Do you (only) Google?

Part Two of a Five-part series

Carl Heine, Ph.D.

Ten years ago, being asked to ‘google’ something made people stop and think. Today, most of us know what it means and how to do it.

In 2002 the American Dialect Society voted ‘google’ (verb) the #2 word of the year—I could tell you #1, but that would stop you from googling it. The MSWord dictionary still doesn’t recognize the term, but 'google' has become synonymous with searching and the widespread popularity of Google.com.

Today, if given a choice, most young people prefer to search using Google. A recent poll at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy revealed that 90% of sophomores google more than half their searches; 32% of the students polled use Google almost exclusively. Testimonials from teachers and librarians in other schools suggest this holds true across Illinois.

When it comes to searching effectively, knowing where to look is vitally important. Google is a highly popular choice among students, but what happens when the information isn’t in Google? Helping students find the best information starts with moving them beyond any database they use habitually or exclusively.

Using any one search engine exclusively can foster several misperceptions that make a search less effective:

Queries retrieve information directly from the live Internet. Not true. When you click ANY search button you initiate a DATABASE search. The Googles and Yahoos are large databases that offer free searching, or querying, with powerful search engines. Search engines do not search the live Internet. The only time you ever search the live Internet is when you browse. One telling sign that a search is not live occurs when you click on a snippet and get one of those annoying 404 messages, “page not found.” That would be impossible if the search engine had just retrieved it from the live Internet.

• Different databases like Google and Yahoo contain the same information. Sometimes true. More often, the contents across databases are different in quantity and quality. Sometimes the information is collected randomly and remains unfiltered, as in the case of Google or Yahoo. In other cases the collection of information is supervised by experts. For this reason schools may block access to Google and subscribe to a juried database, e.g., nettrekker.com. No database indexes more than a fraction of the entire Internet, so there’s a good chance the information you need may not be where you are looking. Another important difference across databases is the way they may be queried. What works well in one may not work in another. For a comparison of search results, read Comparative Searching in this issue.

• A search engine can access the contents of many databases. This is true only in certain cases. Metasearch engines like Dogpile.com or Clusty send queries to several search engines simultaneously. The metasearch engine then compiles the results. More often, the content of many databases remains hidden unless the search engine built for that specific database is used. For example, only the WayBackMachine (search engine) provides access to the Archive.org database of Web pages. Size of the arvhice is impressive. "The Internet Archive Wayback Machine contains almost 2 petabytes of data and is currently growing at a rate of 20 terabytes per month. This eclipses the amount of text contained in the world's largest libraries, including the Library of Congress. ! The Google database, a fraction of that size, provides a powerful search engine that can be used to find the doorway to Archive.org and many other databases. Once that doorway is found, another search engine may be required to look inside.

• Using one database fosters a false sense of proficiency. Some think so, including Pamela Martin, reference librarian at Utah State University: "Google's simplicity and impressive search prowess trick students into thinking they are good all-around searchers, and when they fail in library searches, they are ashamed as well as confused.” (citation)


Searchers who rely primarily on one database can easily become frustrated because the information they are looking for is actually stored in a different database.

 

What you can do to help  

1. A good strategy to emphasize is summed up in the words, “think twice before you search.” In the Digital Information Fluency Process Model, two critical decisions come BEFORE a search button is pressed.

First, think about concepts and keywords, the WHAT of the search process (also the theme of Part One of this series). Next, think about WHERE a reliable answer may be found. Thinking ahead of time about the answer not only provides alternate keywords, it may provide clues about where to look.

A couple key questions promote thinking about WHERE information may be found.

• What expert knows the answer I am looking for? Think about the type of person that would know the answer. Who would you ask if you didn’t have access to the Internet, a book or a librarian?  

• Where can I find that expert? Start by using Google, but be prepared to switch to a different search engine once you find a database where the expert’s information is likely to be stored. Proprietary databases tend to preserve expertise because they usually use subject matter experts to screen information for accuracy and authorship. To find a relevant database use words like DATABASE, ARCHIVE, HISTORY or INFORMATION in combination with subject matter keywords. See QuickPick in this kit for more keywords and examples.

For a practical application of these questions in a lesson, see the Inventors Mini-Lesson in this issue.

2. Involve students in defining types of searches that are not possible with Google. Can your students predict whether Google can find information or if it’s only available in a different database? An interactive tutorial in this Kit, Archery Challenge II: Can Google google it, challenges students to identify types of information that Google is not likely to index. A related tutorial, Archery Challenge I: The Database Match, for more novice searchers, makes a game out of learning to read Web pages and finding the doorways through which hidden information may be found. All the Action Zone tutorial games are accessible without logging in, making it easy for students to use these resources. (Note: if you encounter difficulty launching the tutorials, try substituting 'html' in place of 'swf' in the URL.)

3. Promote healthy alternatives to spoon-feeding. Web quests are popular because they uphold Internet safety policies while still allowing students to access Web information. This balancing act saves instructional time and minimizes student (and teacher) frustration due to insufficient searching skills. But aside from satisfying immediate objectives, web quests may have an unintended negative impact. Students need to search in order to become better searchers.

When students search for themselves they are better able to find appropriate databases. They also gain much-needed practice in evaluating the information they find. Always providing students with a list of credible pages or ’approved’ databases has a second downside: almost everything can be assumed to be trustworthy. Students rarely have an opportunity to differentiate good information from that which is bad. (More on this in part five of this series)

One useful strategy is to provide students with a list of possible databases that they might use for a search (including some that are not ideal sources) and have them make a case for the “best” database to use. This type of activity may take some time to do thoroughly, but can be enhanced by using a tool like Rollyo. For an example of how to use Rollyo for creating a “find the best database” activity see Rollyo sample lesson on finding databases.  

Another approach is to create search challenges using the research databases in the school library. The article Reflections on Where contains numerous ideas for using library resources to teach and assess the extent to which students can find the most appropriate databases.