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Photography: Searching for Websites

Art & Literature Websites

These are some great websites to get you started looking for information about your chosen photographer.

Featured Search Engine

DuckDuckGo.com

Search Options

Using your keywords and the tips to the right, try a meta-search, visual search, clustering search, or student-centered search engine. Remember: a search engine is how you got there (the vehicle) - not the actual research website (the party).

HELP! I got 467,000,000 results...

All searches are not created equal. The following sites will help you the best way to search the internet depending on your specific research needs.

How do you search?

I know, I know. You live and breathe by Google. You can't do without Wikipedia. The internet is your life and you know how to use it. Prove it. Prove to me that you are the King of the World-Wide-Web.

I challenge you to find the best information on the web quickly. I challenge you to do a search that brings up fewer than 5,000 results. Better yet, do a search that only brings up about 50 results.

Seven guidelines that greatly increase the likelihood of finding the information you need in a timely manner (from K. Hubert http://csihslibrary.wikispaces.com/ )

1.       Define your topic and note initial keywords
Ask yourself what you want to end up with when you finish your research. Write down your topic. Note keywords and phrases. You don’t have to use complete sentences, but be thorough in identifying concepts.

2.       Locate background information and identify additional keywords
If you initially know very little about the topic you are researching, look for general information in encyclopedias, periodicals, and reference sources first. They can give you a good foundation for your research and provide keywords to use in your search. When you come across potentially useful keywords, note them and their correct spellings so you can use them in your search query.

3.       Choose the proper search tool
If the Web is a good place to look for your topic, you need to decide where to look. Use the search tools that are best suited to retrieving the type of information you want to find. If you want specific content, search engines or metasearch engines are appropriate. For a broader view, or when you know less about your topic, use subject guides. When seeking information not normally tracked by these tools, turn to specialty search tools. Combining these search tools provides the most thorough approach.

4.       Translate your question into an effective search query.
The first step in translating a question into an effective search query – which consists of a word, words, phrases, and symbols that a search engine can interpret – is to identify the keywords that best describe the topic. You use keywords to query either search engines or metasearch engines. You also use keywords to construct complex searches for even more accuracy.

5.       Perform your search
Search engines offer a variety of different search forms, which contain fields in which you enter information specific to your search. Although some subject guides allow keyword searches, they are often searched by clicking through a series of links. In either case, the information you provide is used to return search results.

6.       Evaluate your search results
The quantity and quality of results vary from one search engine to another. To ascertain the value of the information you find, you need to apply evaluative criteria, such as who authored the Web page or how current the information is.

7.       Refine your search, if needed
You might need to go back to a previous step in the research process to refine your strategy if the quality or quantity of results is not what you need. Use what you learned from your first pass through this process to refine your search. First, try fine-tuning your search query, and then try a different tool. If you are still not satisfied with your results, you might need to reevaluate your keywords. Perhaps they are too specific or obscure. If you are unable to do this or it isn’t successful, you might need to seek more basic information on your topic. Or, rethink the topic – you might find that redefining it, based on what you have seen in your searches, would be helpful.