Page 208 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Chapter 7 Researching Your Message 175

A Google search for Global Warming can yield 30 million sources.

In addition to advanced search tools, Google provides another resource,
“Google Scholar,” that searches various scholarly sources (peer-reviewed pa-
pers, theses, books, articles, etc.). Although many of these sources are read-
ily available on the Web, others may require subscriptions or membership.
If that is the case, don’t automatically give up; you may be able to fi nd them
in your university library or through interlibrary loan. The advantage of
using the Google scholar tool is that the authority and accuracy of your research
can be much more easily established for your audience. And your search is far
more manageable. We found just 51 sources on the Gore fi lm using this search
feature.

But Beware . . .
As should be clear from the preceding discussions, we are big fans of Google.
However, users need to understand something about how Google arranges
results. Google refuses to disclose, for obvious reasons, the exact methods by
which it ranks results. This can lead to some startling results. To see how Google
searches can go awry, see the box: “Speaking of . . . When Google Misfi res” on
page 178. Users should also know that, in addition to the regular search results,
Google also displays a number of sponsored links that are paid for by various
Web sites—a source of revenue for Google. But their presence is no measure of
their validity or reliability as a source; it merely indicates that they were willing
to pay for advertising through Google.