In this module we will look at WWW items such as:

• Evaluating web pages
• Google and other search engines
• Google scholar

Although the Internet started as a means of scholarly communication, most websites now consist of commercial or entertainment material. A lot of the content found on informational sites has not been reviewed, or checked for quality or accuracy. Only a small percentage of Internet information is considered to be academic in nature

The ability to evaluate information, especially from Internet sources, is a key skill for academic success.

I have compiled a list of web resources that have been reveiwed and compiled by fellow academics/librarians. Click on Web Sites for Research and go to your subject heading of interest.

The Key Reources below can help you learn how to be an informed Internet user:

Key Resources for Evaluating Websites
Credible Sources Count! Tutorial
10 Ways to Test Facts
Web Evaluation Rubric
Evaluation ABC's

You can improve the quality of your Google searching and increase the likelihood of finding scholarly information if you know how to use some of the advanced features.

For example:

Search for pages that are found on education sites

• In the Google search box, type in:
  my search terms site:edu
  where my search terms is the subject or topic you wish to search
  example: environmental design site:edu - this search will find websites and documents from educational sites about environmental design.
• You can also search other document types such as:
  ca - Canadian
  org - non-profit organization
  com - for profit

Search a Specific University's Site

• Go to the University Search Page at www.google.com/options/universities.html
• You will find a list of universities. Choose the university you would like to search. Perform search.

Search a Phrase

• You can search for a phrase by placing words within quotation marks:
  example: sustainable design Jason McLennan - may find documents on sustainable design by men named Jason Smith or George McLennan,
  but "sustainable design Jason McLennan" - will only find documents with the name Jason McLeennan somewhere in the title or text of the document.

Find a Definition

• In the Google search box, type in:
  what is word,
  where word is the term you want defined example:
  what is symposium - will find definitions of the word symposium

To get the most out of your Google searching, click on the following tutorials and guides:

Key Resources
About.com's Google Cheat Sheet
Basic Google Searching
Google Basics
Advanced Google Searching
Google Advanced Search Made Easy
Searching With Success!

Google Scholar is one of many secondary search engines that Google has developed to make location of specialized information easier. Google Scholar searches across scholarly literature, including books, journals, reports and other types of academic publications. It includes some fulltext, if the fulltext is freely available.

Google Scholar will also link to academic publications that are available by subscription only. General Google users have to pay to view the fulltext of these articles, but the University of Manitoba Libraries and Google Scholar can give you direct access to our ELibrary collections through UMLinks.

Please Note that to use this feature of Google Scholar, you must either be at a University of Manitoba network computer, or go through regular off-campus authentication procedures for Elibrary, if you're using Google Scholar from home.

• Go to the Google Homepage at www.google.com
• Select "Scholar"
• You should see a search box like the one below:

• When you find an article or book you want to view, Google will link you directly via UMLinks to the full-text if it is available. You must use a University of Manitoba network computer, or be connected through our server.

• If the information is not available in full-text format, print the citation information (title of article, journal title, author, page numbers, etc.) and search for the item in BISON, the University of Manitoba Libraries Catalogue




Key Resources
How to Activate UMLinks in Google Scholar
Searching BISON for Journals
Google Scholar Help
Chat with a Librarian

Google isn't the only search engine. There are many different search engines online, which all work a little differently and track different kinds of information. Here are some of the most popular ones. Click on icons below to try them out:




Specialized Search engines. These are also known as subject directories. They're different from general search engines like Google and Yahoo:

• Individuals, not automated programs or "crawlers" gather the sites.
• The sites tend to be on specific topics and of high quality.
• The sites are usually annotated.

Two examples are the Librarians' Index to the Internet and Infomine. Click on the icons below to try them:




Key Resources
Specialized Search Engines tutorial
Subject Directories list
Search Engines and Directories A to Z