Searches and Information Literacy
You are certainly experienced in searching for information on the internet, but -- again -- this is a good opportunity to stop, back up and look again at some of the whys and wherefores of searching and search engines.
How Search Works
A search engine is a system designed to search for information on the world wide web and produce a list of results. It's basically an automated index that continually searches for new web pages and other files stored on the web and updates its results according to a complicated (and secretive) algorithm, the set of rules used to determine the significance of any given web page.
There are lots of different choices, but Google has taken over in recent years as the market leader. Popular search engines include:
Here's a list from LiveWire of other other search engines, in case you want to buck the trends: The Best Search Engines
Google search principles and techniques
The usefulness of a search engine depends on the relevance of the results it produces, and you can help increase the relevance by learning good techniques, such as using "operators", special words and characters, alternative spellings, etc.
Everyone knows how to do a simple search on Google but how many know how to utilise the advanced search options to obtain more relevant search results? This guide from SOAS explains some of the hidden gems that Google has on offer so you can improve your search results for finding exactly what you are looking for:
- Get the most out of your Google searches (download for reference)
Information Literacy
According CILIP, the UK's Library and Information Association, Information Literacy is "the ability to think critically and make balanced judgements about any information we find and use. It empowers us as citizens to develop informed views and to engage fully with society".
Ultimately, the success of our searches depends on our ability to judge the quality of information we retrieve. This is of particular relevance to our students who may have limited knowledge and experience. Part of their education will involve developing Information Literacy, but probably not in a formalised way. Along with librarians, tutors have an important role to play. For more information: