Power Searching Workshop
Upper Merion Area HS
You may wish to copy this page (command-A to select all, and command-C to copy), open up TextEdit and paste so that you can take notes.
- The changing job: Engineering Learning Environments (Dylan Wiliam)
- E-mail forwards
- The possibility of bad info - just because it's everywhere doesn't mean it's true
- Search engine limitations - what can search engines find?
- Search engine limitations - what percent of the www does it search?
- Human limitations - how many hits can you look through?
2. A Good Start
- E-mail forwards and virus scares
- E-mail forwards - possibly more dangerous than viruses!
- Always check before you forward
3. To Google or Not To Google
- How do search engines work?
- How does Google rank sites?
- What won't search engines find?
4. Gateways to the Invisible Web
- Databases and documents are not indexed by search engines
- Therefore you must go to specific gateways to find them:
5. General Reference Sites
- Watch out for incorrect quotes, and quotes wrongly attributed
- There are dictionaries, thesauruses, quote books and more online
6. Subject Specific Gateways and Search Engines
- There are many gateways and search engines that are subject specific
7. Digital Imagery and Copyright
- The Fair Use School of Thought
- The "Transformative Use" School of Thought
- What the Library of Congress has to say:
8. Digital Image Collections
- Make sure to check for copyright restrictions!
- These are all copyright free or copyright friendly
9. Searching with Confidence
- Search syntax: AND/OR and exact phrases
- Site-specific searches on Google
- What to do before you search
- What to do if you turn up thousands of hits
- What to do if you turn up no hits
- What to do if the search engine finds it, but the page isn't there any more
- Making sure you'll always have what you want once you find it
10. The Credibility Check
- Just because it's on www.anyonecanputupawebsite.com doesn't mean it's true
- TLDs: .com .edu .gov .net .uk .ru .de etc.
- Going up a level and poking around - what kind of a site is it?
- No guarantees, but: Is the grammar good? Is the tone appropriate? Is the information accurate?
- Watch out for personal home pages and sites with information contributed by users