About LightSwitch Search Tools
LightSwitch is an educational search tool developed at Middletown Thrall Library
with the intent of helping online researchers improve their searches
and information awareness. LightSwitch links you with some of the very best
general and specific search engines in the world.
LightSwitch Search Tools seek to motivate you to contemplate every single aspect
of your search:
- which search terms you select or leave out
- standardized words, names, or phrases which might benefit your searches
- how you structure or logically group your searches
- how advanced search techniques can improve your searches and overall research
- the destination of your search terms - which search engine you choose
- the quality and relevancy of the search results you receive
- how your searches perform in various search engines
LightSwitch searches are not automated: you must think and construct your searches
mindfully, drawing inspiration or ideas, if you wish, from keywords provided
in LightSwitch's "enlightenment" section (which appears when you click the
"+ enlighten your search" link)
It is our hope that you can use LightSwitch to enrich your searches
and increase their specificity by adding standardized terms, subject headings,
and otherwise challenging words and phrases (such as "onomatopoeia"
or "quantum chromodynamics").
As different search engines produce a variety of search results, you are
encouraged to see which search engines work best for each query. This is
a major reason LightSwitch exists: to help you educate and expand your search
techniques, to help you part with less effective research strategies,
and to open your mind to other and possibly more appropriate search tools
for any given search.
LightSwitch begins in a "General Topics" mode. You can quickly switch
to other modes, such as
Art or
Astronomy,
and incorporate related keywords, names, phrases, titles, and more into
your searches.
For each topic you select LightSwitch also highlights related
Internet resource guides
developed by Middletown Thrall Library.
If you are new to Internet research or simply would like to perform
your researcher with heightened confidence and awareness,
you might want to download our free
Web Checklist
and
Critical Thinking Skills
guides (
Adobe Reader/PDF format).
If you would like to learn more about doing research (on or beyond the Internet)
as well as evaluating information in all forms, we invite you to visit our
Critical Thinking Skills
and
publications pages.
You can
also ask our librarians questions over the Internet.
Search Help Pages
You are encouraged to explore different search engines to see which ones
serve your inquiries best. You should also try to become aware if a
search engine offers special search modifiers and advanced search modes,
which can help you retrieve more relevant results than simple keyword
inquiries.
With that in mind, please follow the links below to visit search engine
home pages and help/about pages to learn more:
Also check out our
topic web resource guides
and
online documents page,
where you will find downloadable guides on critical thinking, databases,
Internet safety awareness, online research, and other electronic research services
provided by Middletown Thrall Library.
Free Publications for Researchers
Middletown Thrall Library offers a variety of freely downloadable publications
as part of its continuous efforts to educate researchers and Internet users
on all aspects of information.
Please feel free to download one or more of the following publications:
Documents are provided in the
Adobe Reader PDF format.
Thrall also offers these free guides for any libraries interested
in Internet resource classification and Web guide development:
Additional documents of interest to online researchers are
available at this link.
