Search Engine Strategies
- Resource Type: Internet Search Engine
- Website Location: www.Google.com
Google is a search engine that provides quick and broad access to a variety of information/resources. These include articles, blogs, videos, government and educational websites, message boards, and databases. Information is found by first completing a search with the option to use commands that help narrow down and refine the results. Google searches the entire indexed web for results. The advantages of using Google is that it is fast and a great way to begin finding broad information on a topic. With so many results, it can be overwhelming, so it is important to use advanced search commands to help narrow down results for specific and legitimate content. authoritarian information sources.
Google Scholar
- Resource Type: Internet Search Engine
- Website Location: https://scholar.google.com/
Similar to the Google, Google Scholar is an internet search engine. The difference is that Google Scholar focuses on academic and scholarly resources and literature that can be used for research purposes. The primary information materials resources include peer-reviewed journal articles, complete books, and single chapters in books, dissertations, court opinions, and abstracts. Like Google, there are also advanced search options and commands that help narrow results. There is an easy option to cite using your preferred style (APA, MLA, etc.). Also, another nice feature is that there are "related articles" that show resources similar to the topic you are working on. This is incredibly helpful if you must dig deeper for more information on a specific topic. One downside of using Google Scholar is that free full-text articles are not always available, but it is possible to find the article and then see if you can access it through a different database.
Internet Search Engine Strategies
When using these search engines like Google or Google Scholar, there are important things to consider. The Civil War is an extremely broad topic. Narrowing down results by combining keywords/subjects and using Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) makes it much easier to sift through results. For example, when searching for information on reconstruction, try:
Civil War AND reconstruction
To further improve authoritative/reliable information resources, it is important to choose results from government (.gov) or educational (.edu) websites. Adding onto the last example, try:
Civil War AND Reconstruction site:.gov or Civil War AND Reconstruction site:.edu
With this search, the results are only government websites, which are more scrutinized than .com websites.
Another option is a phrased search. This is when you add quotation marks to the beginning and last group of words. This will search for the phrases in the exact order they were typed. This will help narrow the search. Here is an example:
"Sherman's march to the sea" site:.edu
As you can see, the advanced search commands also work in Google Scholar.