Conducting Electronic Research

The following demonstration illustrates a Meta search by an engineering student for source material on the subject of close tolerances in machined parts. A preliminary list of keywords might include the following words and phrases:

• tolerance
• precision machining
• tight tolerances
• allowable tolerance
• machined tolerance
• close tolerance

The researcher uses Dogpile to look for a selection from the list above. Feel free to click on Dogpile and become the researcher yourself.

The screen-shot below illustrates the home page after first step has been taken. As you can see, the Dogpile home page resembles other Web site search engines. It has a primary search field and an Advanced Search option link located to the right of the Go Fetch button. The distinguishing feature is the list of search engines that it will simultaneously search.

View a demonstration of a meta search using Dogpile