Workshop 8BA Googler’s Guide to National History Day

As workshop 9 demonstrated, search engines can be both friend and foe in the NHD research process. There are some great techniques one can use when researching using the Google search engine. Note: Google is not a source!

1. Google ScholarGoogle Scholar is a specialized search engine that is limited to academic sources only. When a search is done using Google Scholar, all of the fan sites and fifth grade web assignments are eliminated, leaving only more scholarly sources. The drawback is that much what you will find is college level reading, and it might be difficult for some students. The easiest way to find Google Scholar is to simple Google “Google Scholar”. If you must do it the hard way, on the Google search page, in the upper row of tabs, click on more on the far right end. At the bottom of the drop-down menu, you will see “even more”…click on this. Now, scroll to the middle of the page and you will find Google Scholar under the Specialized Searches section.

2. Google BooksGoogle Books can give a student the opportunity to look through all or part of a book before checking it out or purchasing it. Many books can be read completely through Google Books. Some only offer previews, but sometimes that preview is just enough for the student. The left side panel offers a search option, so a student can search for a particular key word to help them isolate an idea in the text.

3. Google NewsGoogle News is generally used to find news about current events. However, Google News also has a very helpful archive tool. On the news page, type in your search key words. Then, click on the “Search tools” tab. This will bring up a menu bar that reads “All news Any time Sort by relevance”. By clicking on the “Any time” option, you will receive a dropdown menu that will allow you to narrow your search to newspapers from the time period you are researching. Click on “archives” at the bottom of the list. Alternatively, you can click on “custom range” and set your own date parameters.

This is a great way to research old newspapers. There is a drawback, however, in that you cannot print copies of archived newspapers. You can take a screenshot of the newspaper page and save this to your ARS or computer research files.

4. Google Image SearchOne issue judges often have with projects is that images are not taken from reliable sources. A student might do an image search for, say, Jackie Robinson’s first major league baseball game. Many students will be tempted to list Google as the source, but judges might have an issue with this. Google is not a source, it is a search engine. Or, the image might be on a site such as Wikipedia, which judges general don’t like, either. Students should try to find a more academic source for the photo. Google Image Search allows this.

Notice on the search box a small camera icon. When the student has found an image they like, they can save it to the computer. Then, click on the camera icon, then click “browse”. Open the image in the search box, and all instances of that image will appear. They will simply pick a source that is appropriate for research.

5. Google DriveMost educational institutions are aware of Google Drive. This is a great tool for students to use when researching for NHD. All of their research will be accessible at any time from any computer with internet access. You, as the teacher, can ask students to share their notes, script, writing, etc. with you, and you can write comments and pose questions. If students choose to work in groups, it can be difficult to find time for all students in a group to get together to work. With Google Docs, students can collaborate without physically being in the same place. Google Docs also archives changes that have been made to a document, so if students decide they want to go back to something they had before, they can easily find the archived material.

6. Google EarthGoogle Earth is a great tool for showing us satellite images of the earth. In many instances, Google Earth can be used to show what a place looked like in the past. Some places only have an archive of 10-15 years or so, but some go back much farther. London, for instance, and Berlin, both have WWII images available from the 1940’s. This might help a student visualize how a place has changes since the time of the event they are studying. To you the historical image feature, locate the lock with the reverse arrow on the upper toolbar. This will bring up a sliding timeline that will tell you how far back images are available.