
Unit 5: How can I find information?
Online
Probably the most popular way of finding information is online searching. More and more information is being published this way, including web pages, weblogs (blogs) and wikis.
To find information on the Internet you can use a search engine such as Google or Yahoo. This guide will show you how to search the Web effectively.
The web is the information tool of choice for most people. It is very easy to search, it can be used anywhere and there are no passwords to remember. It will take you anywhere you want to go – or will it?
No one search engine searches the entire web. Even Nikesh Arora, then the chief of Google Europe admitted in 2005 that " less than 10% of the world's information is online today. The remaining 90% is still out there on television programmes, on radio stations and in books in libraries" (Burrell 2005)
Users of search engines need to spend a lot of time thinking critically about the results presented. Anyone can publish anything.
Don't be caught out by hoax sites or by misleading scholarship.
The next section will show you how you can evaluate the information you find.
Reference
Burrell, Ian. (Monday 6th June 2005) Nikesh Arora: we're living in a Google world. The Independent. [Online] Available from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/nikesh-arora-were-living-in-a-google-world-493163.html [Accessed 28th October 2008].
SMILE - Finding Information by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.