Your Family Tree

May P. ChanPrairie History RoomRegina Public Library

© October 2009

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Outline Brief Introduction to Google Developing a Search Strategy Google Search Tips

Basic & Advanced OperatorsMore Tips & Tricks

Google ToolsGoogle Language, Google Books, Google Maps,

Google News and News Archive, Google Blogs, Google Reader, Google Alerts, Google Docs and iGoogle

Additional Resources

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World’s largest and most popular search engine

Founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin Went live on September 4, 1989 Mission statement: "to organize the world's

information and make it universally accessible and useful"

Processes millions of search requests each day and about 1 petabyte of user-generated data every hour (Wired Magazine, 20. July, 2009)

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How does Google Work?

Google uses a web crawler or spider to visit websites and analyze its content for its worldwide index

The program takes a snapshot of each page and saves it as a temporary record for its cache

The more popular a website, the greater the frequency of visits

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…Word of Caution Although more genealogical information (e.g.

records, research tips, etc.) can be found online in a variety of options (e.g. websites, databases, blogs, message boards/forums, etc.) nowadays, less than 5% of the world’s records have been digitized

Also, there is considerable amount of information available in online databases which are only accessible by queries as opposed to links which Google minimally covers. These databases are part of the invisible or deep Web and cover such things as library catalogs, government records, and phone books

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Developing a Search Strategy

1. Focus your query! Instead of asking “I would like any information about the [Smith] family who settled in Saskatchewan”, ask “when Charles Smith did homestead in Saskatchewan?”

2. Identify basic concepts. Note: when you list keywords for your concept, keep in mind that some concepts may have more than one keyword associated with it.

E.g. Saskatchewan—North-West Territories, Assiniboia West, Assiniboia East

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3. Not all websites are reliable or trustworthy. When you find a website, ask yourself:- Who provided the information?- Who is the “real” source?- What tells me that it came from that

source?- Do they have a bias or an agenda?- When was this website last updated?- Does it ask for payment?- Is payment secure?

4. When searching in an unfamiliar database, remember to always read the instructions!

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5. Always document your sources and your findings!– Write down whether the source was online, in

a book, newspaper, etc.– Write down search terms that were used (e.g.

spelling of surnames, dates, etc.)– Write down url of the website or the database

that was used (e.g. HeritageQuest Online)– Write down when you accessed the resource

** Don’t forget to back-up your data on a regular basis!!!

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Google Search Tips

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Keyword Basics

Single Word Find results containing this word:

E.g. Census

Multiple Words Finds results containing the following words in any order or proximity:

E.g. Nicholas Davin Regina

Stop Words Certain common words (“the” & “of”) or single characters (“a”) are ignored:

E.g. the Statue of Liberty

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Genealogy Keyword Queries

Was born

Was born in

E.g. Louis Riel was born

E.g. “Louis Riel” was born Winnipeg OR St. Boniface

Married E.g. Louis Riel married

E.g. “Louis * Riel” married

Died

Died on

E.g. Louis Riel died

E.g. “Louis Riel died on”

Was buried E.g. Louis Riel was buried

E.g. “Louis Riel was buried”

E.g. “Louis Riel” was buried “St. Boniface” OR “St. Vital”

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Basic Operators

Quotations

“ ”

Find results containing the exact phrase:

E.g. “Louis Riel”

Wildcards

*

A character that takes the place of any other character or string

E.g. “Louis * Riel”

AND Find results all of the following words:

E.g. Eugene AND Lynch AND Waterbury

OR

| (pipe symbol)

Find results containing either keyword

E.g. Eugene OR Patrick Lynch

E.g. “Eugene Lynch” Waterbury|Bridgeport

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More Basic Operators+ (plus sign) Find result containing keyword but not

any of its variants/synonyms for the keyword

E.g. “Louis Riel” +brother

- (minus sign) Find results containing keyword/phrase but exclude the results containing another

E.g. “Louis Riel” Saskatchewan –Manitoba

~ (tilde sign) Find results containing this word or its synonyms (similar meaning words)

E.g. “Louis Riel” ~genealogy

.. (num range) Find results containing keyword/phrase and any numbers within a specified range

E.g. “Louis Riel” born 1840..1845

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Advanced Operators

Define: Find various means for the word specified (useful for surnames)

E.g. define:Ruthenian

E.g. define:Chan

Site: Limit results to a specific website

E.g. Assiniboia East site:www.automatedgenealogy.com

Link: Finds web pages that link to a specified site or page

E.g. link:saskarchives.com

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More Advanced Operators

Info: Obtains summary information about the page specified

E.g. info:automatedgenealogy.com

Related: Finds web pages related to the same topic as covered by specified page

E.g. related:saskgenealogy.com

File type:

OR

Ext:

Narrows results to a specific filetype extension

E.g. Métis rebellion filetype:pdf

E.g. “Louis Riel” ext:jpg

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Calculator Functions

Addition

+

Adds two or more numbers

E.g. 1904+23+38

Subtraction

-

Subtracts two or more numbers

E.g. 2009-78-16

Multiplication

*

Multiplies two or more numbers

E.g. 38*19*5

Division

/

Divides two or more numbers

E.g. 1506/6

Parenthesis

( )

Directs Google calculator as to which calculations should be performed first

E.g. (2008-1911) *5 + (8/2)

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Unit & Currency ConversionsUnit

In

Used to specify a unit type for conversion

E.g. 27 kilometers in miles

E.g. 27000 days in years

E.g. 279 months in minutes

E.g. 15 bushels in pecks

E.g. 7 ounces to cups

Currency

To

Used to convert currency

E.g. 1 cad to usd (Canadian to American)

E.g. 15 eur to cad (Euro to Canadian)

E.g. 27 gbp to usd (British pound to American)

E.g. 1000 cad to mxn (Canadian to peso)

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More Google Tips & Tricks

Time Get the local time of any location

E.g. Time in Toronto Ontario

Weather Get the local weather of any location

E.g. Weather Dublin Ireland

Capitals Get the capitals of a country, state or region

E.g. Capital of Kazakhstan

Local Businesses Type in a keyword and postal code or name of community

E.g. Funeral homes Dublin Ohio

Status of Flights Check flight status

E.g. AC 1115

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Google Tools

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Advanced Google Search

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Google Language Tools

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Google Books

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Google Maps

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Advanced Google News Search

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Google News Archive Search…found in Advanced News Search

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Google Advanced Blog Search

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Google Reader (for RSS/XML feeds)

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Google Alerts(search results)

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Google Docs

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iGoogle

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Additional Resources

Lynch, David. Google Your Family Tree. Provo, UT: FamilyLink.com, 2008.

ISBN: 9780982073711

The book is available at

Regina Public Library

(929.1 LYNCH – Central Library)

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Magazines

Lynch, David M. “Google:

The Dot-Com Gift That

Keep Giving!” Internet

Genealogy, June/July

2009, 9-12.

This magazine is available

at the Prairie History

Room.

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WebsitesGoogle Genealogy Style: 12 Google

Search Tips for Genealogists by Kimberly Powell

http://genealogy.about.com/od/search_tips/a/google_search.htm

Cyndis’ List – Googling for Grandma

(list of resources—search tips, Google tools, books, etc.)

http://www.cyndislist.com/google.htm

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Videos Google Your Family Tree: Unlock the Hidden Power

of Google

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ot9T0dehGc Google Alerts Genealogy Style

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zckI0SgOTp8 Genealogy and Family Tree Researchers - The

Google Toolbar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qefdagiK38 Using Google News Timeline for Genealogy &

Family History

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrn1gt_CvN0

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The End

Contact:

Email: maychan@reginalibrary.ca