Effective Information Retrieval from the Internet

It provides practical strategies which enable the advanced web user to locate information effectively and to form a precise evaluation of the accuracy of that information. Its key features include: enables readers to develop strategies which will continue to be useful despite the rapidly-evolving state of the Internet and Internet technologies, enables readers to be aware of and compensate for bias and errors on the Internet, and provides contemporary information on the deficiencies in web skills of novice users as well as practical techniques for teaching such users. The author is Dr Alison Stacey, who works at Cambridge Regional College; Dr Adrian Stacey, formerly based at Cambridge University, is a software programmer. It is aimed at intermediate to advanced users of the Internet. Its contents include: fundamentals of information retrieval from the Internet - why learn web searching techniques; types of information requests, patterns for information retrieval, leveraging the technology; search term choice: pinpointing information on the web - why choose queries carefully, making search terms work together, how to pick search terms; finding the 'unfindable'. It also includes: bias on the Internet - importance of bias, sources of bias; user-generated bias: selecting information with which you already agree, assessing and compensating for bias, case studies; query reformulation and longer term strategies - how to interact with your search engine, foraging for information; long term information retrieval: using the Internet to find trends; automating searches: how to make your machine do your work; assessing the quality of results - how to assess and ensure quality; the novice user and teaching Internet skills - novice users and their problems with the web; case study: research in a college library, interpreting 'second hand' web information.