Searching the Internet

Due to personal health reasons, I was unable to attend many of the recent computer skills classes, including one where a Mr. Chris Nolan came to speak about searching the internet. I was able to obtain notes, however, on his presentation and after reading through them, have made some interesting discoveries. For one thing, I always knew Google was one of the most popular search engines, (it’s my internet home page), but I never knew that it was actually a better source to search because it uses a method to rank the hits by relevance. This surprised me because I always assumed other search engines like Yahoo! were just as good, if not better than Google. But with all the great benefits Google has to offer, Mr. Nolan made sure to point out its downside too. He explained that Google gains all its profit from selling advertising space. Because of this, Google orders its results by popularity and/or the amount of money received for advertisements. Therefore, the first few search results can be poorly accredited sources that simply reflect financial profits instead of the available scholarly sites. Outside of acquiring basic information on Google, I was glad to also learn about directories, Google Scholar, the ‘define’ tool, the advanced search, and cached links. I also learned how to put words in the search bar in specific orders and what additions to include (minus sign, quotation marks) to make my searches more efficient. It was useful, too, to be reminded about all the non-credible websites out there. I’m appreciative that Mr. Nolan gave so many tips on how to avoid those sources. Because of his presentation, I should have better luck in the future when beginning research assignments. I am proud that I now know how to search the internet and use it to its fullest potential.