How to Google correctly

How many times do you use Google in a day? If you are anything like me, at least too many times a day. The problem is, there is quite a bit of crap on Google. Some recent class activities showed how to get actual information from Google, a nice example of this being 'A Google a Day' activity. Wikipedia is nice, but if you need a reliable source then they fall short. But Wikipedia is not even close to the only offender. But we will get back to that.

agoogleaday.com

A Google a Day is a part of all the websites Google owns. The website gives you three questions a day and your job is to find the answer by finding key words in the statements. Actually beating it is quite invigorating, and a lot of fine, using a product to find answers that the product gives you. However, this being technology, there are flaws. If you are one letter off, and sometimes capital letters matter too, then it is considered wrong. However, that is the only flaw I find in their system. They even use a custom version of Google to remove anything that blatantly gives you the answer, however the questions are usually harder then those that give you one word answers. 

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

There are 3 major areas one must look to find a good source: Accuracy, authenticity and reliability. Accuracy is how close the information given is to fact, authenticity is how genuine the information and whether or not the author is a reliable source, and reliability is how easy it is to trust the source.

That website refers back to the question of reliable sources. This is a relatively serious looking website. However, do a little digging and you will find out a lot more about the website. The author of this article and its subsections is Lyle Zapato. This site is not associated with any school or educational organization, other than the Kelvinic University branch of the Wild Haggis Conservation Society. Not to be confused with the Pacific Northwest Octopus Tree.    That is a direct quote from the website, found at the bottom of the page. They out right say they have almost no educational ties, and Lyle Zapatao has little to no real information on him. The website, or source, has dedicated itself to report on 'conspiracies and other diversions'. The information on the page, while at first glance seems reliable, any cross checking on the information will lead you to websites talking about the fact that this is a hoax. If you don't fact check, you should be at least a little curious to the part where it talks of it's primary predator being the Sasquatch. This website is commonly used by teachers, such as my own, to see if students can figure out the source is a hoax. 

Citation:

Plpnetwork, http://plpnetwork.com/2012/03/29/building-web-search-skills-the-fun-way-with-a-google-a-day/