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Getting the Most Out of Google

Getting the Most Out of Google. Sian Aynsley Information Skills Trainer South London Healthcare NHS Trust. Overview of session. How Google works Advantages of Google Disadvantages of Google and the Invisible Web Google Search Google applications Books Documents Reader Scholar

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Getting the Most Out of Google

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  1. Getting the Most Out of Google Sian Aynsley Information Skills Trainer South London Healthcare NHS Trust

  2. Overview of session • How Google works • Advantages of Google • Disadvantages of Google and the Invisible Web • Google Search • Google applications • Books • Documents • Reader • Scholar • Practical and Q&A

  3. Objective of session • Gain a greater understanding of how Google works • Learn more about the Invisible Web • Get the most out of your Google search • Discover some useful Google applications

  4. What do you use Google for?

  5. True or False? • Google searches the whole web • Unless a website is linked to from another websites, Google may not find it • The best information can be found in the first 10 results • Searching is easy • Google cannot retrieve information from databases • Everything important is free • A website can establish a “non-indexing protocol” to ensure the website cannot be found

  6. What is Google? • Public company founded in 1998 by two PhD students in California • Mission: “to organise the world’s knowledge and make it universally accessible and useful”* • Valued at over $170 billion** • Search engine with a range of different applications and information tools * Source:http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/corporate/ ** Source: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=google

  7. How Google works Web crawlers Search engine sends out web spiders or crawlers to find websites to index Indexing program Indexing program captures, organises and stores material to make retrieval fast and easy Search program Search program allows users to enter queries into search box and supplies results based on index

  8. Google: Advantages • Simple interface • Fast search • Free service • Available anywhere to anyone • Uses PageRank™ and hypertext matching rather than a simple keyword search • A range of Google-related applications designed to make searching for and organising information easier

  9. Google: Disadvantages • Google cannot search the whole web • Databases or ‘dynamic content’ • Websites protected with passwords or ‘non-indexing protocols’ • Subscription / fee-based content • Search is not as flexible • Searchers rarely go beyond the first 10 results of a search • A large proportion of the information found on Google is not free

  10. Familiar?

  11. The Invisible Web • The web content beyond the reach of general search engines • The fastest growing part of the web • Rich in content and quality • Databases • Deep web sites • New formats • Forms to be completed • Current material

  12. The Invisible Web: an illustration SURFACE WEB DEEP WEB Source: BrightPlanet Corporation

  13. How to search the Invisible Web • Meta search engines • Altavistahttp://uk.altavista.com • Dogpile http://www.dogpile.com • Vertical search portals • Health http://www.library.nhs.uk (Athens required) • Social Care http://www.scie-socialcareonline.org.uk • Science http://scirus.com • Databases • PubMed http://www.pubmed.org • OAIster http://www.oclc.org/oaister

  14. Google Basic Search • Every word matters • Keep it simple but descriptive • Think like a computer! • Use search operators • Phrase search (quote marks): “National Health Service” • Excluding terms (minus sign): anti-virus -software • Including terms (plus sign): peanut butter +and jelly • More search tips at: http://www.google.com/support/websearch • Choose ‘More search help’

  15. Other Google Search Tools • Weather: weather woolwich london • Time: time london • Dictionary: define intravenous • Calculator: 5 * 9 + 3 • for more calculator operators see http://www.googleguide.com/calculator.html • Unit conversion: 12.4 cm in inches • Fill in the blank: Marie Curie was born in * • Related websites search: related:www.nhs.uk • More search tools: http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html

  16. Google Advanced Search

  17. Google Advanced Search

  18. More Google

  19. Even more Google...

  20. Google Books http://books.google.com • Find books available online • Different ways of searching • Simple search box • Advanced search box • By subject • By category (Highly cited, Classics, Magazine etc) • Some books available online • Full view – freely available online • Snippet view – bits of it available online • No preview available – not available online

  21. Google Scholar http://scholar.google.co.uk • Helps you find relevant work across the world of scholarly research • Searches for articles, theses, books, abstracts etc. • Searches within academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities etc. • Can restrict searches (author, date, publication etc) • Use Advanced search option and operators

  22. Google Docs http: //docs.google.com • Allows you to create documents online • Allows you to upload documents you have already created and save them online (Word, Excel, PDF, Powerpoint) • Access your documents anytime, anywhere, on any PC • Share your documents with anyone, anywhere

  23. Google Reader http://reader.google.com • News aggregator, RSS feed reader • All the new content from your favourite websites in one place • Find a website you want an RSS feed from • Click on the button • Copy and paste the web address into Google Reader • You will start to receive new content in your Reader every time the website is updated!

  24. True or False? • Google searches the whole web • Unless a website is linked to from another websites, Google may not find it • The best information can be found in the first 10 results • Searching is easy • Google cannot retrieve information from databases • Everything important is free • A website can establish a “non-indexing protocol” to ensure the website cannot be found • FALSE • TRUE • FALSE • FALSE • TRUE • FALSE • TRUE

  25. Points to remember • Be realistic about web search • Use operators and Advanced Search options • Evaluate the resources you do find • Take advantage of the various Google applications to access information on the go • Use more than one tool for research • Don’t give up!

  26. Any questions? Sian Aynsley Information Skills Trainer South London Healthcare NHS Trust Queen Elizabeth, Woolwich Tel: 0208 836 6742 Email: sianaynsley@nhs.net

  27. References • BrightPlanet (2010) BrightPlanet: Pioneer in Harvesting the Deep Web [Online] available at: http://www.brightplanet.com/[Accessed 8 Apr 2010] • Devine, J; Egger-Sider, F (2009) Going beyond Google: the invisible web in learning and teaching Facet Publishing, London • Healy, J (2010) Google Librarian Central [Online] available at http://www.google.com/librariancenter/newsletter/0512.html[Accessed 8 Apr 2010] • Howland, J L et al (2009) How scholarly is Google Scholar? A comparison to library databases College and Research Libraries vol 70(3) p227-34

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