Your workshop leader is... Laura Schick Graduate Staff Assistant Odegaard Undergraduate Library Feel free to ask me questions!

Workshop Objectives Gain working knowledge of techniques for searching Google for academic research Practice Google searches on an academic topic

We will do this by… Understanding how Google works Knowing how to develop an effective searching “game plan” Using Google’s advanced search features Using Google’s specialized search engines

Googling Tip: Know a little bit about how Google searches and results work Google

Google Web Search Google - Searches the free web - Has zero quality control - Is pretty much a popularity contest - Gives you tons of results You might already know that Google :

A few other Google-y tidbits… How does Google decide which search results come first? And what if I’m feeling lucky? Google uses “stemming” technology, so it will try variant spellings of your search terms (even if you don’t ask it to.) Google cares about word order… So you have to, too!

Googling Tip: Develop a game plan before you start searching Google

Wikipedia

Encyclopedias

Brainstorm Search Terms tattooing | piercing | branding | scarification (use synonyms, broader, narrower, & related terms) body art | body modification | body alteration college | university | higher education sociology | subculture | sub-culture | counter culture | community Google

Work Backwards: Imagine the title of a perfect search result...  The tattooing subculture of American college students  The cultural significance of tattoos in Native American societies Google

Stuck for Words? Look for synonyms in a thesaurus Look for terms in your textbooks Try basic searches for your topic in the UW Libraries catalog Google tips for topic building: Search basic topic + discipline (or + keyword “research”): e.g., tattoos sociology Google

Try generating research vocabulary on Part 1 of the worksheet (5 min.) Feel free to get ideas any way you want -- talk to others, look at online tools to generate search terms... For more on developing research topics & questions, check out: Surviving Assignment Shock: Choosing a research topic wisely Practice #1 Google

Googling Tip: Build better Google searches with syntax Google Help Center

Search operator: AND Use to require both terms Will yield fewer results Google default Google Google search: tattoos piercing sociological

Use when either search term is OK Commonly used for synonyms Will yield more results Must type it in ALL CAPS Search operator: OR Google Google search: tattoos OR piercing OR scarification

Rule of thumb: “Nest” all OR’ed terms in parentheses ( ) Controls how Google reads the search AND & OR together Google Google search: (Tattoos OR piercing OR scarification) AND sociology AND research

Surround 2+ terms with quotation marks Requires terms to be together, in order Good for compound words, names, titles, quotations Phrase searching: “ - -” Google Google search: “body modification” AND “college students”

require or exclude: + and - + (plus sign) –Require terms in search –Google search: -(minus sign) -Exclude terms from search -Google search: Google piercing +tongue tattoos -piercing

Limits to sites in a certain domain (.com,.edu,.gov,.mil,.org...) Can be used with “-” to exclude unwanted sites domain limit: site: Google

domain limit: site: Google searches: Tattoos policy site:mil Tattooing history –site:com “Body modification” –site:wikipedia.org Tattoos site:washington.edu Google

Two periods (..) between numbers to search for ranges Good for dates, prices Number ranges:.. (two periods) Google Google searches: tattoos army ipod “for sale” (no spaces between numbers & periods)

Put it all together.... (tattoos OR “body art” OR piercings) +sociological “college students” (11,200 results) “body modification” subculture research site:edu (95 results) tattoos -piercing site:washington.edu (1,100 results) Google

Google Advanced

For more help in understanding search queries, check out: Secrets of Database Searching: Tips and tricks for research Practice putting together Google searches on Part 2 of the worksheet (5 min.) Combine terms in different ways, use limits in the Google Advanced Search, try fooling around with some syntax – play! Practice #2 Google

Googling Tip: Use specialized Googles for more targeted results

Google

Specialized Googles....

Google Scholar scholar.google.com

Google Scholar Syntax Still work: AND, OR, -, + Phrase searching Don’t work: Site: limit Number ranges Special limit: Author:

Bonus Googling Tip! Know when to call it quits Subscription databases are great places to look for academic research when you’re Googled out

UW Libraries

UW Libraries

Review Tips for Research Success with Google 1.Understand how Google works 2.Develop a plan before you search 3.Use advanced Google search features 4.Use specialized Google searches 5.Don’t stop with Google! Google

Workshops

Learn more… Google search help Google: the Missing Manual OUGL Ref ZA4251.G66 M Library workshops: “Scholarly Articles”--WTF*? Secrets of Database Searching Workshops

Feedback, please.... tinyurl.com/32yqo6 Feedback form