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Using Google to Effectively Search For Hard-to-Find Information
By Pat Yevics
NOTE: It
has been quite some time (February 2000, to be exact) since we have
done an article on using the Internet. In preparing for a
presentation, I learned some very helpful tips for searching for
information, and I would like to share some of that information with
you. I have also included many websites which I hope will prove
helpful.
To Bookmark or Not to Bookmark
One of the best
ways to be able to find information is to bookmark sites that you
think may be of help, then to create folders to manage those sites.
If you do not
bookmark a site, however, you can still find sites that you have
viewed within the last three weeks by going to the “History” command.
In Netscape, click on “Go,” then “History.” You can then see all the
sites that you viewed yesterday, the day before last, the day before
that – as far back as three weeks. In Internet Explorer, hit “Control
+ H,” or “View,” followed by “Explorer Bar” and “History.”
(This function
can also be used to view what sites others in your office or home have
been viewing – not that you would do that!)
Organize Sites
Once you start
to bookmark sites, organize them into appropriate folders so that they
can be found more easily. You can sort them by category (or even by
client). To manage sites in Netscape, click on “Bookmarks” followed by
either “File” or “Manage.” In Internet Explorer, click on “Favorites,”
then either “Add” or “Organize.”
Using Google Effectively
Although it is
not designed particularly for law firms, Google is now one of the best
search engines on the Web and a good place to start your search. The
Google search engine allows a user to be very specific and find
difficult information. At
www.google.com you will find five different headings: “Web,”
“Images,” “Groups,” “Directory,” and “News.” Each of these categories
allows you to find information.
For detailed
information on how Google works, click on “Jobs,Press & Help” at the
bottom of the Google homepage.
Google Basics
Google searches
are not case-sensitive – all characters are understood as lower case.
Google does not support “stemming” or “wildcards”; Google will only
search for the word in the way that you use it. A search for “book”
will not return “books” or “booked,” etc. When in doubt, search on
various forms. For more details on keyword searching, go to
www.google.com/help/basics.html.
Google Cached Sites
A cached site
is the way a site looked when Google indexed it. Google uses these
cached sites as a back-up in case the original site is unavailable. It
is the content on the cached site that Google uses to match results
with your query.
If you click on
“Cached Site” the header at the top will let you know that this may
not be the most recent version of the page. It will also highlight
your query terms on the page that caused Google to return this site.
It will also link to the most recent page.
Google Similar Pages
For many
results, there will be a link for “Similar Pages.” These are sites
that Google has determined are related to this result. According to
the Google FAQ, if you are interested in researching a particular
field, “Similar Pages” can help you find a large number of resources
very quickly without having to worry about selecting the right
keywords.
Google Web Advanced Search
- Keywords:
If you search on a topic and receive an overwhelming number of
sites, then you need to do an advanced search which is located on
the right of the Google Bar. The next page will allow you find
results with “all of the words,” “with the exact phrase,” “with at
least some of the words” or even “without the words.”
- Language:
You can limit your search to pages that only occur in certain
languages; there are 35 from which to choose. Keep in mind that it
is still best to choose “search for pages written in any language,”
as your search can always be further narrowed if necessary.
- Safe
Search Filtering: It is also possible to use a filter to
limit the number of pornographic sites that will be returned when
you enter a search. There are three levels of filtering, ranging
from “strict” to “moderate” (probably the best for professional use)
to none at all, with the best for professional use probably being
the moderate filter. While those of you with children may want to
use the strict filtering on your home computer, it will exclude a
lot of sites which may feature words with double meanings, such as
breasts, beaver, etc.
- File
Format: This facet of the “Advanced Search” feature will
allow you to search for sites in specific formats. Google currently
searches sites in 12 different formats; unlike most search engines,
Google can search for and find sites in PDF and PowerPoint formats.
Google will
also convert all files to HTML or text documents, which will allow you
open a file for which you may not have the software. Included in the
results will be the type of file, followed by the choice to “View as
HTML” or “View as Text.”
- Date:
You can restrict your results to the past three, six or twelve
months.
-
Occurrences: You can specify where your search terms occur on
the page: anywhere on the page, in the title or in the URL.
- Domain
Only Search: If you know the website you want to search but
aren’t sure where the information is located within that site, you
can use Google to search only that domain. Simply enter what you’re
looking for followed by the word “site” and a colon followed by the
domain name. For example, if you wanted to find information on the
MSBA website about courthouse identification passes, you could go to
Google and type in “courthouse site:www.msba.org.” This will tell
Google that you only want to search for information on the MSBA
site. This is extremely helpful in finding information on a large
site.
Google Preferences
- Language
Interface: Google will also allow you to choose the language
that you want to use for your results, enabling you to set your
Google homepage, messages and buttons to display in your selected
languages. There are currently 90 languages from which to choose,
including Klingon, Elmer Fudd and Pig Latin. (I am not making this
up.)
- Web Page
Translation: Google will also translate pages from French,
Italian, German, Spanish and Portuguese into English. Clicking on
“Translate This Page” will take you to a version of the page that
has been automatically translated into English.
- New
Results Window: If you prefer to retain the main Google search
page, check this preference box to open your results in a new
browser window. This is helpful when you want to keep the results
page open rather than continuously hitting the “back” button.
Google Groups
Google Groups
grants access to over 700 million Usenet postings from 1981 to the
present. How could this help attorneys? Many people have used these
Usenet groups, posting information about themselves that you may be
able to use in a case. It may also help you to find people (and
perhaps some incriminating information).
Go to
www.google.com and click on “Groups.” To narrow your search to a
specific time frame, click on “Advanced Search,” then simply enter the
topic or name and hit search.
There is a
story of a lawyer who involved in the Firestone tire litigation who
put in the query “firestone tires” and set a particular time frame. He
was hoping to find discussions from consumers about their displeasure
with Firestone tires. Imagine his joy upon turning up a Usenet group
result with the title “Firestone Tires Suck.”
In another
example, I was certain that I had never been on any Usenet groups – I
simply do not participate in anonymous chat groups. Certain that I
would find nothing, I put in the query “Yevics.” Well, in 1996, I was
in a discussion about black-eyed susans (the plant) and used-car
salesmen (there is a moral here somewhere). Try your name and see what
happens.
Google Tools
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Dictionary: You can use Google as a dictionary by typing in the
word for which you would like a definition. Any or all parts of your
query for which there is a dictionary definition will be underlined
in the center text above the search results, as seen for the query
“obtuse” in the following example: Searched the web for obtuse;
Results 1-10 of about 237,000; Search took 0.21 seconds
Clicking on
“obtuse” would take you to
www.dictionary.com for a definition.
-
Calculator: Did you know Google has a calculator function? Using
the Google search box, enter your calculation and press search. The
calculator can solve math problems involving basic arithmetic as
well as more complicated math, units of measurement and conversions,
and physical constants.
There is a lot
of information out there. Knowing how to use tools like Google will
help you to find some of it more quickly and easily.
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