Google is often students' first choice of search tools. Before you start Googling, here are some things you should know:
Are the best resources at the top of the results list?
No. Often times the first several items in a results set will be sponsored links - links to websites that pay for their placement at the top of the results set. You can usually differentiate these links from the regular results set because they often appear in a shaded box and "sponsored links" will appear in small type in that box. Sponsored links also often appear in the right-hand column of the page.
So, are the results immediately below the sponsored links the best results?
It's difficult to say, but perhaps not. Placement in a Google results set is determined by a complicated algorithm. Among the web site features that are incorporated into that formula are the number of web pages linking to a particular site and meta-titles and meta-keywords. Meta- titles and keywords are part of the HTML code that describes a webpage. Web designers can manipulate those titles and keywords in an effort to optimize their site's placement in a results list.
So how do I know which results are the best, most reliable resources?
You need to evaluate them critically. When reviewing a page, consider the following:
Credibility - Who is responsible for the website? Do they have any particular agenda, or exhibit biases? Does the site link to other, scholarly sources of information or is the page littered with advertisements? You can find clues to a website's origin by examining the URL's suffix. Domain name suffixes can help you determine the credibility of a site. For example .edu is a website associated with an educational institution, .gov is a website associated with a government agency and .org is a website associated with a non-profit agency. You can evaluate a website based solely on the domain suffix, however. Consider the fourth paragraph of an article published by the Catholic Education Resource Center. Does that resource provide credible information about Spenser? What about this site from Cambridge University?
Authority - Is the author of the electronic resource named and is contact information provided? Is that person a scholar who has published extensively on the topic you are researching? If the website does not provide the author's credentials, you can search Google Scholar or the library's proprietary databases to determine whether the individual has published in scholarly journals. Does the author document their sources and provide links to additional sources of credible information?
Currency and Coverage - Does the website indicate when it was last updated and do particular articles note publication dates? Are the links in working order, an indication that the site is maintained? Does the website provide you with free access to the information on the site, or do you have to sign in or pay a fee to access additional content?
Audience and Purpose - Who was the electronic resource designed for? Does it appear to be aimed at middle or high schoolers? Is it a personal website put together by a fan of Spenser? Was the site created by the faculty and staff at a college or university and aimed at Spenser scholars? Examine the site to see if it aims to put forth a particular viewpoint or argument.
If you Google smarter, you'll retrieve better, more relevant results.
Google with care
You can improve your search results by taking the time to carefully craft your search string. Using quotations to search for items as a phrase can help fine tune your results set. For example, examine how the results of the following two searches differ: Faerie Queene Elizabeth I and "Faerie Queene" "Elizabeth I"
Be specific
If you do a Google search for Edmund Spenser and you'll come up with more than 1 million results. A Google search for "Edmund Spenser" "Civil Servant" "Ireland"yields some 20,000 results. Many of those results are citations of contemporary or historic texts available through Google Books.
Be an advanced searcher
Google provides a list of tips and tricks that you can use to fine tune your searches, such as specifiying the webiste you want to search or elminating partciular words and phrases from you search result.
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