Building Research Tools with Google For Dummies

Book excerpt: Google—a funny name for a fabulous tool. You’ve already used it to look up all sorts of information on the Web almost instantly. Now what if you could use its amazing abilities to turbo-charge your research on a grand scale? Building Research Tools With Google For Dummies can help you do just that. In plain English, it shows you easy ways to: Ask Google exactly what you want to know Determine whether what you need can actually be found through Google, and where to look if the answer is “no” Improve your research results Present your findings in a way that makes sense Write your own specialized search applications—if you want to To get the most from Google, you need to understand Google. Building Research Tools With Google For Dummies explains how Google works and how you can build more effective queries (hint: it’s a lot more than just using the “Advanced Search” techniques!) It even shows you how to think like a researcher and how to package the results of your research so it means something to your audience. You’ll be able to: Understand Google research techniques and use the custom search-related syntax Recognize Google’s strengths—and limitations Target your search by using Google operators Use Google to research photos, or even an entire industry Improve the effectiveness of your results by understanding Google’s comparative methodology Build custom tools using WDSL and Web Services You don’t have to become a programmer to use Google, but if you know a little about software development and want to explore new, more focused search techniques, Building Research Tools With Google For Dummies has a section just for you. It introduces you to the Google API, shows you how to download a developer key, and leads you through building a C# .Net Google application. On the companion Web site, you’ll find the source code and software discussed in the book as well as links to lots of other resources for researchers. Before you know it, you’ll be Googling your way to research success!