Google

During our Google 101 introduction in class I learned so many new ways in which I could use Google to help me focus on what I was searching for and also giving me tools in which to help me narrow my search results even more.  I learned about how when you are typing in your search you can use + to help to expand your search results to include another thing you are searching for that goes along with it. You can use - to help you get rid of information that contains the thing you subtracted to focus on what you are searching for. I also learned that if you find a website you like you can copy it address into the Google search and then do : similar websites and it will help you find more resources that are similar to that site. Also that .gov country( wanna research) will give you government documents in your search for that country.  And can use a ~ to help you in your search to find words which are similar to the word you put ~ in front of it to expand your search.  I also learned that you can use Google searches from Google sites in other countries to help you if you think it would benefit your research.  Also I found that Google Scholar could be quite useful in finding material which was useful in your research because it would tell you how often the source was cited and that would in turn give you an idea of the relevancy of the article.  I also liked how under the Google search options it had a tool which gave you the reading level of the website, which could help you get rid of sources that where not up to the standards you may need in doing research.


I liked Google very much even before find out all of these new things about it since I use it multiple times each and every day. So learning more about the proper way to use it has made it even more appealing to me and I am happy that I was able to learn how to use it more efficiently since it will probably help me very much when I am looking for information online.


I will use Google tools/online research strategies such as the +,-,~ to help me expand, limit, and add to what I am searching for in a future class where I may have to do a research project of some sort or just find useful information on some topic to do an assignment.  I also think the use of Google Scholar will help me with finding the information I need while at the same time allowing me to know it is a fairly creditable source which I have found.  I will use it to find information I need, and because of it I will now probably be able to find things more quickly because of the limiting resources some of the tools have and information with is relevant to what I am searching for.  In real life situations if I am just searching for a topic and I get a whole bunch of results, these new searching methods and tools can help me limit my results down to what it is I am searching for.


So in all this was a very pleasant learning experience and I look forward to putting to use the things I learned.