Comparative analysis of Internet search methodology for electrical engineering technology

The Internet has become an invaluable tool for research in a wide variety of topics, both for students and faculty. Researching topics for a term paper or gathering new information for next week´s lecture can be very time efficient if done properly on the Internet. However, information overload can result due to an overabundance of potential sources, many of which are not effective. Attempting to narrow the information obtained to the most relevant part is a challenge, and can prove very frustrating and time consuming. This paper describes how, in conjunction with other members of the Electrical Engineering Technology faculty at New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA, ten topics were identified to be searched on the Internet to evaluate various search methods. These topics were relevant to courses they are teaching, topics that are being researched, or topics that were used for student presentations in class.