Search Engines & Goolge Explorations

Information Seeking SkillsMuhammad Asif NaveedLibrary OfficerLearning Resource CenterUniversity of Management & TechnologyPhD Scholar, MPhil, MLIS, PU, Lahore.asif.naveed@umt.edu.pk Ext.: 3329

1SchemaSearching tools - TypesWeb searching techniquesSearchingDeveloping a search strategyHand on practice Google, Google Scholar, HEC DatabasesEvaluating search resultsThis is the scheme of my presentation. It means that how we will proceed. First of all we will see what web searching tools are? How we can employ various searching techniques to find required information from the web, then we will move ahead with exploring google and finally we will see how google doc can be useful for us, especially how google doc forms can be utilized to collect and organize the data/information for research or many other tasks.2Types of Search Tools General Google. Bing, Yahoo etc.Scholarly Google Scholar, ISI web of Knowledge, etcSubject Directories Google, Yahoo, etcMeta Search tools Dogpile, Info.com, Browsys, etcOnline databases Jstore, SpringerLink, Wiley, etc.Library web OPACs UMT, LUMS, LOC, WordCateThesis & Dissertations DAI, PRR, BL Ethos.Summons - A librarys search engine

Summon - University of Huddersfieldabcd

Now we have look on these tools one by one3Specialized ToolsPub MedAgrisLexes NexusIEEEPsyc InfoPsyc ArticlesPsyc Books

Meta Search EngineA web application / software Searches multiple search engines simultaneously in a single interface Does not keep any physical database, it simply searches others databases, combines the results, removes duplicates and displays them

Underlying philosophy:It is assumed that the web is too large to be indexed by any of the search engines individually and more comprehensive search results can be obtained by combining the results from several search engines.

When to use a meta search engine?When your topic is obscureWhen you are not having luck finding what you wantWhen you want the convenience of searching a variety of different content sources from one search page

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Architecture of a Metasearch Engine

Meta Search Engines Some Examples

http://www.dogpile.com, Searches Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask Simultaneously http://www.info.com, Searches Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask and About Simultaneously http://www.browsys.com/Searches Google, Yahoo, Bing, Blogs, Youtube, Mashpedia, Twitter, Ask etc. simultaneously Web crawlerMeta crawler78Electronic Theses and DissertationsDissertation Abstract InternationalCollection of PhD dissertations of all accredited institutions in North America.Networked Digital Library of Theses and DissertationsCatalog of theses and doctoral dissertations contributed by some 176 universities and 27 institutions worldwide British Library EThOS250,000+ theses of British universitiesMany are free ProQuest Dissertations & Theses DatabaseWorlds most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses with over 2.7 million entriesPakistan Research RepositoryDigital archive of all PhD Desertions produced by Pakistani higher education institutions.

8SummonsA digital front door to librarys resourcesIt is built around a single, unified index that returns a single, unified set of resultsAllowing users to effectively search and navigate across almost all of the librarys resources in a manner that meets users expectations for what a modern search should be.

10Online Searching TechniquesBoolean OperatorsPhrase SearchingTruncation / Wildcard SearchingProximity SearchingFocusing / Limiting a Search1011Boolean OperatorsAND

OR

NOT

Boolean operators allow you to join terms together, widen a search or exclude terms from your search results. This means you can be more precise in locating your information. 1112Phrase SearchingIt narrows your search down by searching for an exact phrase or sentence. It is particularly useful when searching for a title or a quotation. Usually quotation marks are used to connect the words together.For exampleTowards a healthier Lahore (Towards ICTs Boom)1213Truncation / WildcardThese search techniques retrieve information on similar words by replacing part of the word with a symbol usually a * or ?. However, different databases use different symbols, so check what is used. In truncation the end of the word is replaced.For example physiother* will retrieve physiotherapy, physiotherapeutic, physiotherapist and so on. In wildcard searching, letters from inside the word are replaced.For example wom*n will retrieve the terms woman and women.

Usually used symbols [*, #, ?,~]

1314Proximity SearchingIt looks for documents where two or more separately matching term occurrences are within a specified distance, where distance is the number of intermediate words or characters [Near or adjacent]For exampleTerm A NEAR Term BTerm A ADJ Term B1415Focusing / Limiting a SearchThere are many ways to focus your search and all search tools offer different ways of doing this. Some of the ways of limiting your search are as follows:

Date Language Place Publication type Age groups Type of material e.g. you could just need to find case studies

1516Start searching (1)

1617Start searching (2)

17Developing a search strategyWrite a clear topic statementDetermine the nature and extent to which information is neededSelect the key words from your topic statement.Based on the keywords you identified above, select synonyms, related terms, and alternate forms for each of these keywordsFormulate a search strategy using Boolean operatorsSelect appropriate search toolsSearchReview results and revise search.

Task DefinitionInfo-Seeking StrategiesWhat do we need to do? What can we use to find what we need?Define the information problem.Brainstorm all possible sources.Identify the information needed to solve the problem.Select the best sources.Location and AccessInformation UseWhere can we find what we need?What information can I use?Locate sources.Engage (read, hear, view or touch).Find information within sources.Take out needed information.

18October 26, 2013Evaluating results

When? Check currency, when was it produced? Who? Who is responsible for the information? Why? Has it been published on the internet? Where? Where is the page situated? What? What value is of to you? Possible Access sourcesSubscribed databasesGoogleAuthors websites, profiles etc.Inter Library LoanAuthors email ID Ask personallyHands on PracticeGoogleGoogle scholarJstoreSpringer LinkTaylor and FrancisDoaj22 Thank YouWelcome for questions, suggestions, and comments.