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Google Advanced Search

Google Advanced Search allows you to combine or exclude keywords; find websites in specific languages or from specific geographic regions; find recently-updated websites only; locate specific file types; search social media and hashtags; find cached versions of sites, and more!

Searching within a specific domain comes in handy when searching for academic sources (.edu), or when researching a country. It's easy to construct a search using this syntax: wearable technology site:.edu

Examples of top-level domains:

Domain Type
.com Commercial or general
.edu US-affiliated higher educational institutions
.gov United States government
.int International organizations (such as NATO)
.mil US Department of Defense
.net Networks or general
.org Nonprofit organizations

List of Country Code Top-Level Domains

Full list of domains

Evaluating Internet Information

  • Who is the author or publisher? (Go to "About" link on websites)
  • What is the mission of the website? Who is the intended audience?
  • Is there bias or opinion? (Much information on the internet is produced by businesses, agencies, organizations or individuals with a certain agenda.)
  • When was the information last updated? (Check for the "Last updated date" at the bottom of the webpage)
  • Check the domain: ".edu" and ".org" domains are non-commercial.  (They may still be biased, however!)

Websites as Primary Sources

When a website is not reliable as an objective academic source that considers various viewpoints (a secondary source), it may be valuable to you as a primary source ("raw material") that you can then analyze.

This is where the internet really shines! You can get primary sources such as corporate reports and activists' manifestos from around the world.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar provides access to scholarly articles and conference papers, many of them available online as PDF files.

If you search Google Scholar and log in with your New School NetID, you'll be able to access journal articles through library databases (such as JSTOR).

 

NOTE: Do not pay to get the full text of any article. If you can't find the full text, please Ask Us for help.