Table
of
Contents:
Getting Started - Tips and Tricks
Interlit Web Site Links to Textbook Chapter Resources
Required Equipment, Software and Services
Course Syllabus
Course Assignments and Due Dates
Part One: Understanding The Internet
Part Two: Getting On The Internet
Part Three: Communicating Over The Internet
Part Four: Finding Things On The Internet
Part Five: Creating Web Pages
Part Six: Using Multimedia On The Internet
Part Seven: Planning For The Future Of The Internet
Send E-Mail:
Internet Literacy Home Page |
After completing this chapter, you will be able to:
- Conduct subject-oriented searches using Yahoo, Magellan, and Lycos A2Z.
- Perform full-text key word searches using AltaVista, Excite, InfoSeek, and Lycos.
- Use the advanced search syntax to find what you're looking for efficiently.
- Perform concept searches based on ideas instead of specific key words.
- Use metasearching to search several search engines at once.
- Know how to get online help from human beings you can pay to conduct searches on your behalf.
- Conduct scholarly searches across a broad range of academic disciplines.
- Use multimedia search engines to find pictures, audio, and video, in addition to text.
- Search Usenet newsgroups to find information in discussions of current research topics.
- Learn how to find people using Switchboard and Four11.
How Keyword Searching Works
Robots (artificially intelligent agents) search the Internet, noting the text of Web documents, and building databases of words found in those documents. When you make a request, the search software builds its results from that database based on the
words you input. Results can include people’s personal pages, as well as substantive information.
What Makes One Search Engine Different From Another?
All have different programs that use different criteria to build their databases with the intention to balance number of returns against precision. Consider the following list of selected Search Engines:
| AltaVista | Search tips:
- Offers Simple and Advanced query modes.
- In Simple query mode, use + in front of a word (no space) to require it, use - in front of a word (no space) to exclude it. Truncation symbol is * (e.g., child* searches for childn, childish, children). Use quotation marks for phrase searching
(e.g. "cost of living"). A capital letter forces an exact match for a word beginning with that letter.
- In Advanced query mode, Boolean operators AND, OR, AND NOT, and NEAR are supported.
- See AltaVista Help files for additional ways to refine searches.
|
Results are ranked by how near search words are to the top of the document, by how close the search words are to one another, and by their number in the retrieved document. |
| Excite | Search tips:
- Uses "concept seraching"
- Use quotation marks to search for phrases
- Use + immediately in front of a word to require its use; use - immediately in front of a word to exclude it.
- Supports Boolean context (Boolean operators MUST be capitalized
- Go to Power Search for a forms-based aid to creating Boolean searches
|
Results are ranked by "confidence level" which calculates how closely the site matches the search request. |
| HotBot |
Search tips:
- Popup menu allows searching for all the words, any of the words, the exact phrase, words in the title, the person, links to this URL, the Boolean expression.
- HotBot is case insensitive, except for mixed upper and lower case.
- Searches can be limited in a variety of ways (e.g., for images, by date).
- To explore the options, click on OPEN ALL.
|
Results are listed by confidence ranking based on word frequency in document, search words in title, search words in keywords lists, and document length. |
| Infoseek |
Search tips:
- Capitalize proper names
- Use quotation marks around phrases or use hyphens between words to locate those words next to each other.
- Use + immediately in front of a word to require its use; use - immediately in front of a word to exlude it.
- To constrain searches to specific Web document fields, type the field name (either link, site, url or title, in lower case) followed by a colon and the word to be searched.
|
Results list provides title of Website, URL, score, size of file, and brief summary. |
|
Lycos |
Search tips:
- Use quotation marks around phrases.
- Use + before a word to require it; use - before a word to exlude it.
- Click on Lycos Pro for Boolean and natural language queries.
|
Results are ranked by decreasing relevance based on word frequency counts. Three display options: summary, standard, and detailed. User can also select the number of results to be presented.
|
Meta-search Tools
Use these tools to simultaneously search multiple search engines from the same screen.
| Dogpile |
Dogpile is a multi-engine search tool. It can limit the search to the Web, newswires, newsgroups, or FTP sites. About 15 standard search engines are searched simultaneously. |
| MetaCrawler |
MetaCrawler provides a single interface for parallel searches of Lycos, InfoSeek, and four other search engines. It can sort results in a variety of ways. |
| Savvy Search |
Savy Search provides one-screen access to about fifteen search engines. Results can be displayed in order by search engine, or can be integrated into one list. |
Subject Lists and Directories
Web directories make excellent resources and, if you know how to use them, will help you find almost anything you want. The people who maintain these directories use special programs to do most of the work. These programs (called spiders, worms,
crawlers or robots) search the Web looking for new and updated items.
There are a number of free, well-maintained directories available on the Web and, in general, there are two ways to use them. First, some directories have home pages organized into categories. To use such a directory, you access the home page and
choose the category you want. Within that category, there may be subcategories. Thus you can select categories and subcategories, until you narrow down your search to find exactly what you want.
Other directories allow you to look for something by using a search engine. To use a search engine, you use your browser to fill in a form in which you describe what you are looking for. Once you submit the form, it is sent to the search engine which
looks through the directory, finds what you want (if it exists) and sends back the results.
Search Strategy
- Step #1: Make your situation into a question: What are the county sales tax rates in California?
- Step #2:
- Think of likely sources that would offer the information you are seeking.
Answer: California State Board of Equalization
- If you can't think of a likely source, take keywords from your question.
Answer: county sales tax rate california
- Step #3: Choose a search engine
- HotBot - searches every page in its entirety once a week. Allows you to refine your search criteria considerably.
- Excite - uses "concept searching" of returned documents to refine keywords and criteria (click on "more of these")
- SavvySearch
Special features:
- Service tries to decide which 2 or 3 engines will work best for your search.
- List of engines includes those that search gopher, such as WebCrawler and Open Text
- Can search in different languages.
- Step #4: Type in your keywords. Choose your criteria carefully, if you are given that choice.
- Step #5: When results appear on the screen, look at the
title, description and address of each hit to
help you decide which is a possible match.
- Step #6: When you link into a page, if the information you are seeking is not immediately apparent, use "Find" button.
- Step #7: Check the timeliness of the data and who is providing it.
Suggestions:
- Enter words or phrases that are likely to appear in the document you want to find. Tip: Technical terms will yield more specific results than frequently used words (Example: columbine vs flower).
- Be flexible with your terms. Think of synonyms and variations on words. Use general library and/or online reference resources, such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauri to better understand your topic.
- Avoid overloading search engine - 3 to 5 words is best.
- Type the most important word/phrase first.
- Check spelling.
- If the search engine offers options, you may want to change some of the default settings to better control the results of a search. For instance, HotBot gives you the option of matching just some or all the terms that you type in. If you want to
learn more about how to effectively search with any of the engines, they all have a "Hints" link.
- If you aren’t satisifed with the results returned by the search engine, try a different one. Each search engine uses different logical operators, therefore each will "think" differently.
- If too many results are returned, add another keyword.
Online Resources:
- AltaVista: Main Page
- Lycos: Your Personal Internet Guide
- WebCrawler
- Excite
- Infoseek
- MetaCrawler
- Welcome to Dogpile, the Friendly Multi-Engine Search Tool
- welcome to answers.guide.com!
- Pitsco's Ask an Expert: Main Menu
- ERIC -- Educational Resources Information Center
- Ovid Technologies, Inc. Homepage
- IAC Web Site--Entry Page
- IAC InfoTrac--Cool Demo
- Engineering Information Inc. -- Homepage
- Welcome to Britannica Online
- Resources by Topic & Type
- Hartnell College Library--Resources/Collections
- Lycos Pictures and Sounds
- Archive.Edu
- PictureQuest Stock Photography, Royalty Free Images and CD-ROMs
- Deja News
- Welcome to ArchiePlex
- Archie Request Form
- Archie Request Form
- List of WWW Archie Services
- Filez - Search over 75 million files.
- FAST FTP Search v4.0 - The World's Largest File Search Engine
- Welcome to Bigfoot
- Welcome to WhoWhere?!
- Switchboard: The Internet Directory
- Yahoo! Computers and Internet:Internet:World Wide
Web:Searching the Web:Search Engines
- Beaucoup Search Engines -- The BIG Page (without links)
- Search Engine Watch: News, Tips and More About Search Engines
- Yahoo! People Search
- EFF's (Extended) Guide to the Internet - FTP
- EFF's (Extended) Guide to the Internet - Gophers and Friends
- Search Guide: How to Choose and Use Top Search Engines and Directories; Searching Syntax Hints and Tips for
Newbies
- All About the World Wide Web -- Index
- File Transfer Protocol
Go to:
Chapter Ten
Chapter Twelve
|
