1. What was your final question?
Biology is not one of my strongest classes; it`s why I don`t want to become a doctor. Earlier this week, we were going through the functions of the organs, and the liver surprised me. I didn`t strike me that it was actually important. So, I asked myself, Can a person live without his liver?
2. What terms did you use to conduct your search?
For my search, I typed the words ``liver function organ human body.`` Surprisingly, it did not return any results. Perhaps my search was too narrow.
3. Did you need to try alternate terms? If so, what terms did you choose? Did your new terms work any better?
After failing to find out more about this fascinating organ of the human body, I curiously typed in ``importance of liver.`` Fortunately, this brought up a lot of results.
4. How would you evaluate your final results? Did you have too many, too few, or just about right? What number do you think is appropriate and why?
I think that there was a good amount of results returned. I only had 33 to look through, which made the search fairly easy. The studies and articles that were returned were mostly about problems and diseases of the liver. It was pleasant to have turned up a small number of results.
5. How well did your results answer your question? Comment on whether all or some or none of them answered your question?
Upon looking through the results, only a few of them answered my question. After reading a study of the correlation between the health of the liver and weight loss and a few more articles, I found that it was a very vital organ. It is used to produce bile, which breaks down fat molecules, and contains glycogen, an important molecule that is used to produce energy from within the body. After my search, I concluded that it would be hard to live without a liver.
6. How did you use Boolean operators to refine or manipulate results?
I didn`t really use Boolean operators; there really wasn`t a need for it. I found my answer with ease. However, if I wanted to expand my search, I could`ve included a few other terms pertaining to human body organs and connected the two with the operator OR. If I wanted to narrow my search, I could have connected terms with the operator AND. And, if I wanted to make the job of the search engine really hard, I could have excluded terms and attached the operator NOT to them.
It`s good that search engines don`t have feelings. Or else we`d have to start using that ``Feeling Lucky`` button a lot more often.
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1 comment:
In item 2, I'm not sure if your search had too many terms (one possibility) or if you were perhaps in the wrong database (quite likely).
In item 3, you did the right thing by removing some terms, but I'd also recommend entering "importance" and "liver" without the "of." Using prepositions in a phrase like that will require the whole phrase to be present. If the two main words are present, but not separated by "of," the article won't show up in the results list.
In item 4, you have the right idea. Too many results, e.g. 10,000, it's not particularly helpful. A number up to about 100-200 is usually about the most you can handle.
Your conclusion is right, too. Living without a liver won't work!
Yes, I've always wondered about the "feeling lucky" button - not my favorite!
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