EH510 -- The Eighteenth-Century Novel: Searching the GoogleNet

Why Google Advanced?

Unless you are searching for a "known"item, such as whether there is a circle or society focusing on a particular author, or a snippet of information such as a name, date, or list (what used to be called "ready reference"), you will get better results with less effort with Google Advanced Search than with Google Basic.  Advanced mode is better if you are looking for ünknown items ; you want something about something, as you would in a JaxCat Subject or Advanced search.  To access Google Advanced, just open a window to Google and type in Google Advanced.

The search interface (edited):

• very similar to a database set for an advanced search, but uses ? for the truncation sign rather than *
  • multiple search boxes stacked for easier viewing of a complex, multi-term search
  • invisible but still functional Boolean operators
    • AND between the first and second and second and third search boxes
    • OR between terms in the third box
    • NOT between third and fourth boxes

Search Algorithm

Why Google Scholar?

 Google Scholar is Google's answer to databases, their attempt to add an "academic"component to Google (just as discovery search services were developed as academia's answer to Google Scholar).  Some results in Scholar simply redirect the searcher back into a database such as Proquest, but Scholar's chief values is it makes accessible content in institutional repositories, which often is not full-text accessible in a database.  To Access Google Scholar Advanced, just open a window to Google and type in Google Scholar Advanced; the link to Advanced will be found by clicking the waffle icon in the upper left-hand corner.

The search interface

• top four search boxes are used the same as the corresponding boxes in Google Advanced Search
  • note that searches are limited to articles

Advanced search

Unique contribution

• can provide full text to articles whose full text is not available through a subscription online database
  • accessed through institutional repository open access portals

Search Algorithm

• perform a database search as per the algorithm for electronic databases
  • look for full text links; if none are available
    • open Google Scholar Advanced
      • copy title of article from the database Results List
      • paste title of article into the exact phrase box of Google Scholar Advanced; <search>

Why Google Books Advanced?

Google Books Advanced has the capability to do something no other search engine available to the JSU community can do: drill down to page level in books to search for individual words, which can direct the researcher to relevant passages in books.  This vastly expands the opportunities to obtain useful book materials beyond what JaxCat or Gemfinder can do.  Google Books Advanced can

• reveal useful scholarship that otherwise would fall through the cracks
  • JaxCat Subject or Advanced searches may require search terms so non-intuitive that most times the book would not be harvested
• through its Preview feature, provide a portion of the book's text
  • sometimes the Preview contains useful information, even if Houston Cole Library does not own the entire book
    • Full and Read options also are available, but only for books that are very old
• even if HCL does not own the book, linking back through WorldCat provides a list of nearby libraries that do own the book
  • JSU undergraduate and graduate students are entitled to use interlibrary loan
• even if getting a copy of the book through ILL is not an option, the WorldCat record lists subject headings assigned to that book
  • once the non-intuitive headings are known, JaxCat Subject searches for them can be performed
    • since Library of Congress Classification places like with like, once the targeted book has been found of the shelf, nearby books should be examined for their potential usefulness

The search interface (edited)

Advanced Book Search About Google

Search Algorithm

Search boxes:

• Boolean operators have the same arrangement and function as in Google Search Advanced and Google Scholar Advanced
  • all box; usually essential words, but not phrases, with the exception possibly of an author's name
  • exact phrase box: usually for titles
  • at least box: analysis criticism interpretation (mandatory)
    • this is how you include secondary materials on the work while attempting to block copies of the work itself
      • if you want to include additional filtering terms like symbol or character, place them in the all box
  • without box: words whose inclusion might sabotage the search results

Once you have clicked on Search

Peruse your results list

• click on Preview button beneath Snippet to view the part of the book that is included in Google Books Advanced
  • peruse your results, at least through the first two screens, for previews useful to you
    • useful content will have to be photographed and then uploaded; GBA is not print or copy/paste friendly

To see where a print copy of the book is available

• Click on the Preview button (or the hi-lited title if no Preview is available) of the book to open the left pane of the interface
  • Get this book in print
    • Find in a library
      • scan list of libraries holding book (ex.: https://www.worldcat.org/title/cambridge-companion-to-laurence-sterne/oclc/723454689)
        • if HCL owns the book, perform a JaxCat search for it
        • if HCL does not own the book, look at the list of subject headings assigned to the book in the record at the top of the WorldCat screen
          • copy a heading, open a JaxCat Subject search window, paste in the heading <search>
            • go to the shelves and examine these books on related topics for something about your research subject