Internet Research Tips, Tools and

Techniques

For Today's Administrative Professional

Internet Research Tips, Tools & Techniques

How to formulate an effective search

Searching the Web effectively using Google®

Evaluating the Information you Find

Wednesday, October 29th, 2014

Presented by Elizabeth Geesey Holmes, M.S.L.I.S.,

M.A.

Director of Library Services

Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP

About Elizabeth Geesey Holmes

Information Professional

Librarian

Internet Search Specialist

I help attorneys,

paralegals, and legal

assistants find

authoritative information

efficiently and cost

effectively

How to formulate an effective search

Part I

How Keyword Searching Works

Looks everywhere for your search terms

Is “dumb” (unless we help it)

Choosing Search Terms

FIRST

Reflect on your topic and focus on its main points

Think of terms that describe those main points

If you get stuck do some background research or

reading

Choosing Search Terms

THEN

Think about Synonyms

Think about Broader and Narrower Terms

But make keywords as specific as possible Search: antique lead soldiers (specific)

Search: old metal toys (imprecise)

Try the obvious first Search: Picasso NOT Search: Painters

Use words likely to appear on the site with the information you want Search: luxury hotel New York NOT Search: really nice

places to spend the night in NY

Keyword Example

Topic: The impact of substance abuse on crime in

the United States

Concepts: Impact, Substance abuse, Crime, United

States

Synonyms and Broader/Narrower Terms:

Effect

Dependence on Illegal

substance

Drug abuse

Alcohol abuse

Drug use

Drugs

America

U.S.

US

Criminal

Crime rates

criminality

Misdemeanor

Felony

Offense

Wikipedia Entry

Google Search

Keywords and Google®

Google® is a very forgiving search engine

More keywords deliver fewer results

Be careful with Synonyms

The order that keywords are entered in Google® will

affect the search results

Beware of homographs, especially in a one keyword

search

Search: bat

Results: Both results about baseball bats and bats (the

animals)

Search: bat baseball

Results: Just on baseball bats

Choosing Search Terms

FINALLY

Try “throwing” all your keywords into a Google®

search and see what comes up.

These search results may give you clues to other

keywords to include or eliminate from your next

search

Then use Google® specific search strategies and

tips

Searching the Web effectively using

Google®

Part II

#1: Check Your Settings!

How to find your settings

Click here on

main search

page

Click here

from

search

results

page

Select

Search

Setting

s

Search results settings to check

SafeSearch filters

Make sure box next to Filter explicit results is

unchecked

Google Instant predictions

Click the button next to Only when my computer is fast

enough

Private results

Click the button next to Do not use private results

Where results open

Check the box next to Open each selected result in a

new browser window

Location Settings

#2: Use Search Operators

Boolean Logic

A system developed by mathematician

George Boole during the 19th century that

uses a series of connectors to define

relationships between objects

Boolean Connectors: AND

Google Default

All of the keywords are present

Search: probate law

Results: Both the term probate and the term law

Boolean Connectors: OR

One keyword or the other, or both keywords are

present

Search: probate OR law

Results: will all have the term law or the term probate

NOTE: You must capitalize OR otherwise

Google will treat it as a stop word and ignore

it

AND versus OR

Probate LawProbat

e

AND

Law

Boolean Connectors: NOT (-)

No results with this keyword are returned

Search: Ann Tyler –author -novel

Returns results with the keywords Anne, Ann and Tyler,

but without the keyword author, and without the word

novel

Use this technique to find results for your former

classmate Ann Tyler, but not for the novelist Anne Tyler

Proximity Searching: Asterisk (*)

Search: Elizabeth * Holmes

Results: Include:

Elizabeth Geesey Holmes

Elizabeth G Holmes, BUT also

Elizabeth Spencer, Amy Holmes

Proximity Searching: Asterisk (*)

Phrase Searching: “ “

Use for searching exact phrases or words

Use to stop Google from stemming

Enter your phrase or word in quotation marks

Search: Ed Braks

Results: Ed, Edward, Braks and Breaks

Search: Ed “Braks”

Results: Ed, Edward and Braks – NO Breaks

Word Stemming

A search for clerk will also retrieve results with the

keywords: clerked and clerk

A search for swimmer will also retrieve results with

the keywords: swim and swimming

Not really a search technique but something to be

aware of when searching Google®

#3: Filter Your Search Results

What if I just want

News Articles?

Results limited

to NEWS

Very

important

button to

click

Filtered search results

in Standard View

Filtered search results

in Basic View

#4: Know when to use Basic

Search (you can use it for some neat search shortcuts)

Use Basic Search As…

Your starting point

Refine your keywords, narrow results, or use Boolean

search operators and other search strategies to get

more relevant hits

Use Basic Search As…

A tool to look up simple facts

Population Ecuador

President Poland

Capital of Massachusetts

Search

Answer

Use Basic Search As…

A calculator

7 * 2 + 4

sqrt 78

Use Basic Search As…

A dictionary

Search: define: ipso facto

A spell checker

Use Basic Search As…

A weather forecaster

Search: weather 02903

#5: Use Advanced Search

1. Do a Basic

Search

3.

Choose

Advance

d Search

2. Click

on GEAR

Icon

How to get to Advanced Search

Boolean search using the

Basic search box

Boolean search using the

Advanced search page

Paid advertisement

“related” to our search

Only “Ann”

Click on these down

arrows to bring up

options and select one

Limiting Results to Specific File Formats

Enter your search words in the Boolean search

boxes at the top of the page

Scroll down to narrow your results by File Type

Choose the file type from the drop down box

Example #1: Limit search results to .ppt to find

presentations posted to the web on your topic

Example #2: Limit search results to .pdf to find

minutes of a meeting that are posted in .pdf form

Limiting Results to a Specific Website

Search one website domain name or limit your

results to a specific domain extension like .edu, .org

or .gov

The command to do this in basic search is site:

Example #1: Limit to the domain name of a site that

doesn’t have it’s own search button or that does not

have a good search option

Example #2: Limit to the domain extension .edu to

find just results from education institution websites

My

keywor

d

search

Limited to the

domain name for the

Barrington Town

website

Limited to the file

type .pdf

Notice how all my

results are .pdf format

and from the domain:

www.barrington.ri.go

v

More ways to limit your search

Limiting results to where your search terms appear

in the website

In the title of the page

In the text of the page

In the URL of the page

In links to the page

Limiting results by date updated

Past 24 hours

Past week

Past month

Past year

Don’t panic!

If you forget to limit your initial search:

Click on the Icon gear at the top right of the page

Click on Advanced Search

Add the additional criteria to your search

OR

Click on Search Tools at the top of the results list

Choose your limits from the drop down menus here

NOTE: Not all the options are here

Use the Advanced Search page to get ALL the

options for limiting your search

Why Use Advanced Search

Indispensable in refining your searches to

bring the relevant results to the first pages

Fill in the box format means you

don’t have to remember specific search

commands

Evaluating the Information you Find

Part III

Why Evaluate Websites

No one judges the quality or accuracy of information

found on the Web before it is published

Some sites are created by experts

BUT – the majority of websites are designed and

authored by non-experts

Many sites exist to sell the reader something

BUT – others exist to inform and provide

information

Criteria for Evaluation

Perform an I.R.S. Audit

Identification

Reputation

Sources

Identification

Who is the author/creator of the website? Check the About or History section of the website

Take note of any names

Can’t find this information? Use a WhoIs site

Check professional directories or university websites to identify the author and verify their credentials

Is the author an organization? Check for relationships with known and trusted groups,

companies or organizations

Search for articles or news reports that mention the organization

If nothing can be found consider using another source

Reputation

Do an Internet search for the Author of the website

Reputation

Has the person or organization published articles or books on related topics?

Does the Author have a Bias?

Is the website trying to sell you something?

What is the domain extension?

How many web pages link back to this site?

Sources

Are there any?

How old are they?

Are they verifiable?

Are they reputable?

Case Study #1

Case Study #1

Case Study #2

Case Study #2

Author

Case Study #3

A word about Wikipedia and Sources

Don’t dismiss all Wikipedia articles

Many have lists of sources used which can lead to other

useful and credible websites

You can view the history and source for any article

Case Study #3

Trust but verify -- The I.R.S.

way

Resources

Official Google® Blog

http://googleblog.blogspot.com

Google® Search Help Center

http://support.google.com/websearch/?hl=en

Nancy Backman’s Google® Guide

http://www.googleguide.com/

Every Google® Search Operator You’ll Ever

Need

http://www.hbagency.com/every-google-search-

operator-youll-ever-need/

More Resources

Snopes.com (Rumor Has It)

http://www.snopes.com/

WhoIs

http://whois.domaintools.com/

Who Links 2 Me

http://www.wholinks2me.com/

Contact Information

Elizabeth Geesey Holmes

Director of Library Services

Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP

egh@psh.com

http://www.elizabethgeeseyholmes.com/