Differences of Searching Google vs Searching Library Databases
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| Google |
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Library Databases
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1. Result Ranking
- peer ranking/popularity
- Your "search bubble"- previous searches impact results Google delivers |
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1. Results Ranking
- Relevancy
- Date
- Author
- (No Peer Ranking or "search bubble")
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2. Materials Google Searches ...
- Wikipedia
- Websites
- Social Media - blogs, wikis, YouTube
- Amazon
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2. Library databases search specific materials such as...
- Books in a specific library
- Journals/articles
- Newspapers
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3. Google doesn't Index...
- Library Databases
- Much of Facebook
- Password protected sites (eg. eCollege)
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3. Library databases don't index....
- Web based materials (see #2 under Google) |
| 4. No categories to narrow a broad search into a specific subject area |
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4. Many ways to expand or narrow your searches
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| 5. No citation given - MLA, APA, etc |
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5. Citation given |
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Significance:
The above differences means that Google delivers research results slanted towards what it thinks you want. Also it delivers sources that are more likely "popular" as opposed to being vetted by an authority. Library databases don't evaluate the information in the results, but the materials searched are restricted to content published through an authority such as a newpaper or book publisher.
Google and Library database search results may overlap. If you can determine
that a Google result is authoritative and not an example of unvetted "vanity" publishing, then the information may be useful for an academic paper. It doesn't matter generally whether you get a NY Times article found in a Google Search versus a library database.
What you want to be looking for is authoritative and scholarly source that provide the original research used to document and support the conclusions given in the source.
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