Tools For Thought - Intelegia

Are you aware that Google gives you the power to build your own search engine to fight information overload?

Here is a quick guide to  help you create a mini search engine for your specific information needs.  All that is required are the following:

• A valid Google Account
• A list of sources that the engine will use to find relevant information (Be sure to remove “http://” from the web addresses.

Step 1: With a valid Google Account, log onto www.google.com/cse/ where you will be prompted to complete the form as seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Form Needed To Build A Google Customized Search

For the purposes of this exercise, a search engine specifically for news articles regarding “foreign direct investment” will be built using the following sources:

• CNN - www.cnn.com
• Financial Times  - www.ft.com
• CBC - www.cbc.ca

Figure 2 presents the completed form needed to build the search engine.

Figure 2: A Completed Form Needed To Build The Search Engine

Step 2: Once you have clicked on “Next”, you can begin to use the engine.  The index page of the engine is illustrated in Figure 3:

Figure 3: Index Page Of Intelegia’s Search Engine

To test the engine, the keyword(s): “foreign direct investment” was entered to obtain the results seen in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Results For “Foreign Direct Investment”

To access the Intelegia’s Search Engine For Foreign Direct Investment, please click here.

It is important to note that if a database is among your list of sources, Google will not able to retrieve some information that is stored within the database.  This is the case if you wish to obtain information from trademark and patent databases.

To learn about more internet research tools and to improve your internet searching skills, attend Intelegia’s seminar, “Effective Online Research Strategies”