How to be an expert in IT?

How does an "expert" search for information online effectively?

• I've been using the net since about '90 or so, but I still feel that I am not able to "find" information as effectively as possible...Google Answers is great, but I'd really like to learn how to fish... One of the largest problems when I research something is that everyone seems to selling me something, or I get the wrong type of information. For example, I just tried to find some photographs of the abyssal plane...at best, I get research documents ABOUT them..that's it. I wanted to get a pressure washer last week, but it seems that some brands are worthless...so I try to find out which brand is best, only to get pressure washer dealer sites. Consumer Reports? Not covered yet... I'm thinking about getting a master's degree and hoped to talk to some computer engineers or maybe some mechanical engineers in my area - finding that online? besides searching for biographies or putting some hooks in to find resumes in this area code, I don't have a clue... I know that many search engines can specialize in particular types of searches, but beyond that I just flop around... What makes a research expert an "expert"? What's your secret? How can I search effectively online? Additionally, what practical searching strategies do you recommended? (eg, using google highlights, Find in page, new windows). Please let me know if I should try to narrow this question, or raise the price, etc...thnx

• Answer:

  Hello nevinl! What a terrific question! It's a little known fact that one of the purposes of Google Answers is to help Google users learn to search for information more effectively - this is why you see answers with the "Search Strategy" included at the bottom. Sometimes, it's just a matter of finding the right search terms. For some people, this is as easy as getting out of bed, for others, it's an exercise in extreme frustration. That's OK, though. We're here to help make things easier. One of the first things to remember is that <*gasp*> Google isn't the only source of good information. I know, utter heresy. But it's true! Google is certainly the fastest and the easiest search engine to use (and I use it almost exclusively for initial searches), but sometimes what you need isn't going to be found with a quick Google search. So... **Rule Number One** Don't limit your information sources. Some other terrific search engines to try: Teoma http://www.teoma.com AllTheWeb http://www.alltheweb.com/ Dogpile http://www.dogpile.com BoardReader (to search message board postings) http://www.boardreader.com Electronic Journal Miner (to search blogs and e-journals) http://ejournal.coalliance.org/ Newspaper Archive (to find old news articles) http://www.newspaperarchive.com/default.aspx LexisONE (legal info) http://www.lexisone.com/ FotoSearch (for images) http://www.fotosearch.com (These are just a few from my formidable bookmark stash. I can't let you have *all* of my secrets, though! ;) ) Your phone is a good source of information, too. People you know will know things, so if your pal likes deep sea exploration, call him up and ask him where to look and who to talk to. Five minutes on the phone can save you five hours of plowing through useless information! A corollary to this rule is: *Make Friends With Your Librarian* Searching online is all well and fine, but if you're really interested in complete information, you sometimes need to look *offline*. In spite of the vast wealth of information available online, there are still many more sources *offline* that are more complete. If you find yourself looking for information often, developing a good relationship with your local librarian will help you in ways unimaginable. Librarians Know Things, and if they're employed by a good library, they often have access to subscription databases geared toward the information professional. I ply my favorite librarian with gifts of baklava and address him as "Your Godliness", because he's saved my bacon on any number of occasions with information I've needed to help a Google Answers customer. This falls very firmly into the category of "Don't limit your sources", but it's a special sub-set worthy of its own mention. **Rule Number Two** Search engines are not omniscient, so be very specific! There has been quite a kerfuffle of late about the "intelligence" of search engines. Some folks have even gone so far as to compare Google to God. Poppycock. A search engine is only as effective as the instructions you give to it, and if you give it vague instructions (or none at all!), it's not going to be able to help you effectively. Garbage in, garbage out, as the old saw goes. Google does not read minds. There are a number of ways to make sure Google gives you what you want - or rather, tries to give you what you want. Remember, just because you want it, it doesn't mean it's available online. Some things simply aren't, and no keywords in the world will help that. My favorite ways to make Google dance to my tune are "Operators" - little tags that tell Google to search specifically for something, or to specifically exclude something. The Google Help pages discuss Operators here: Advanced Search Made Easy ://www.google.com/help/refinesearch.html ...and here: Advanced Search Operators ://www.google.com/help/operators.html (Always read each search engine's help pages before you use it. The help pages are a lot like the keys to your car - if you stick the wrong key in the ignition, you're not going to get too far, so make sure you're using the right keys!) Since I have an interest in deep sea exploration, let's take your search for pictures of the abyssal plane and use that as an example. I'll bet you searched on [ abyssal plane ]? It seems like a common sense search, right? Except...that only tells Google to find pages with "abyssal" and "plane" on them, not necessarily together, without bothering to look for pictures. What about this one: [ "abyssal plane" photo OR photograph OR picture OR image ] ? This tells Google to look for the *phrase* "abyssal plane", and any of the words photo, photograph, picture or image. Was it successful? Almost. After discarding pages discussing a video game in which "abyssal plane" figures prominently, I did manage to scrounge a thesis out of the cache: JELoWeb http://makeashorterlink.com/?P54825875 It even had pictures, but they're not accessible anymore, as the author has removed everything from the web! Well, poo. What about a change of terms? This brings us to the corollary for this rule: *If At First You Don't Succeed, Try Other Terms.* What you call something might be entirely different from what J. Random Webmaster is calling it, so try altering your search terms with synonyms or related terms: [ "abyssal zone" photo OR photograph OR picture OR image ] Jackpot! There are a few images out there, though mostly of the creatures found in the abyssals, not necessarily of the abyssals themselves (hey, it's dark and cold down there!): Deep Sea Pages: Vents and Seeps http://people.whitman.edu/%7Eyancey/califseeps.html Deep Sea Pages: Bathyl and Abyssal Fishes http://people.whitman.edu/%7Eyancey/fish.html Deep Sea Pages: High Pressure! http://people.whitman.edu/%7Eyancey/deepsearesearch.html#pressure Following some additional links on those pages led me here: Into The Abyss - Living at Extremes http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/abyss/life/extremes.html Into The Abyss - Discoveries in the Deep http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/abyss/frontier/discoveries.html ...and probably most useful if you really want to put some time into acquiring photos of the abyssal plane: Resources http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/abyss/resources.html ...which brings us to our next rule: **Rule Number Three** Let your curiosity get the better of you, and follow interesting looking links. You never know what you might stumble on. Truly good information takes time and curiosity to dig up. If you take your time and explore a little bit, you're more likely to be able to find what you need. Not everyone takes the time to ensure that their page content is complete or keyword rich, but plenty of webmasters have terrific links to *other* sources. If you find a page that's *close* to what you want, start poking around in the links pages. You may be only a click or two away from what you're looking for, you just need to be patient and persistent. Web searching isn't an exact science, so you'll probably need to run your search on UseNet and one or two other search engines to make sure you've not missed anything. (NOTE: Here are some terms to help you with your other searches: [ "pressure washer" reviews ], [ "mechanical engineers" contacts networking ] ) I use a number of helpful tools during the course of my searching, and have found them to be utterly priceless in terms of making my work easier and more organized. First, I use Mozilla 1.4, with MozDev's GoogleBar installed. The GoogleBar has quick links to all of Google's services, such as the Image Search, Google Groups, Froogle, and even Google Language Tools. Additionally, Mozilla offers tabbed browsing. This lets me open up a multitude of links, each in their own tab, as well as the ability to bookmark an entire group of open tabs to refer back to the sites later. You can download Mozilla here (it's free!): Mozilla http://www.mozilla.org/ I keep my bookmarks organized. It makes it easier to go back and find what I want when I only have to glance at a short list. Separate them out and put them into descriptive folders - library sites with online access have their own folder, search engines likewise. Telephone directories and people search tools occupy a folder, as does a wealth of travel related directories and search engines. A place for everything, and make sure everything is in its place! (Also, back up your bookmarks using your browser's export tool, and stick the file both onto a floppy disk and out on the web somewhere - that way, if disaster strikes, you still have your information stash.) Google's cache is your friend for fast location of information. Instead of clicking on the page's link in the search results, open the cached page in a new tab instead. The highlighting lets you determine if the information presented is relevant to your search very quickly - just scroll to the highlighted terms and read the two or three sentences around the highlighting. Not what you need? Close the tab and hit the next cached page. Find a whole herd of useful pages, but need to close your browser and do something else for a bit? Bookmark your tab group, and open them with a single click later. It's so much faster than fishing through your History! I hope this helps you in your quest to become a better searcher! Really, it only requires a little patience and perseverance to successfully navigate your way through the information available. Practice a little, and you'll be hitting your target in no time! If I can be of further assistance to you, please just ask for clarification. I'll be glad to help. --Missy Search terms: None. Bookmark stash and lots of personal experience.