Search Strategies
Google lived up to its reputation at the UKeiG workshop “Make Google behave: techniques for better search results” and it didn’t take long for it to start presenting different results and layouts for the same query. We went through a vast array of commands, search options and specialist Google tools and by the end of [...]
Many of us seem to be in Google bashing mode at the moment but they do produce good stuff at times, or at least some of their employees do. Dan Russell, who works at Google, has an excellent blog called SearchReSearch at http://searchresearch1.blogspot.com/. The blog is “about search, search skills, teaching search, learning how to search, [...]
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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 [...]
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New Search Strategies articles are now available. “Excluding sites from your search” (subscribers only) is at http://www.rba.co.uk/search/subscribers/ExcludeSites.shtml “From tourism to research information: how to change the emphasis of results” (subscribers only) covers techniques for changing the type of information returned by the search engines, for example consumer vs. more research focused pages (http://www.rba.co.uk/search/subscribers/Emphasis.shtml). “Free Search [...]
UK government departments and organisations frequently change their names, merge or disappear altogether. The same applies to their websites and documents held on those sites. Tracking down copies of older reports, data and superseded guidelines and regulations is becoming increasingly difficult, especially as so many sites are now being closed down. Information is supposed to [...]
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Yesterday, I was in Manchester leading a workshop on search techniques and business information. As well as looking at sources of information we went through some advanced search techniques, so the the top tips that the participants suggested at the end are an interesting mix of business sites and search commands. 1. DomainTools http://www.domaintools.com/ If you [...]
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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 [...]
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Two free fact sheets, Google Search Tips and Top Search Tips, have been updated. They are both available as HTML and PDFs. A new article is available in the subscribers area of Search Strategies. “Free Search Tools for Finding Research Information” is a 42 page PDF covering five things you need to know about Google, advanced [...]
Continue reading about Search Strategies: new and updated articles
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. [...]
“Five things you need to know about Google” has been added to the subscribers’ area of Search Strategies. Direct URL to the page is http://www.rba.co.uk/search/subscribers/GoogleFiveThings.shtml and the PDF (8 pages) is at http://www.rba.co.uk/search/subscribers/GoogleFiveThings.pdf. A list of free and subscription content is at http://www.rba.co.uk/search/ Free content includes: Top Search Tips List of search tips contributed by participants of my [...]
