Chris Nolan

Chris Nolan, one of our assistant librarians talked to us about how to better utilize search engines and evaluate websites for accuracy and relevance. I learned about how Google ranks its search results. Other than by relevant terms, Google ranks results according to the number of links to the result from other sites. I also learned about setting search limits, such as adding ":gov" at the beginning of the search so that only government sites are returned or using "-site:" to dismiss certain sites. He also told us what information to look for when evaluating websites, which includes: date the article was changed or published, the domain (.gov, .edu...), and bias. Directories are also good ways to find information, especially for research assignments. There aren't as many sites to sort through, so the information tends to be a more focused. One fun thing I learned from the presentation is that Google has several "easter eggs" available for us to use. For example, there is a way to search using different dialects, like pirate and pig latin. These are just small ways to make the search experience a little more enjoyable. Chris Nolan's presentation taught me more about how to search more effectively.