"Using Search Engines and On-Line Databases Effectively"

Uses and Genres of Search Engines
Helpful Databases
Tools and Resources on Campus
Tools and Resources off Campus
Innovation and Experimentation with Existing Internet Tools and Resources
Other Resources/Handouts Like This One

A more comprehensive and oft-updated version of this document can be found at http://cai/caihandouts/trcwebtalk.html

This handout comprises one of the many parts of Andy Jones' Computer Aided Instruction Site: http://cai.ucdavis.edu

If you have any questions, about any CAI topics that I do or do not cover here, please write me at aojones@ucdavis.edu

Start with "Searchenginewatch.com" at http://searchenginewatch.com/

Searchenginewatch lists and reviews search engines, suggests which search engines cover the largest percentage of web pages available (and if size matters), and offers statistical data on just about every element of searching. The information here can be overwhelming, but its "First Time Visitors" link explains the organization of the whole. Start here for helpful tutorials on "search engine math" and "power searching for everyone."

"First Time Visitors" links
Boolean Searching links

Next, visit "Allsearchengines.com" at http://www.allsearchengines.com/

This site offers links to all the major search engines, including

www.altavista.com

www.alltheweb.com

www.google.com (as I mention below, "Google" is the best search engine available)

to meta-search engines, such as

The goal of the Open Directory Project's goal is "to produce the most comprehensive directory of the web, by relying on a vast army of volunteer editors." For an example of the Open Directory Project at work, visit

The Argus Clearinghouse of Information is a directory which offers a "selective collection of topical guides":

http://www.clearinghouse.net/

The Search Engine Colossus offers a collection of Academic Search Engines:

http://www.searchenginecolossus.com/Academic.html

The most impressive of the links at Search Engine Colossus, I think, is the Librarians' Index to the Internet:

http://lii.org/ (see also the LII site on Evaluating Internet Resources)

LincOn.Com offers a large selection of specialized search engines:

[Google is] fast and accurate, with an uncanny ability to put the thing you most wanted to find directly under your nose. The technology that makes this happen is equal parts rocket science and peer review. Google's hypertext-based system for ranking search results uses a mathematical algorithm to rate Web sites based on the number of other sites linking to them, then factors in how heavily linked those sites are. The result is a form of objectivity that springs directly from the Internet community, translating its distributed judgments into a quick, precise read of what matters and what you can do without.

The Complete list of databases available to UCD instructors and students is available at

http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/databases/index.html

This list is broken down into disciplines by our various libraries’ reference departments:

http://neuheim.ucdavis.edu/databases/refdeptlists.html

My favorite of all these is Lexis-Nexis, where one finds hundreds of thousands of full-text articles under the "Academic Universe" heading:

http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe

Investigate the University of California’s "California Digital Library" at

http://www.cdlib.org/

When I need help with technical or theoretical questions about teaching with technology, I look first to The Arbor, which exists primarily to provide support to U.C.D. instructors using instructional technology. http://arbor.ucdavis.edu/

At the "Resources" link, the Arbor staff have written and organized a large collection of definitions, explanations, and autotutorials. For instance, Maureen Coulson presents issues to consider when beginning to build web pages: http://arbor.ucdavis.edu/resources/internet/ADA/usability.html

and Botany Professor Richard Falk has written an impressive number of articles for the Arbor, including one that covers much of the above information on searching the web: http://arbor/resources/internet/search/search.html

If you want quick access to information on computer accounts, computer labs, the faculty modem pool, email, class listservs, newsgroups, etc., then visit the Faculty Technology Guide. At this site you'll find answers, or people who can provide the answers, to most technology and teaching-related questions that you encounter during this week-long workshop:

http://ftg.ucdavis.edu/

http://mediaworks.ucdavis.edu/

As you know, The Teaching Resources Center provides a central access point for IET Information and advice:

http://trc.ucdavis.edu/trc/

When you visit the TRC site, visit the "Using Technology in Teaching" page:

http://trc.ucdavis.edu/trc/technology.html

Finally, visit the "Training" site at IET, where you will find information about self-paced training, instructor-led training, and helpful reference materials:

First, make sure that you are aware of all the Instructional Technology tools are available to you as a classroom leader. To do this, visit

http://it.ucdavis.edu/fsg/gcr_et.html

Consider creative ways to use the many tools available to you. Automated Class Mailing Lists allow instructors to expand students’ understanding of office hours and class discussion. Compelling students to offer substantive responses to questions raised during a class lecture may make up for unavailable discussion time.

Finally, forcing students to participate in the information-gathering process will allow students to use their web skills, which are often more practiced and honed than our own, to add to the class discussion, or to keep their instructor updated on newly-discovered resources in your discipline.

When thinking about internet searches, go first to the web presentation titled "Finding Quality Information on the Web"; it lists all the important sites that explain web searching (as I have started to do here): http://www.iona.edu/faculty/afranco/iima/webliog.htm

One site called "Finding and Evaluating Information" (http://www.unc.edu/cit/tips/eval.html) is part of UNC-Chapel Hill's Center for Instructional Technology (http://www.unc.edu/cit/)

This tutorial on finding information on the web, created by hardworking librarians at U.C. Berkeley, is perfect for beginners: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html

The best meta-site on searching the web is available through Google at http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Internet/WWW/Searching_the_Web/Help_and_Tutorials/