Search Engines

Your library will guide you to finding reliable and scholarly sources for writing research papers, but you will also find yourself using search engines for casual research.  Make sure you are aware of the different types of sources you might find. 

 The LSHTM library have also produced a video which explains where and how you can access library materials.  Once term begins, and before you prepare your first assignment we recommend you spend some time looking at the LSHTM Library's Foundation level information skills mini-module, available on Moodle and which you can work through at your own pace.  More information on the Library will be available on the Library intranet pages.

How Search Works

A search engine is a system designed to search for information on the world wide web and produce a list of results. It's basically an automated index that continually searches for new web pages and other files stored on the web and updates its results according to a complicated (and secretive) algorithm, the set of rules used to determine the significance of any given web page. 

There are lots of different choices, but Google has taken over in recent years as the market leader. Popular search engines include:

If you want to learn more about other search engines, here's a list:  The Best Search Engines

Watch this video from Google to learn how searching works, technically:

 

 

Google search principles and techniques

The usefulness of a search engine depends on the relevance of the results it produces, and you can help increase the relevance by learning good techniques, such as using "operators", special words and characters, alternative spellings, etc. 

This infographic give you some basic tips on searching Google for the information you need: 

Everyone knows how to do a simple search on Google but how many know how to utilise the advanced search options to obtain more relevant search results? This guide from SOAS explains some of the hidden gems that Google has on offer so you can improve your search results for finding exactly what you are looking for: 

"Practice your skills and be aware that university requirements are very different from school, especially that you will need to conduct research and be aware of all types of information"  Emma, 3rd-year student