Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Perhaps you've heard of the Google?


Googling your time away
If you added up all the time you've spent wading through useless results from a Google search, you'd find it would add up to hours (days?, weeks?) you'd rather be doing other things. Think of all the beach time, reading time, golf time or loafing time you've given up! There's no magic wand here--experience does lead to efficiency. But so does a little effort to learn some Google tricks. (Try googling Google search tips, or at least use the Advanced Search regularly.)
One interesting tip that I think I will incorporate into my intermediate and advanced searching classes at the Library, is paying attention to the order of the search words. Google gives preference to web sites with your search words in the same order as you've typed them. I tried a few test cases and sure enough there was only about 60-70% overlap when I switched the order. Try a search of your own with four or more words...
--RL

No comments: