how to game a search engine

How to Game a Search Engine

The Problem:

Search engines don’t give you what you want - they just give you what’s popular!

Example: tigers

Google

GoogleMost POPULAR result on top

Google

Not useful for a student

Google

This easy information is ALSO from Wikipedia!

Google You are encouraged to spend time goofing off on

social media.

Bing

BingNothing about actual tigers!

Bing Again with the social media.

Yahoo

YahooNo tigers.

YahooDistracting stuff.

YahooDuplicated for extra distraction!

YahooSocial media. (Sort of.)

Conclusion:

None of these search engines are geared toward students. They’re made to be fun and popular.

So how can students find REAL information??

Google

GoogleHey, what’s this?

GoogleA nondescript menu?

GoogleNew search options??

Google’s Advanced Search

Google’s Advanced SearchGoogle will look for all of the words you type in this box…

…And eliminate the words you type in this one!

NEW Google Results

NEW Google Results

Better results (these are organizations, so you can cite them as sources!)

NEW Google Results

No distracting stuff on the side

NEW Google Results

Social media is less invasive

Bing

Bing Hey, here’s that symbol again!

BingWait, this isn’t the advanced search!

Bing After some digging, you find this.There’s no direct link from Bing’s main page.

In case you want to reference this page, the shortened link is bit.ly/Jpxy2a .

Bing Looks like we can exclude search terms manually…

Bing

But in fact…

Bing

…It doesn’t work at all.

YahooAdvanced search is right where it should be!

YahooHooray!

YahooWhat a neat idea! Let’s try it.

YahooWell, it’s not 100% there. The second result isn’t a .edu. But at least there’s nothing about Detroit!

Well, that’s OK.But what else is there?

Google ScholarScholar.google.com

Google Scholar

Research tools

Google Scholar

Advanced search is NOT here!

Google ScholarIt’s HERE!

Google Scholar

Google Scholar

Google ScholarMaybe we’ll need to be a little more specific…

Google Scholar…But we do have more options here.

Google ScholarThese links let you download the paper. (If you don’t see one, ask your librarian about databases!)

Google Scholar

Citations are in black. They aren’t actually available online, but they are mentioned in other works – so you can get their information and look them up at the library later!

Google ScholarNow that we’re informed, let’s adjust the search…

Google ScholarVoila! A real source from real researchers – and you can download it, too!

Google Superpowers Now Available

Google Guide: www.googleguide.com• Search within titles• Search by authors• Search for pdfs specifically• Much much more!

*Most of the tricks you’ll learn in the Google Guide also work in Scholar!

Scirushttp://www.scirus.com

ScirusAdvanced search is right there

Scirus

Multiple options for keeping your results

Scirus

Lots of fun filters

Scirus

Actual, useful, real-live results!

Lots of these articles will be free, but just like with Google Scholar, you’ll run into some that aren’t. Don’t panic! Just bring the title and author to a librarian.

UCR Infomineinfomine.ucr.edu/

UCR InfomineThey offer help!

UCR InfomineAll kinds of modifiers. It is seriously nuts how much control you have over your search.

UCR InfomineWhile the results can be a little all-over-the-place, they’ll always be handpicked for their scholarly quality by actual librarians.

In other words, no matter what you’re doing, it’s worth it to take a quick look.

Intutewww.intute.ac.uk/

Intute Despite this, Intute remains a great resource.

Intute

Advanced search!

Intute

Options continue for something like two pages

Intute

The results are usually mid-level academic, making them perfect for kids!

Questions?