Week 3: Google or database searching --- Chang

In the last two weeks, we have learn Google and Database from Alastair. Today I am going to share one tip about Google and Database searching with you. In the second session, Alastair showed us a useful tool called Thumbshots Ranking which can compare site ranking in different seach tools such as Google, Yahoo and Being. The results are interesting. When we search a same keyword in Google and Yahoo, the ranking of results is completely different between these two popular search engines. After that, we changed the sequence of the keywords and searched again in the same search tools. We found that the rankings were totally different. This meant the sequence of key words had impact on the ranking. When I went home, I wanted to find if the plural of noun could affect the result of ranking. I tried the keyword Car and Cars in Google and found that the plural could also affect the result of ranking. But unlike changing sequence, the plural only affected the part of the result. From these there different types of seaching, we found that one interesting thing was Wikipedia always occurred in the top of the first page.

From this experience, I learn that I need to try different search strategies when searching information.

Databases & Athens login

This entry is about the new thing I learnt about Google and Database searching.

There are several academic databases with viewing access to millions of articles, journals and books. Some of them give readers the opportunity to view the full text material while others allow readers just a preview. The one common thing about these databases is that, unless you are a member of an institution/university community your access to their resources is limited at best. Plus, it is also considered advisable to use more than one database, as this increases your resource pool. Does this mean subscribing with as many databases? Not necessarily, with the ‘Athens login’ (Athens is an authentication system which controls access to subscribed online databases) you have access to several databases online; although, the Athens subscription and a university does not guarantee full text viewing in some cases. This brings me to proffer an alternative-GOOGLE, which would suit users with neither a university nor an Athens membership.

Google is the next best thing after the Internet. I do acknowledge that there are several shortcomings with its search algorithm (which I shall discuss later). But, for people who know little about using databases and are not members of universities nor hold an Athens login, it is very useful. I certainly do not mean the ordinary Google Search, try the Advanced search (do remember to change the parameters though). You could also try other products like Google Scholar and Google Books which allows users to search full text of books scanned by Google, converted to text and stored in its digital database. It makes access to information resources readily available at no cost to you.

 So, every other Internet user without access to databases yet, do NOT just ‘google it’, try the Advanced search, Google Scholar or Google Books.

Top tip: pay attention to the abstract!

As we discovered in Week 2, an essential addition to any reputable research paper (and the third element of the 18 Things framework) is a well-written abstract. By capturing the essential qualities of a text in a concise and structured manner, the abstract can invaluably assist information-gatherers in their task.

How many journal articles can you gather, read, and consider in one hour? If you're like me, then probably just one or two (depending on prior familiarity with the subject.) Usefully, Emerald allows users to view full, structured abstracts for every document in their list of search results (just click the "Show all abstracts" link in the top-right corner.) I find this to be incredibly helpful, allowing me to process entire pages of articles swiftly by scanning through the basic ideas and arguments of each piece. Articles which lack a full abstract tend to be insubstantial, and not very useful. If an article is going to be of interest to my research topic (and therefore worth downloading) then I can usually find out in seconds by reading the abstract.

As far as I can tell, this feature is actually unique to Emerald. Google Scholar and ACM Digital Library only display the first ~50 words of the abstract or introduction on their search results page, whilst LISA (Library and Information Science Abstracts) will only offer a 25-word snippet unless you click for the full 'Citation/Abstract' page (or open the 'Preview' pop-up window) for each result. Can we measure our information-gathering-efficiency according to the number of clicks and hyperlinks it takes to access the information we actually need?

Obviously you can't limit your search to Emerald; seasoned information-gatherers know to make use of a wide variety of different online resources for finding articles. There's a lot out there, so save yourself some time and make the most of what the author has helpfully provided. Have a quick read through the abstract and decide if the article is actually relevant to your study (before filling up your desktop with dozens of unread .PDFs.)

Google & database searching - top tip!

Hello all

Today I'd like to share with you my top tip for database/google searching, based on my own experience and on what we've learnt from Alastair Allan in the past 2 weeks.

This may seem obvious to people with much experience using databases but I think it is still worth mentioning - make use of advanced search functions! Don't just type in whatever your query is into the first search box you see - always use 'advanced search' if it is available. You're not missing out on anything by using Advanced, and you may find much more (and more importantly, you stand a better chance of finding useful information). Advanced Search gives you a lot more options - for example (depending on the database you're using), it may have options to search only for certain types of information (journal articles, e-book chapters, etc); search in article title, abstract or full text; or search between certain dates only - and most databases 'advanced search' will include multiple text boxes seperated by boolean operators (AND/OR/NOT) making it easier to construct a good query. Most databases will give you a chance to 'refine' or 'edit' your search after your initial attempt - at this point you can start experimenting with different query terms - but always start from Advanced.

So to summarise - always use 'Advanced Search' in databases - you have nothing to lose by doing so!