Jahoclave
Google: Is It In You?
Introduction
There have been many threads created asking very simple questions, or requesting trivial information, that could have easily been answered by using the amazing and great Google. Even information on the background or other various tid-bits of your writing can be accessed through this wonderful web resource. You can even find literary agents and publishers this way. It's all there, and it's just a click away.
Google, your partner in crime.
Lets start out with a very basic example of what you can do with Google.
Lets say that your objective is to look up Hobsbawm's views on Victorian England's Middle Class.
You could just type in England, but that returns 360 million results, and it could take you ages to get the information for your story. Lets start refining your search.
First, the "+" feature. Using the "+" before a keyword will only return you results that have both keywords, such as "England +Victorian" will only give you query returns that have both "England" and "Victorian" in them. This narrows it down under eight million results.
Then, we have the ability to enclose phrases in quotation. Normally, if you just typed the words "Middle" and "Class" into Google it would give you query returns that contained those words, even if they weren't connected. Now, since you want the phrase middle class, enclose it in quotation marks as such: "Middle Class." This will only return pages that contain the phrase "Middle Class." Don't forget to add the plus though. You have: England +Victorian +"Middle Class" and this gives you four hundred thousand returns.
Now, lets pretend that Dickens's has a large amount of sites under this heading and the one we want isn't the second result returned. How would we get rid of all the unwanted Dickens's literature? Simple, we just use the "-" feature. Just type a minus in front of Dickens and all his results are negated. This gives you England +Victorian +"Middle Class" -Dickens
This leaves you with this page, "http://www.victorianweb.org/economics/eh2.html"
Lets review these lovely features.
+ This feature allows you to add words to your returns
- This allows you to remove pages that contain this word
".." Allows you to search for phrases on a web page.
A Little Bit of How it Works.
While you think that Google may just search for key words, its algorithm is much more complex than that. Its search rankings are determined by the number of websites linking to another page. This is how "miserable failure" got to be associated with the Bush website. Many people linked to his site under the name "Miserable Failure."
Credibility
When gathering information on the web, look for credible sources rather than just .com .org, and the like. If you can, find a .edu, these are usually college websites that contain a large amount of accurate and informative information on all subjects ranging from history to correct grammar.
It's Not Just Google.
While Google may seem grand, it wouldn't be a fun Internet without other resources. Google is a dictionary, a book search, video, maps, etc... Click Google's more button to discover what Google can do for you.
But don't discount the rest of the web.
Dictionaries:
Oxford
Dictionary.com
Reverse Dictionary: Find the word to match the definition.
Databases: (Available at libraries, and possibly even from home with your library card. So check today.)
Epnet
Grolier
Sirs
Encyclopedias:
Encyclopedia.com
Britannica
Encarta
Wikipedia
And That May Be All Folks
So remember, if you have a question, Google first, thread later. The Internet is a wonderful, and exhilarating bastion of knowledge just waiting to fill your stories full of credibility and save them from being torn apart for inaccuracies. You can even find true and accurate information about Japanese culture. Google, for a better and smarter tomorrow.
