Conducting research using the internet

What is a search engine?
  • Search engines use computer programs called spiders and crawlers to search the internet for documents and webpages for specified keywords. Content organization and ranking varies between search engines.
  • They are free to use, but you may be required to pay a fee in order to access a website's content.
Why use a search engine for research?
  • If  you do not know a lot about a topic you might start with a search engine to look up general information about an organization, group, government agency, or personal webpages related to your topic.
  • Looking for very specific or obscure information like statistics, data, or dates.
Problems using a search engine for research:
  • Many ads and sponsors pop up
  • Information seldom comes from published sources
  • May get thousands if not millions of search results
  • Information is not organized by subjects. The top results may not be the best or authoritative.
  • Information locations and content change. Websites are added, changed, deleted, not regularly updated, or just plain outdated.
  • No review standards for content
  • Can search for free, but need to pay to read articles
What must you do if you use a search engine for research?
  • Evaluate information carefully and wade through the junk websites.
  • Information seldom comes from published

*Remember, if you are having trouble finding resources you may need to revise your keyword search terms.

Using Google for Research

Use Google Scholar Effectively
Google Scholar provides scholarly literature from many subjects and source. You can search articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other websites. It allows you to save articles in your own folder and keep track of article citations.

Google Search Quick Guide
This pdf gives tips and tricks on how to effectively research using Google. 
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Google Search Tips
Tips on how to refine your searches in Google
When researching on the Internet one needs to be very careful about the information found on it.  Remember that anyone can put anything on the Internet.  When using the Internet remember to look for quality web sites that are authoritative and have been reviewed by experts.  

 Use the CRAAP Test to evaluate information