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Julie Feighery
Search Engines and Tools
As you probably already know, there are many different search engines and tools available for you to use, and many of them are now easily accessible and embedded in the devices we use every day. Long gone are the days when you go to a search engine’s website to begin searching online. As an example, if you need to find the nearest pizza restaurant, you can simply type in your browser’s address bar or ask your phone: “Where’s the nearest pizza restaurant?” and you will be supplied with an answer. Search technology continues to advance as it becomes further integrated into our daily routines.
This can be very convenient, but can also lead to more questions. What search tools are the best to use? Are there disadvantages or risks associated with how search tools are used? Let’s start by discussing the different search tools available.
Comparing Search Tools
Common Search Tools & Search Engines
There are many different search tools, and you probably use quite a few without thinking about them, such as artificial intelligence (AI) assistants. Examples include Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, Cortana, and Bixby. AI assistants are usually voice activated and will search the internet for answers to your questions, suggest resources for you to look at for information related to your question, and perform tasks such as turning on lights or creating a shopping list.
Another type of search tool that you probably use is a search engine. Search engines are online tools that search for web pages based on keywords. Many of these are now embedded in your browsers to make searching online easier, but each have their own websites as well that you can search from. The big names in this area are Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. Though they may bring back different search results, they function overall using the same main principle: to bring back as many relevant results as possible. How each one defines and determines what is “relevant” may differ, and their criteria and methods are typically not transparent to the user.
Other Tools
Besides search engines, there are other online search tools that you might be familiar with but didn’t know what to call them, such as Yelp. There, you can search for businesses and learn information about those businesses, often including links to their websites. Yelp doesn’t search the Web; rather, it maintains its own records and links for those businesses. Because Yelp controls what it searches and what it lists, it is called a directory. Web directories are search tools that link out to hand-selected websites usually organized by categories or topics.
Determining which search tool is the best to use depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If you’re trying to find the nearest pizza restaurant, using a directory like Yelp might be helpful. But what about for our a college research paper? What type of search tool would be the best to use, do you think?
Many of you use Google every day. You may trust that it will quickly and easily find exactly what you want. While Google is certainly the largest and most heavily used search engine, there are plenty of others available. Examples of other search engines include Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yahoo. Each search engine uses different ranking systems, which affect the number and order of your search results. This discrepancy can make it difficult to replicate search results or to share a search with a friend. Even if you use the same search engine and keywords, the search history on the computer you use also affects the list of results you retrieve. Try experimenting with different search engines to find the one you prefer. We’re going to focus on Google as an example of how most search engines work.
Google, Google Scholar, & Library Databases: A Comparison
Soon, we will be taking a closer look at Google, Google Scholar and library databases. Here are a few pros and cons for each resource.
Google
Pros
• Searches the entre indexed web
• Searching is free
• Google algorithm ranks relevance for you
• Useful for official and primary sources such as government websites
Cons
• Hard to determine the credibility of sources
• Results contain free and sponsored links
• Content not organized by experts
• Hard to find and identify scholarly sources
Google Scholar
Pros
• Indexes a wide range of scholarly literature
• Searching is free
• Easy to use if you’re familiar with Google
• Google algorithm ranks relevance for you
• Can set up library access links in settings
Cons
• Can’t search by subject area or material type
• No full-text access to most articles (unless linked to your academic library in settings)
• Very limited filters
• Content not organized by experts
• No easy way to identify peer-reviewed sources
Library Databases
Pros
• Search specialized academic databases
• Full-text articles are free to students and faculty
• Content organized and maintained by experts
• Can limit searches by a variety of criteria
• Easy to identify peer reviewed articles
Cons
• Not as easy to navigate for new users
• Not all databases share the same interface
• Need to choose the appropriate database to search
• Need to learn how to use limiters for best results
Source
Introduction to College Research Copyright © by Walter D. Butler; Aloha Sargent; and Kelsey Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Comparison of Search Engines by Wikipedia is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
“Google, Google Scholar, & Library Databases: A Comparison” is Adapted from Google vs. Google Scholar vs. Library Databases by McMaster University Libraries is licensed under a Creative commons license Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
