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| Web Research |
I
know that Google is the search tool of choice preferred by many people as their
go-to guy when they want to know something or find a photo, content, valuable
data . I ought to use a variety of search tools when I need to do an in-depth
look for something.
So,
anyway moving right along. I use when I want to look something up. Whether you
want to buy a car, find a personal fitness trainer, comparison shop for the
best price on an iPod or iPhone or television, buy or rent a book, this page offers
the tools you need. I try to respond to user requests, so if anyone has found a
nifty site that performs searches or is specific to a popular subject
There are over 86 billion web pages published,
and most of those pages are not worth quoting. To successfully sift it all, I
must use consistent and reliable filtering methods. I will need patience to see
the full breadth of writing on any single topic. And I will need my critical
thinking skills to disbelieve anything until it is intelligently validated.
Use Different Search Engines and Keywords
Now comes the
primary legwork: using different search engines and using 3-5 keyword
combinations. Patient and constant adjusting of my keywords are key here.
1.
Firstly, start with broad initial researching at: - Internet Public Library, Duck DuckGo,Clusty/Yippy, Wikipedia, and Mahalo. This will give me a broad sense of what categories and related
topics are out there, and give me possible directions to aim my research.
2. Secondly,
narrow and deepen your Visible Web searching: - with Google and Ask.com.
Once I have
experimented with combinations of 3 to 5 different keywords, these 3 search
engines will deepen the results pools for my keywords.
3. Thirdly, go
beyond Google, for Invisible Web (Deep
Web) searching :- Because Invisible Web
pages are not spidered by Google, I'll need to be patient and use slower and
more specific search engines like:
- Scirus (for scientific searching)
- Internet Archive (to backwards-search past
current events)
- Advanced Clusty Searching (meta
searching specific parts of the Internet)
- Surfwax (much more knowledge-focused and much less commerce-driven than
Google)
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| Researching Data |
Filter and
Validate the Content.
This
is the slowest step of all: vetting and filtering which content is legitimate,
and which is drivelous trash. If I am doing hard research, this is also
the most important step of all, because my resources MUST withstand close
examination later.
Carefully
consider the author/source, and the date of publication.
Is
the author an authority with professional credentials, or someone who is
peddling their wares and trying to sell I a book? Is the page undated, or
unusually old? Does the page have its own domain name (e.g. honda.com,
e.g. gov.co.uk), or is it some deep and obscure page buried at MySpace?
Be
suspicious of personal web pages, and any commercial pages that have a
shoddy, amateurish presentation.
Spelling
errors, grammar errors, poor formatting, cheesy advertising on the side, absurd
fonts, too many blinking emoticons... these are all red flags that the author
is not a serious resource, and does not care about the quality of their
publishing.
Be
suspicious of scientific or medical pages that display scientific or medical
advertising.
For
example: if I am researching veterinarian advice, be wary if the veterinarian
web page displays blatant advertising for dog medicine or pet food.
Advertising can possibly indicate a conflict
of interest or hidden agenda behind the writer's content.
Be
suspicious of any ranting, overstating, overly-positive, or overly-negative
commentary.
If
the author insists on ranting and crying foul, or conversely seems to shower
excessive praise, that could be a red flag that there is dishonesty and
fraudulent motivations behind the writing.
Commercial
consumer websites can be good resources, but be skeptical of every comment I
read.
Just
because 7 people rave that Pet Food X is good for their dogs does not necessarily
mean it is good for my dog. Similarly, if 5 people out of 600 complain about a
particular vendor, that doesn't mean the vendor, is necessarily bad. Be
patient, be skeptical, and be slow to form an opinion.
Use my
intuition if something seems amiss with the web page.
Perhaps the author is just a little too
positive, or seems a little too closed to other opinions. Maybe the
author uses profanity, name-calling, or insults to try to make his point.
The formatting of the page might seem childlike and haphazard. Or I get
the sense that the author is trying to sell I something. If I get any subconscious
sense that there is something not quite right about the web page, then trust
your intuition.
This technique will list incoming hyperlinks
from the major websites that recommend the web page of interest. These
backlinks will give I an indicator how much respect the author has earned
around the Internet. Simply go to google and enter 'link:www.(the web
page's address)' to see the backlinks listed.
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| Web World |
Choose a Research-Friendly Web Browser
Researching
is repetitive and slow. I will want a tool that supports many open
pages, and easily backtracks through previous pages. A good
research-friendly Web browser offers:
- Multiple tab
pages open simultaneously.
- Bookmarks/favorites
those are fast and easy to manage.
- Page history
that is easy to recall.
- Loads pages
quickly for your computer's memory size.
Dhaka
