| Analyze your topic. Analyze what you already know about your topic |
Monkeywrenching. Never heard of it! I know it’s controversial, but that’s all. I need some general info to get started…definition, some basic info |
| Broad information or narrow, specific information? | I need both. I need to know broadly what monkeywrenching involves, plus who’s involved, specifically what they’ve done; maybe the ethics of monkeywrenching. |
| Distinctive words and phrases? Synonyms? Alternative spellings? |
I’ll find these as I search and add as I go along |
| Local experts I could ask? | probably not |
| Organizations or government agencies or people associated with the term that I could find on the Internet? | Maybe Earth First? Tree Huggers Anonymous? A radical environmental group? |
| Might this info be only/mostly in books? | Probably not much. I’ll be using the Internet and periodical databases like Infotrac and Proquest; could also use Lexis-Nexis for newspaper articles. |
NOW: Choose a search engine and keywords
- Are compiled or indexed by software programs called spiders or robots or crawlers. These search the Internet and then compile databases based on Internet sites they’ve visited and re-visited. Everything the spider finds goes into its index (or catalog). Software is then used for us to search the database.
- Are often huge and seem comprehensive (though they’re not–so far, it’s impossible to index the entire Internet)
- Are a good place to look for specific, obscure, difficult-to-find information
- May satisfy a question that begins “I’d like to find everything I can on…”
- What makes a search engine good?
Examples: Search Engines Recommended: Google and Scirus Also popular: Ask.com
Why Google?*
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Size -
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Currency -
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Ease of use -
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Depth of indexing -
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Innovative page ranking – Factors in 1) importance (how many pages are linked to the page) and 2) relevance of search terms (weighs the location of search terms on the page)
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Useful Advanced Search form
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Cached feature
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Misssssspelled words
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Dictionary -
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Speed -
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Advertising -
Why Scirus ?
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Scientific-specific search engine for 300 million science-related pages
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Use Advanced Search to limit subject area to environment, etc.
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Searches pdf files and journals.
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Another specific database EPA Search
Other Resources: Librarians’ Indexes
Three of the most useful and large directories with sites selected by librarians are
- The Librarians’ Index to the Internet
- Guide to the Best Information on the Net (St. Ambrose U.)
- Infomine (UCR)
