Search Engines
Picture the scene: an obviously distressed researcher is hunched over a computer screen, sobbing hysterically. All they wanted was a list of donkey sanctuaries in Surrey. How difficult is that? But Google decided that what they really wanted was a field guide to identifying buttercups. Our researcher tries all the advanced search commands and options [...]
At last! I’ve managed to convert my article on “Free search tools for research information” into a Kindle version (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C11XLVQ). It took me four attempts to get it right (and I hope it is indeed OK). The Amazon instructions are here, there and everywhere. Amazon’s general guide on producing a Kindle version is OK, but [...]
Continue reading about Search tools for research information – Kindle version
Google has put together a site showing how Google search works (http://www.google.com/insidesearch/howsearchworks/thestory/). The main page is a scrolling animated graphic that just gives you some elementary facts but there are links to more detailed information and videos on the main topics of crawling and indexing, the searching and ranking algorithms, fighting spam and Google’s general [...]
This week I was in Canterbury leading a workshop and discussion on Google and Google Scholar for finding research information. Although the emphasis was on Google we also covered other specialist tools designed to search for scientific and research information. We also had an interesting discussion on h-index, other citation indices and services such as [...]
Continue reading about Top tips for finding research information
I am running three workshops in April on business information and search. All three have a practical element so that you can try out resources and techniques for yourself. Introduction to Business Research This is being organised by TFPL and will be held in London on Thursday, 18th April. This course provides an introduction to [...]
There are three new articles available in the subscribers area of Search Strategies: Searching for research information: Institutional Repositories HTML article and PDF Mendeley as a search tool for research papers. Available as an HTML article and PDF Scirus. Available as an HTML article and PDF Annual individual subscription rates are £48/year (£40 + £8 VAT). Multi-user and corporate rates are available on request. [...]
I’ve been seeing what looks like a new annoying Google search “feature” for a few weeks. I have been trying to ignore it in the hope that it would go away but it hasn’t. The problem is that Google has started giving me long lists of YouTube videos for some of my queries, even though [...]
I think it must have been seeing Phil Bradley the other night that made me think of revisiting BananaSlug.com (http://bananaslug.com/). I don’t mean that Phil reminds me of a banana slug but he did introduce me to the search tool via his blog way back in 2005. I have been looking at ways of getting [...]
Continue reading about Rediscovering BananaSlug for “long tail” search
Fed up with seeing the same results from Google again and again? Wondering if that elusive document is buried somewhere at the bottom of Google’s 2,000,000 hits? Then get thee hence to Million Short (http://millionshort.com/). Million Short runs your search and then removes the most popular web sites from the results. Originally it removed the [...]
Continue reading about Million Short: unearthing stuff hidden in the dungeons of Google’s results
August is usually a quiet month for me with respect to work. Time for a holiday away and then a couple of weeks ambling along the Thames Path or pottering around the garden. This year, though, as soon as I was I back from my travels I was knuckling down and updating my notes for two [...]
