Workshops, seminars and presentations

Standard workshops

Workshop and events home page

Advanced Google Searching
How to get the best out of Google and improve search results

Essential non-Google search tools for researchers
General search and specialist alternatives to Google

Free search tools for scientific information
Options for searching and viewing scientific papers and information free of charge

Navigating the Deep Web
Advanced search strategies for researchers

Social Search
When and how to use social media and professional networks as part of your search strategy

Business information resources
Key internet resources for business information concentrating on free and PAYG

Market research and statistics
Resources and search techniques for tracking down quality market research and statistics

Free government, official and legal resources
How to track down current and past papers, policy documents, legislation and official research

Finding and using open data
Tools and techniques for finding and using open data sets

Assessing the quality of information
How to separate the good from the bad and exceedingly ugly

Navigating the deep web: advanced search strategies for researchers

Coronavirus - please note that all face to face training sessions and workshops have been suspended

A significant volume of high quality, valuable information cannot be found by using standard search engines. Estimates vary but it is thought that Google and Bing only retrieve between 1 and 5% of the information available on the Internet, and relevant content is often buried so far down the results lists that you may never retrieve it.

On other occasions the information may vanish completely. Organisations may deliberately attempt to hide data and compromising public documents. There may be restrictions on what you can access depending on your location, and legislation can limit what the search engines can show you.

This workshop will explore the tools that can help surface deep (hidden) web information. It will also address advanced search strategies, current developments in search engine technology and different approaches to tackling research.

Topics covered include:

  • Why general search engines miss or ignore information
  • The impact of the "right to be forgotten", GDPR and other legislation on access to content
  • How to use advanced search commands to surface hard to find web resources
  • Specialist search tools for the deep web
  • Strategies for retrieving high quality information, including data sets, scholarly literature, official publications, news, multi-media and image resources
  • Tools to surface valuable social media content
  • What is the dark web, and can it be legitimately used for research?

By the end of the course you will have a thorough understanding and awareness of current search engine trends and developments and the confidence to refresh and adapt your research skills and techniques.

This workshop is usually run as a full day, hands on event with opportunities for participants to experiment and try out the techniques for themselves. It can be condensed into a half day session or a seminar concentrating on key elements. Sections of this workshop can be presented as a webinar. Please contact Karen Blakeman for further information.

 

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