate Web resources
• Locate Chinese information from Baidu

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Internet Search Tools

• Search engine
• Use spider programmes to collect websites, then
  index and store websites in the database.
• Provide an easy way to locate general information
• E.g. Google, ??

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Internet Search Tools

• Web directory
• Browse the websites by hierarchical topic list
• Good directories for academic research
• Librarians index (http//lii.org)
• Infomine (http//infomine.ucr.edu)
• Academic Info (http//www.academicinfo.us)
• Intute (http//www.intute.ac.uk)

5
Google

• Search options
• Keyword search
• Search operators
• Other Google services Google Scholar Google
  Book

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Search Options

• Simple search
• Simply type the search terms into the search box.
  Google will find the websites which contain the
  search terms.
• Advanced search
• Functions to broaden/narrow the keywords
• Limit the results by language, file format, data,
  numeric range, occurrences, domain and usage
  rights

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Keywords Search

• Search terms/Keywords are the most important to
  conduct an effective search.
• Tips for choosing keywords
• Analyse the information you are looking for and
  identify the obvious terms.
• Make the search terms specific and succinct as
  possible.
• Ignore common words.

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Keywords Search (continued)

• Try similar/synonymous words.
• Be aware of different expressions among different
  countries.
• Do not worry about case and punctuation.

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Search Operators
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Search Operators
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Search Operators
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Google Scholar

• A search engine searches for scholar materials.
• Advantages
• Free access
• Some full-text availability
• Disadvantages
• Limited subject coverage, few resources on social
  science and Chinese scholarly resources
• Search results lack of quality control

Tips Ebsco databases from LRC website contain
more scholar resources, if you cannot find your
needed information from Google Scholar. Ask the
librarian at LRC, if you cannot locate the
full-text articles from Google Scholar.
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Google Book

• Google digitalized publisher-supplied
  publications, publications supplied by some
  libraries and free books.
• Searches the full text of book contents.
• The results may contain the whole book, table of
  contents, excerpts, links to publishers,
  libraries, and book venders.

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Evaluate Web Resources

• Rationale
• Too much information to focus a search.
• Information is lack of quality control.
• May contain bias misinformation.

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Checklist for Evaluating Web Resources

• Accuracy
• Are there errors or misrepresentation in the
  resources?
• Currency
• Is the date clearly indicated?
• Coverage
• Do the contents cover a broad range and be
  explored in depth?

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Checklist continued

• Authority
• Who is responsible for the resource?
• Is the author an expert in the area?
• Purpose
• What does the info try to present?
• Whether does it contain commercial materials?

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Domain

• Check the type of websites from the domain.

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Domain

• Country of origin

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Conclusion

• Lets try it. Any topics?
• Thank you for your time.
• The next workshop How to search the
  bibliographic database on 22 Nov. 2007 29 Nov.
  2007.