The Odyssey of Internet Searching

Searching for information on the Internet can sometimes turn into a never ending journey - especially for our students. The "Google Generation" needs to learn how to search the internet effectively.

In Information Behavior of the Researcher of the Future , a virtual longitudinal study carried out last year by the CIBER research team at University College London claimed that, although young people demonstrated an apparent ease and familiarity with computers, they relied heavily on search engines, viewed rather than read, and did not possess the critical and analytical skills to assess the information that they found on the web. Too true if have you ever studied the Middle Ages and Renaissance and had students using research information from a seemingly credible site, but upon closer analysis is a travel agent selling vacations in a castle - one of many examples.

I don't know who to thank for the 10 hit Google rule I've been teaching students for years - read it in a journal years ago and have been preaching it ever since. If students are looking for information in hits beyond the first 10 hits, they are not going to find their information in the next 999,999 pages - refine/change/rework the search request - teach Boolean search terms and how to keyword search, show and tell specialty search engines.

To sharpen internet searching skills, check out the Google Game, a lesson developed by two educators, with the goal of making students’ Internet searches more efficient so that they end up with as few hits as possible.

Three crucial search tips are taught: use quotation marks to look for words in the exact order that you enter them (for example, “French Revolution” “human rights”); use a minus sign to exclude a word from your search (for example, bears -Chicago); and to limit a search to web sites created by certain groups, such as colleges and universities or organizations, use the site operator, an indication of the domain (for example, site:edu or site:org). There are some example questions at the end of the article. If you or your students come up a Google Game example, pass it along.

Photo used under Creative Commons by hidden side
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hidden_vice/209382586/sizes/s/