Library Home: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES: Internet Search Tools

Searching the Internet Wisely

Ask: What do they RISK by giving you misleading information?
Institutions that have a reputation to risk are more apt to be careful about the authority and integrity of information they share and promote.
Ask: What do they GAIN by getting you to act on their information?

Consider whether an information provider will gain or lose more if their information gets you to act.

If the gain is significantly higher than the potential risk from using biased information, take that into consideration.

Diet Supplements, Propaganda, Scams, and "Too good to be true" exaggerations are high gain, low risk. Such websites are often temporary. If you send in your money and don't get a anything, it is hard to track down a company that has been dissolved already.

University, College, Hospital, and Government exaggerations are high risk, low gain. Questionable content is quickly questioned by their customers, constituents, and competitors. Embarrassment may lead to distrust, which is not worth the risk to their reputation. Besides services offered, reputation and cost are driving factors keeping these institutions in business.

Evaluating Sources
We encourage people to always use multiple sources of information and to look for objective content to avoid confirmation bias. Check out the RADAR RAVEN C.C.R.R.A.A.P.P. Tests Note: Keep track of resources so you can cite them later. This can be done easily by emailing resource results to your email account and keeping them in a separate email folder.

USA.gov: Best place to look for Government Information.

Data.gov:
The home of U.S. Gov's open data
Google search site:.gov
Results will only be in the .gov domain.
USA.gov
USA.gov helps you locate and understand government benefits, programs, and information.
Searching [All Government] Includes local, state and federal government webpages, as well as government associated entities.

Librarian Favorite Links

How to Search Google More Efficiently

Google (Broadest Search, you get results based on popularity algorithms)
Advanced Google Search (Use this to set up more complex search strings)
Google Scholar (Pulls up anything that looks like an article - great place to get full-text - does NOT let you limit to peer-reviewed)
Example Search: Google Scholar: artificial intelligence and information-literacy OR evaluating-information
site: searching on Google
site:.gov
or site:gov added to browser search terms and limited to the last week
Results will include only websites allowed to use .gov (government) domain.
Authoritative source of data, statistics, guides, definitions, procedures, etc.
Bias: Justifying taxpayer expense and education towards more health, safety, and productivity.
site:.edu
or site:edu added to browser search terms and limited to the last week
Results will include only websites allowed to use .edu (education) domain.
Authoritative when posted by people with a reputation to risk, departments or professors.
Similar to Trade magazines, peer review is after publication.
~ in URL indicates individual instead of department content.
Must determine if the content is from a professor (reputation to risk)
or whether the content is from a student assignment (source may or may not be accurate).
Bias:Providing useful and accurate educational content.
Google Search: public-domain images site:.gov
Google Image Search
Google Advanced Image Search
Use the "Usage Rights" filter to find images with Creative Commons licenses.
Google search: copyright-free images libguides (limit to past year) finds Librarian lists
Learn more about using Google for Searching
Check Google Chrom extension for security issues with https://crxcavator.io/report/chromeextension
Google Lens
For those using Google's Chrome browser, Google Lens can be accessed simply by right-clicking any image in the browser and choosing Google Lens from the context menu that pops up.

Recommended GOOGLE Alternatives

Article: Diverse and Accessible Podcasts
Creative Commons Search: Find content you can share, use and remix Do not assume that the results displayed in this search portal are under a CC license.
Dogpile - Multiple Engine Searcher
Fagan Finder Search Engine Index
IXquick startpage - For Privacy Can limit to time
Research Beyond Google: 56 Authoritative, Invisible, and Comprehensive Resources
Semanticscholar: Includes only computer science and neuroscience papers.

Social Web: Ask Humans

Fighting Disinformation Online A Database of Web Tools

Special Searches

WolframAlpha
Allows Scientific queries
CORE
Limits to Open Access Articles
BASE: Advanced Search (Can limit to Open Resources)
BASE is one of the world's most voluminous search engines especially for academic web resources.
Guest / Satellite Campus Access to Databases Search available but not Full-Text Access - Sign in with current MyFVTC ID# and password credentials to get full text.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES: Internet Search Tools

Searching the Internet Wisely

Ask: What do they RISK by giving you misleading information?

Ask: What do they GAIN by getting you to act on their information?

USA.gov: Best place to look for Government Information.

Data.gov:

Google search site:.gov

USA.gov

Librarian Favorite Links

How to Search Google More Efficiently

site: searching on Google

site:.gov

site:.edu

Recommended GOOGLE Alternatives

Social Web: Ask Humans

Special Searches

Unpaywall