GOOGLE POWER SEARCH
*Based on the online program offered by Google.
*Videos below are unlisted, so I've pasted them here.
*Dates are Japan time
5.1 Credibility
Google results are ranked, which means they top results are not based on authority of content nor credibility of information. Pages come up to the top for several reasons, one being the words you use in a query. (different terms have different implications) Fast-checking sites is helpful.
5.2 Variant Data
Different versions of information can exist. You need to be aware or to question if the facts you are seeking vary. The circumference of the earth is the example given by Google. The circumference varies depending on whether it’s a polar or equatorial measurement.
5.3 Using Books to Verify a Quote
Google Books, in the more tab to the right, is a helpful way to determine if quotes are actually in a source or not. In this function you can narrow your search by switching words; you can also use Command + F to search the document.
5.4 Using WHOIS and Looking for Other Site Information
WHOIS is a large database of information about websites. You can find information on site affiliates, owners, administrators, etc. This is for a sophisticated search, but you can find information that may lead to a greater understanding of the purpose of a site and its links.
5.5 Common Misconceptions
Google makes an effort in this segment to explain further how the company operates.
GOOGLE POWER SEARCH 4
Thursday, October 4th
CLASS 4: FIND FACTS FASTER
This lesson helps us to find factual information more efficiently.
4.1 Search by Image
This section teaches us how to search by dragging and dropping images into the Google search bar. This is great for any class. You can find out what something is, where someplace is, and the sources of similar images. It doesn’t have to be the full image, but the more “full” the image is, the “fuller” result you’ll get. The text in the search result will indicate the best options. This is supported by Chrome, Firefox 3.0+, Internet Explorer 8+, and Safari 5.0.
4.2 Search Features
By doing a search called [Google Search Features] you’ll get the search features master list. This is great! You can find detailed information on so many topics: population, unemployment, medicines, weather, time in a specific city, conversions, spell check, earthquakes (nice while in Japan), and more. When searching you’ll be able to find things like flight details, exact time, weather, details about a specific illness or related names. These are great little shortcuts.
4.3 Conversions and Calculator
Google as we know converts for us and calculates weights and measures. It also calculates. Here are some straightforward conversion scenario examples:
4.4 Right Hand Panel and Date Range Limiting
This feature allows us to customize the range of time we want to seek information, such as when a book was published, or articles from a specific period of time (weeks, days, years). You can narrow this with operators such as “intext:”, “filetype:”, and the “OR” synonym finder.
4.5 Translation and Search
This feature allows you to search foreign pages, in their original language, to get perspectives from other cultures. You can grab a news article and mouseover (or rollover) to get the original text as well. Using the translation features allows you to select the language or languages you desire. I think in teaching history, and especially using sources, I’d be somewhat careful of the translations at the moment, but would definitely give this search option a try. The example used in the video is with dolphin temple in Greek culture, but from the perspectives of the Greeks.
GOOGLE POWER SEARCH 3
Monday, October 1st
CLASS 3: Advanced Search Techniques
This class has been about “operators”, which basically means terms that help you to narrow your search to specific files, or to omit “noise” in your search.
3.1 site:
This operator allows you to narrow your search to something within a specific web site. For example, [site:historychannel.com Genghis Khan] will take you to all the links in the History Channel that have Genghis. This can be done for sites such as [.gov] [.edu]
3.2 filetype:
This is used to narrow your search to specific kinds of documents. Extensions such as PDF, PPT, TXT, DOC, DOCX are common, but there are many, many other extensions recognized. Try [ancient Greece document based question filetype:pdf] to get sample DBQs on Ancient Greece, but in PDF format.
3.3 Removing Invasive Results (the minus sign) -term
By simply putting a minus sign (no space) in front of a term and you’ll narrow your search. For example, if you want Napoleonic history but nothing about his life on Corsica you can use [Napoleon –Corsica]
3.4 Using Double Quotes “ “
You can seek exact phrases if you sandwich the words in quotations.
3.5 intext:
When seeking a specific word (ie) a person, a place, a food, try intext:
GOOGLE POWER SEARCH 2
Thursday September 27th
CLASS 2: Understanding What You Read
This lesson guided us through the kinds of information that is at your disposal in a search result, and the variety of ways to search and media to search through.
2.1 When Search Results Suggest Something New
One way Google gives extra information is a summary panel to the right. (not all pages have this, but you’ll get it for famous people, places, events, sports teams, countries, etc) The problem I had with it, personally, is that Wikipedia is one of the top pages, which I have reservations when it comes to researching history for academic purposes. The suggestions you are given are common queries; this “rapid recognition” narrows down the results.
2.2 Understand What You’re Reading
2.3 Options for Searching with Different Media Forms
There are image and video links that appear in a search result. Related searches (noted above) are based on the results that have helped other people (who’ve gone on to use found links).
2.5 Different Kinds of Content
We know videos, blogs, images, etc, are in most search results, but there is much more. Click on the MORE button in the top bar. There is a MORE tab on the left side, too, such as recipes, discussions, and legal documents. Other features:
*Dates are Japan time
GOOGLE POWER SEARCH 5
Monday October 7th
CLASS 5: CHECKING YOUR FACTS
This lesson deals with credibility of sources and fact finding.5.1 Credibility
Google results are ranked, which means they top results are not based on authority of content nor credibility of information. Pages come up to the top for several reasons, one being the words you use in a query. (different terms have different implications) Fast-checking sites is helpful.
- For example, if you notice in the URL. Sub-directories, such as “capitalism/benefits” for example, will likely dear with capitalism from a positive perspective.
- Use date-range searches to check validity
5.2 Variant Data
Different versions of information can exist. You need to be aware or to question if the facts you are seeking vary. The circumference of the earth is the example given by Google. The circumference varies depending on whether it’s a polar or equatorial measurement.
- Be careful to not put numbers in a search unless you are seeking that number
- Be careful of source data, such as a percentage given on a blogger’s page; you’ll want to check these sources for validity
- Use very specific terms when seeing information
5.3 Using Books to Verify a Quote
Google Books, in the more tab to the right, is a helpful way to determine if quotes are actually in a source or not. In this function you can narrow your search by switching words; you can also use Command + F to search the document.
- Keep in mind the books may be a preview, rather than full view, and may not have all of the pages.
5.4 Using WHOIS and Looking for Other Site Information
WHOIS is a large database of information about websites. You can find information on site affiliates, owners, administrators, etc. This is for a sophisticated search, but you can find information that may lead to a greater understanding of the purpose of a site and its links.
5.5 Common Misconceptions
Google makes an effort in this segment to explain further how the company operates.
- You can’t buy higher site rankings.
- Where you see the Google logo on non-Google sites it does not indicate Google supports the site, but rather the site is using a Google product or there is advertising on Google. Google doesn’t endorse any products as superior.
- Ranking does not mean authority or credibility.
GOOGLE POWER SEARCH 4
Thursday, October 4th
CLASS 4: FIND FACTS FASTER
This lesson helps us to find factual information more efficiently.
4.1 Search by Image
This section teaches us how to search by dragging and dropping images into the Google search bar. This is great for any class. You can find out what something is, where someplace is, and the sources of similar images. It doesn’t have to be the full image, but the more “full” the image is, the “fuller” result you’ll get. The text in the search result will indicate the best options. This is supported by Chrome, Firefox 3.0+, Internet Explorer 8+, and Safari 5.0.
- Go to the Image search tab
- Click on the camera icon in the search bar
- Drag and drop an image into the search bar, which processes the image
- The best possible description will appear
4.2 Search Features
By doing a search called [Google Search Features] you’ll get the search features master list. This is great! You can find detailed information on so many topics: population, unemployment, medicines, weather, time in a specific city, conversions, spell check, earthquakes (nice while in Japan), and more. When searching you’ll be able to find things like flight details, exact time, weather, details about a specific illness or related names. These are great little shortcuts.
4.3 Conversions and Calculator
Google as we know converts for us and calculates weights and measures. It also calculates. Here are some straightforward conversion scenario examples:
- 35C in F
- 23 bushels in liters
- 3 km in miles
- dollars to yen (this will also allow you to convert again; there is a disclaimer)
- World Development Index: population calculations, for example, gives you a data page in which you can compare nations (I’m not certain how accurate this is as I compared Canada and Japan in “primary children out of school” and had an odd spike in different years on the graph for each; still, worth looking into)
- % of a number
- recipe conversion
4.4 Right Hand Panel and Date Range Limiting
This feature allows us to customize the range of time we want to seek information, such as when a book was published, or articles from a specific period of time (weeks, days, years). You can narrow this with operators such as “intext:”, “filetype:”, and the “OR” synonym finder.
- Do a search with keywords
- Choose the time in the time filter (click “more search tools first)
- Click on another filter, such as “News” or “Books”
4.5 Translation and Search
This feature allows you to search foreign pages, in their original language, to get perspectives from other cultures. You can grab a news article and mouseover (or rollover) to get the original text as well. Using the translation features allows you to select the language or languages you desire. I think in teaching history, and especially using sources, I’d be somewhat careful of the translations at the moment, but would definitely give this search option a try. The example used in the video is with dolphin temple in Greek culture, but from the perspectives of the Greeks.
- You can narrow the search to news, as well as use the time range feature
- The more option allows you to shift from one language to another
- There is a pronunciation feature with the speaker icon, but it’s very much like a computer voice
- I find the translations I’ve “played with” are not great
GOOGLE POWER SEARCH 3
Monday, October 1st
CLASS 3: Advanced Search Techniques
This class has been about “operators”, which basically means terms that help you to narrow your search to specific files, or to omit “noise” in your search.
3.1 site:
This operator allows you to narrow your search to something within a specific web site. For example, [site:historychannel.com Genghis Khan] will take you to all the links in the History Channel that have Genghis. This can be done for sites such as [.gov] [.edu]
- No space between the colon and site
- You can use country codes to narrow your search, such as [.jp] or [.ca] for Japanese and Canadian sites, respectively.
- You don’t actually need the dot “.” For Top Level Domains, such as [edu], [gov], [co.uk], [go.ca]
- You can do this with images as well
3.2 filetype:
This is used to narrow your search to specific kinds of documents. Extensions such as PDF, PPT, TXT, DOC, DOCX are common, but there are many, many other extensions recognized. Try [ancient Greece document based question filetype:pdf] to get sample DBQs on Ancient Greece, but in PDF format.
- Use this for finding info in KML files, which bring you to Google Earth images; seek resource boundaries, watersheds, famous expeditions in history, etc.
3.3 Removing Invasive Results (the minus sign) -term
By simply putting a minus sign (no space) in front of a term and you’ll narrow your search. For example, if you want Napoleonic history but nothing about his life on Corsica you can use [Napoleon –Corsica]
- You can use double minuses to narrow your search further [Napoleon –Corsica –St.Helena]
3.4 Using Double Quotes “ “
You can seek exact phrases if you sandwich the words in quotations.
- When searching for synonyms you can do “term” OR “term”
- Use capital letters for OR
3.5 intext:
When seeking a specific word (ie) a person, a place, a food, try intext:
- After starting a search, click on the gear to the top right. It will bing you to all of these options to help you narrow your search. Be certain of the vocabulary you want to use. Words are important!
GOOGLE POWER SEARCH 2
Thursday September 27th
CLASS 2: Understanding What You Read
This lesson guided us through the kinds of information that is at your disposal in a search result, and the variety of ways to search and media to search through.
2.1 When Search Results Suggest Something New
One way Google gives extra information is a summary panel to the right. (not all pages have this, but you’ll get it for famous people, places, events, sports teams, countries, etc) The problem I had with it, personally, is that Wikipedia is one of the top pages, which I have reservations when it comes to researching history for academic purposes. The suggestions you are given are common queries; this “rapid recognition” narrows down the results.
- Use the “Related Searches” at the bottom; it gives you more ideas of what to search
- Use the right side panel to see what related links there may be (an activity I chose ended up connecting these words: Tokyo Tower - Burj Khalifa – Adrian Smith – Chicago – Art Institute of Chicago – American Gothic
2.2 Understand What You’re Reading
- Use the [define ‘term’] feature to understand vocabulary you don’t know
- Use the pronunciation feature (it usually appears – great for History vocabulary)
- Click on “More Info” to deepen the search
- Use the translate feature (at the right)
2.3 Options for Searching with Different Media Forms
There are image and video links that appear in a search result. Related searches (noted above) are based on the results that have helped other people (who’ve gone on to use found links).
- Switch the media type using the options on the left hand side.
- When searching for “How To”, the result will often begin with a video; Google takes the query and makes the result within the most relevant media (I typed “play C chord” and the first result was indeed a video for a guitar C chord)
2.4 Reading the Search Results Page
There are a lot of interesting features from this lesson.- Use the rollover feature (>>) on the right side to get an image of the page. Often you can read or skim over pages to seek relevance; it’s a preview. (good for seeking history web site sources quickly)
- Warning: if you see an ellipsis (…) it means the summary/ abstract/ snippet is a combination of statements in the page; the same statement is NOT in the web page.
- There are often links to sub pages when the site is large; these links take you deeper into the web site; big sites sometimes will have search box that funnels your query within that web site
- Pay attention to the URL. Addresses like “.gov” may have the official information you want.
We know videos, blogs, images, etc, are in most search results, but there is much more. Click on the MORE button in the top bar. There is a MORE tab on the left side, too, such as recipes, discussions, and legal documents. Other features:
- Google Scholar – taking you to academic pages (great for history!)
- Finance – business pages
- Patents – based on US and EU only at the moment
- 3D Warehouse – 3D images of buildings and more
GOOGLE POWER SEARCH 1
Tuesday, September 25th
Tuesday, September 25th
These are search strategies to help the “searcher” zero in on the information they are seeking. They allow us to navigate the web much faster and more efficiently.
On a non-US Google search page you can get “back to” Google.com by clicking a link in the bottom left corner, or by typing Google.com/NCR.
I’m starting with 1.2, the first “lesson” following the introduction.
1.2 Filtering by Colour
This is a neat feature, which I think will be useful in seeking History images to reinforce teaching. In the bottom left of an image search there are colours that we can use to help find the context of the image. This set of colour boxes is called the “paint chip selector”.
- If I’m searching for a WW1 period photo I may choose the black and white search function; I may choose “white” to get a white background
- Colours carry an implied context, such as an old photo, or desert sand, or blue skies
- Colour filtering is an effective tool to find the images you want, and get a wider variety
- When choosing diagrams, graphs from a search query, use the white background to narrow down the options
- Choose the “visually similar” link to narrow
- Choose “similar link” to get similar-looking images
1.3 How Search Works
Basically, when we do a search on Google, the engine gives us the results of the Google index, not the web. Google “fetches” the pages with software programs called “spiders” and follows the links connected to those pages. The importance of a page is rated by the number of pages linked to it. Essentially, the software asks questions about your search using your key words.
1.4 Keyword Choices
Choosing the best words will give you the best results.
- Use effective key words
- Put yourself in the mindset of the author
- Think about what words you want to SEE in your search results
- Use appropriate word choice (don’t use slang unless you’re looking for slang-related answers)
- You’ll notice that the narrower you search, the fewer results you have
1.5 Word Order
What are the factors that impact an efficient search? The words and the order count. Capitalization, spelling and special characters USUALLY don’t matter. Some do. Here is the “nutshell”.
- A % sign at the front will be disregarded
- Articles such as “a”, “the” will impact a search (the course video uses the samples “a who”, “the who” and “who”, which will give you “Horton Hears a Who”, the band “The Who”, and “The World Health Organization”, respectively
- Some symbols / characters that will be recognized are ones such as “C#” in music, and “#hashtag”
- Symbols for currencies aren’t usually recognized
1.6 Finding Text on a Web Page
This feature is brilliant. I can see its use when searching through lengthy, archived historical sources that are online. The feature allows you to narrow your search of a page to a single word, jumping down to the word. Safari, Firefox and Chrome all have different “formats” but essentially they offer similar features to make your search faster.
Mac: Command + F
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