Searching the Internet (Web) By Brigid Kosek Clara Love Elementary 2011

Uniform Resource Locator Called URL for short Also known as the web address Located in the bar at the top of the screen There is a formula for how a URL is put together Begins http//: (hypertext transfer protocol), then often www (world wide web) Ends with a top-level domain label (.com,.edu,.gov,.org,.net…)

Search Engines Unless you know the exact URL address(es) to type into the address bar, you will need to use one or more search engines to find websites containing the information you need Search engines are like indexes at the back of a book Search engines send out web crawlers (aka spiders, robots) to look for words on websites to index The order in which websites are pulled up in a results list is based on an algorithm (mathematical formula) that factors in the number of times the word appears, where it appears on the page, how many links there are to that page…

Different Kinds of Search Engines These are a few of the more popular general search engines: Google Bing Yahoo Some search engines are used for more specific searches (business, games, maps, jobs, medical, news, shopping…) Metasearch engines search multiple search engines at once dogpile

Before You Begin Research begins with a question- What is it you want to know? Write a list of words or phrases that go along with your question Think of synonyms (words that mean the same or almost the same thing) Make sure your spelling is correct

Search Techniques While simply typing words or phrases from your list in the search box might work, you may get way too many results! Watch this video that explains how search engines work and some useful searching strategies that might help eliminate results that are not relevant (useful) to your searchvideo An ad might appear before the video begins

Boolean Searching The techniques in the video are based on the boolean principles of using or, not & and to improve searches Let’s say I’m doing a social studies research project on the Texas Rangers (the law enforcement agency) Using or (default for search engines) will require the search engine to look for either word on webpages and will broaden your search (more results) Texas or Rangers = Texas Rangers Using not (- ) will eliminate unintended results and will therefore narrow your search (less results) Texas Rangers not baseball = Texas Rangers -baseball Using and (‘’’’) will require the search engine to look for words together on webpages and will narrow your search (less results) Texas Rangers and law enforcement = “Texas Rangers law enforcement”

Tips Try different word and phrase combinations from the list you created Try different search engines Try an advanced search if it is available Do not waste your time looking beyond the first few pages of results

Limitations Despite billions of webpages, you still may not find what you need searching the Internet Some websites are called invisible (the deep web) because they are not indexed and will not be pulled up by a search engine The only way to get to these websites is if you know the exact URL Not all websites have reliability or authority Reliable= can verify the same info. elsewhere Authority = person/organization knows what they’re talking about (credibility) Certain domain labels (.edu,.org,.gov) usually indicate more reliable and authoritative websites

Source Citation Do not forget to honor copyright and give credit to the authors/creators of the information/media you use The search engine you used is not the source, the source is the webpage on which you found the information/media This is the citation for the video I used in this PowerPoint presentation: Web Search Strategies in Plain English. Commoncraft Show, TeacherTube. Web. 16 Oct