Internet Search, Media & Propaganda
Checking Websites for reliability
Definitions
The Media
Refers to the means of communication that reach or influence people widely.
Propaganda
Is a medium through which people (groups, companies, etc) are able to propagate ideas, information, rumours, principles, beliefs and others that will influence people.
Bias
To cause partiality or favouritism in (a person); influence, especially unfairly. Dictionary.com
Propaganda Techniques used in the Media
EVALUATING INFORMATION SOURCES
Know when the site was last updated
If you need up-to-date topics, if the page has not been updated for a long time it is more than likely the information will not be useful to you.
Is the information relevant to my topic
If the information is not relevant, it is not worth using it.
The owner of the website offers clues
The URL and maybe his work information may reveal clues about what the website's purpose is.
.org
Can't be owned by anyone.
Are they trying to sell you something
If so, the information may not be entirely true, and certain information may be omitted.
Are they telling the truth
This is something key when evaluating information sources. This can be checked by looking at the sources where they have acquired the information from.
Search Strategies
Basic Operators
this that thing
returns all pages containing the terms "this", "that", and "thing"
this OR that
returns all pages containing either the term "this" or "that"
"this that and the other thing"
returns all pages containing the exact phrase "this that and the other thing"
this -that
returns all pages containing the term "this" but not the term "that"
this +that
returns all pages containing the terms "this" and "that"
define:this
returns a definition of the term "this"
Search Query Modifiers
site: The site: modifier is used to limit search results to pages from a specific site. For example, a search query such as monster site:bbc.co.uk will return all indexed content containing the term "monster" exclusively from within the bbc.co.uk domain.
allintitle: The allintitle: modifier is used to limit search results to pages containing all of the given search terms in the title. For example, a search query such as allintitle:scary monsters will return only those pages containing the terms "scary" and "monsters" in the title.
intitle: The intitle: modifier is used to limit search results to pages containing a specific term in the title. For example, a search query such as intitle:scary monster will return only those pages containing the term "scary" in the title and the term "monster" anywhere in either the document or title.
inurl: The inurl: modifier is used to limit search results to pages containing a specific term in the URL. For example, a search query such as inurl:scary monsters will return only those pages containing the term "scary" in the URL and the term "monsters" anywhere in either the document or URL.
date: The date: modifier is used to search pages from within the previous 3, 6, or 12 months. For example, a search such as "scary monsters" date:3 returns all indexed pages about monsters raging from within the past six months.
Advanced Operators
link: The link: operator is used to summon all of the indexed pages that link to the specified domain, directory, or document. For example, if I wanted to know which indexed pages are linking to any page at Perishable Press, I would use link:perishablepress.com, which would return the total number2 of linking pages (in the upper-right portion of the search results) along with the links and their associated descriptions (if any).
info: The info: operator is used to display the information possessed by Google concerning the site in question. For example, if I wanted to see the information about Perishable Press displayed by Google, I would use info:perishablepress.com.
related: The related: operator is used to find all indexed pages that are "similar" to your site, according to Google. For example, related:perishablepress.com would return all indexed pages that are in some way similar to Perishable Press.