search engines

Submitted by Nicole Hennig on September 8th, 2021
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Short Description: 

Library databases work differently from Google. Learn how to create a search strategy for these databases.

Learning Outcomes: 
  • Students will learn how searching Google is different from searching library databases.
  • Students will learn how and why to plan a search strategy.

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

This tutorial and optional assignment can serve as a stand alone tutorial or can be used in the flipped classroom.

Collaborators: 
Suggested Citation: 
Hennig, Nicole. "How Do I Create a Search Strategy?." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2021. https://projectcora.org/assignment/how-do-i-create-search-strategy.
Submitted by Natalie Mahan on August 20th, 2019
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Short Description: 

This is a simple activity intended to warm up students, break the ice, and introduce the concept of keyword searching. Ask students to come up with a single word search that gives zero results. It’s harder than it sounds. It may be too elementary for graduate students or upperclassmen; use your judgement about students’ abilities and familiarity with searching. This activity can be a great segue in to a lesson on keyword development, Boolean operators, popular terminology vs. technical jargon, and the differences between different kinds of databases.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Stump the Database.docxdisplayed 1093 times13.19 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will discuss the importance of keywords in database searching.
Students will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of different search strategies.

Discipline: 
Multidisciplinary

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 
Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Suggested Citation: 
Mahan, Natalie. "Stump the Database." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2019. https://projectcora.org/assignment/stump-database.
Submitted by Carolyn Caffrey on December 10th, 2018
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Short Description: 

This assignment was created for a credit bearing course for first year students. It's designed to help students take what they've learned about algorithmic bias from the course lectures and readings and apply it to their own search practices. They also critically analyze search results for advertisements and compare DuckDuckGo to Google. [You could also look at this assignment as an adaptation of Jacob Berg's wonderful, "Googling Google," assignment at https://www.projectcora.org/assignment/googling-google-search-engines-ma... ]

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
analyzingsearchengines_assignment.docxdisplayed 1314 times534.31 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will be able to: -identify advertisements within a list of search results -discuss the role advertising plays in how search results are ordered -describe how search results are impacted by human biases in their ranking algorithms

Discipline: 
Multidisciplinary

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

This assignment occurred early in the semester as we discussed algorithms, bias, and filter bubbles. Students were asked to draw on class discussions and lectures on page rank, the history of search engines, and filter bubbles. Other assigned material going into this assignment the IRL podcast episode "Social Bubble Bath" and Eli Pariser's TED talk on filter bubbles. Students commented that they enjoyed this assignment, weren't aware that Google was an advertising company, and were unfamiliar with DuckDuckGo. The course itself was designed and taught by me (a librarian) as part of our first year seminar program.

Assessment or Criteria for Success
Assessment Short Description: 
Assignments were evaluated using the rubric from the attached assignment sheet. In general, students had difficulty identifying all of the advertisements. While students had no difficulty analyzing gender bias or racism in the image results, they did struggle with the phrase "god" in identifying how the results may privilege particular narratives and identities over others.
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

Be careful with the choose your own image search --- several students picked topics such as our institution name or vague concepts like "music" which didn't as clearly illustrate the course concepts. In the future I would remove the choose your own option for the image component. This assignment was designed with first year students in mind.

Suggested Citation: 
Caffrey, Carolyn . "Analyzing search engines: What narrative is told through the algorithm." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/analyzing-search-engines-what-narrative-told-through-algorithm.
Submitted by Jacob Berg on November 4th, 2016
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Short Description: 

There is a large body of research on corporate ownership and control of traditional media, such as print, television, and radio. Comparatively, research about corporate control of what we see online is underdeveloped, yet search engines are often the first place students uncritically look for research as opposed to the library website, catalogs, and discovery services. Dr. Safiya Noble shows that Google image searches for black women often perpetuate and reinforce dominant narratives involving racism and misogyny. As Google is often seen as neutral, such search results are presented as “natural,” the way things are, when in fact they are the products of capitalism, hegemonic patriarchy, and white supremacy. Interrogating results such as these is one goal of this lesson plan, along with getting students to think critically about, to problematize, the everyday tools used in the research process and to explore links between capitalism and racism, misogyny, and homophobia.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
vol2_chapter 11.pdfdisplayed 1838 times295.04 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Articulate clearly how algorithms such as PageRank influence information-seeking behavior and search results. Explain Google’s data security and privacy issues. Create searches that show critical thinking and awareness of how Google works.

Individual or Group:

Suggested Citation: 
Berg, Jacob. "Googling Google: Search Engines as Market Actors ." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2016. https://projectcora.org/assignment/googling-google-search-engines-market-actors.