1 San Domenico High School Online Resources & Web Searching A practical guide for students

2 Plan Your Search How much time do you have? ( For quick searches, use a simple keyword search on any search engine and hope for relevant hits on the first returns page) Search engines & ‘keyword’ searching. How do they work? Has your topic already been indexed or cataloged for you? ( use a directory or database vs. a search engine) Google directory, Yahoo directory, Google Scholar, Proquest

3 Pinpointing Your Search More search terms reduces the number of hits (more equals less) – genocide (12 million+ hits) – genocide sri lanka (730,000+ hits) – genocide “sri lanka” (630,000+ hits) – genocide “sri lanka” tamils (224,000+ hits) – genocide “sri lankan” tamils (150,000+ hits) Use Quotations (“ “) to search for exact phrases and narrow your search

4 Pinpointing Your Search - Continued – genocide “sri lankan” intitle:tamils (24,000+) – genocide “sri lankan” intitle:tamils 2009…2010 (4,600+ hits) – genocide “sri lankan” intitle tamils –site:com (681 hits) Use intitle: or inurl: with a keyword to reduce hits Use date range 2007…2010 to narrow results Use – sign to discard keywords or domains

5 Google Search Engine Shortcuts The word ‘define’ and a space before a word finds a definition Calculator (+ – * / are the arithmetic symbols, also ‘%of’’ and, ‘^’ for power of) Maps/Directions (enter address or cross streets and city or zip code) Phonebook (name and zip or address) For more information go to :

6 Ask a Librarian Collaborating with your librarian may save you time and effort Use the Library’s Bookmarked SitesBookmarked Sites – Ask for help creating a web ‘Hotlist’

7 Search Engines vs. Directories – A Practice Search – california “gold rush ” Yahoo Librarians Internet Index Kidsclick

8 Kid-Friendly Directories (Organized, hierarchical web information. Someone (a librarian [?] has done the work for you) – Kidsclick (for younger students, good organization) Kidsclick – 700+ Great Sites (ALA compiled, good organization) Great Sites – Look Smart (By Net Nanny. Safe directory for kids information, games, activities, etc.) Look Smart – Y ahooligans (huge site, some dead links) Y ahooligans

9 Directories for Older Students & Adults – Librarians Index to the Internet (freedom from choice, fewer sites, reliable) Librarians Index to the Internet – Internet Public Library (great sites, general reference tools) Internet Public Library – Digital Librarian - (Comprehensive, easy to navigate.) Digital Librarian – Blue Web’n (organized by subject, grade level and format) Blue Web’n – Google Scholar (free scholarly journals, citations, reviews) Google Scholar

10 Marin Net / Marin Public Library Search for Books Search Databases

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