Finding Info From Search Engines

On Tuesday in class, Chris Nolan spoke to our class about using search engines effectively online. He spoke to us about the most commonly used search engines-google.com, ask.com, yahoo.com, Wikipedia.com, and aol.com. He also explained that websites like these make profit by advertisement on their website. When asked why certain websites rise to the top of a search, Chris explained that websites that have more credible links that lead back to it will appear first on a list of websites for a search. One new thing I learned was that when searching for information, it is possible to narrow your search in many ways. You can eliminate words like “and”, “but” and “or” because some sites will search for exact phrasing. You can also select “advanced search” in Google, which asks more specific questions about your topic. Also, you can select the media through which you would like to search, for example if you are only looking for books to search through, you can select “Google books” and the search will only apply to books. Something surprising that I learned is that you can tell if a website is scholarly or a good source if it has a bibliography or works cited note at the end of its articles.

Thanks,
Eva Gabrielle Thompson
ethomps4@trinity.edu