Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
1-18-2021
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Abstract
Precise and timely information in all aspects of human endeavor is key to the actualization of various goals. This study was carried out to determine the awareness and use of search techniques in searching for information in Google Search and Gmail by postgraduate students of Lead City University, Ibadan. The search techniques are recommended and documented by Google for efficiency in search operations. A total of 254 students were sampled using convenience sampling techniques and also filled out the structured questionnaire of which 173 copies were returned due to emergence of covid-19. Descriptive statistics was employed to analyze the data collected. The researchers found out that about half the population of the students were not aware of the techniques as specified in the Google documentation while a little more than average used Boolean operators and phrase searching, menu option was used to a great extent, but this is not so with specials characters as their extent of use was very far from average. Also, email operators recorded moderate usage by a great number of the respondents. As a result, it is recommended that Google push the search help techniques to the front page for users to see, and Information Retrieval should be taught as a general subject at undergraduate and postgraduate levels since electronic learning is the new paradigm.