Web Searching Strategies Created by J. Titus for Plainfield High School November, 2011

Topics included in this power point Define a search engine How does a search engine work Define subject directory Improving your search strategies Effective search strategies

What is a search engine? An Internet tool which will search for sites containing the words that you designated as your search term (keyword) Search engines search their own databases of information

How does a search engine work? Deploys a robot program called a spider or robot designed to track down Web pages, follow the links these pages contain, and add information to their own database Each search engine has its own way of doing things (searching)

How do search engines differ? Different databases, or collection of pages, are searched The level of sophistication of the “robot” varies Relevancy rankings differ Ordered by rank Web page designers often try spamdexing Rankings are based on a formula Differing methods of collection Search results demo

How does a search engine know about the documents on the Web? If the search engine’s “robots” find the site on their gathering missions. Use of tags or subject tracings If the publisher of the document registers it with the search engines

Examples of search engines?

Not all search engines are created equally! Only 1% of the databases in Yahoo, Google, and MSN search engines contain overlapping sites. What does this mean to the researcher?

What is an Internet subject directory? Organizes Internet sites by subject User works down a series of menus Main topics to subtopics Smaller than a search engine Maintained by human beings

Using a web directory To access the Yahoo or Google directory, use this address: http://dir.yahoo.com http://dir.google.com Directories allow the user to form the search, but may not use common terms Search engines allow the users to use common language, but may lead to lots of hits

Web searching strategies How do I prepare to search? Formulate your search question carefully Examples I want to find information on popular methods of losing weight? When do Monarch butterflies migrate? How does teenage pregnancy effect the mother’s life?

Web searching strategies Identity keywords I want to find information on popular methods of losing weight? When do Monarch butterflies migrate? How does teenage pregnancy effect the mother’s life? Select synonyms and other word forms Popular common, favorite Methods method, ways, techniques Losing reducing, reduction, lose Weight fat, dieting, diet

How can I improve my use of searching engines? Read the help files Use wildcard searches This type of search uses a special symbol * to search simultaneously for several words with the same stem

How can I improve my use of searching engines? Use Boolean searches Allows you to broaden or narrow a search Designated differently in each search engine In Google, click on the Advanced Search link to the right of the search entry box. http://www.google.com Boolean searches use the operator terms: and, or, not And & or will broaden your search results Not will narrow you search results

AND disease heart prevention Using and will only provide links to sites which have BOTH/ALL of these words present AND disease heart prevention

Use of the word OR will broaden your search. drama theater OR

How do I narrow my search? Using not narrows the search by telling the search engine to exclude certain words. Alta Vista uses the form and not pregnancy teen* NOT

What are some effective search strategies? Choosing the right search term Use a unique keyword Search only your results Check your spelling Try using quotation marks around phrases

Decide whether you need a subject directory or search engine Try different search engines Determine if the search engine meets your needs: How easy was it to figure out how to search? Are the search results summarized? Were the amount of results returned adequate or overwhelming? How current are the results?

Research requires multiple sources It is important to use reliable sources. How do you do this? Use databases such as the ones found on iconn.org. These databases are put together by research authorities and respected publishers. Use authored/teacher recommended websites. (teenhealth.org) Books are still an excellent source and may have good supporting illustrations, graphs, and charts. Indexing helps you find what you are looking for.

Skills for the future Going to college? Your professors will expect more of you than simply an internet search and sources Getting a job? Your employers will expect you to have good reading, writing, and thinking skills. You may be asked to perform research. Impress them with your skills that you’ve developed.

Searching Databases www.iconn.org Has many databases Requires good navigation skills Read the screen Very reliable information Can be accessed on any computer in school but requires a public library card number to access from home.

Activity: What is your topic What is your topic What is your topic Consider synonyms or a wild card search Perform a search as you normally would. What are your search results? Now, do the same search using Google Advanced search. How do the results differ? Search your topic in a subject directory Use http://dir.yahoo.com or http://dir.google.com What is your topic Consider synonyms or a wild card search Perform a search as you normally would. What are your search results? Now, do the same search using Google Advanced search. How do the results differ? Search your topic in a subject directory Use http://dir.yahoo.com What is your topic Consider synonyms or a wild card search Perform a search as you normally would. What are your search results? Now, do the same search using Google Advanced search. How do the results differ? Search your topic in a subject directory Use http://dir.yahoo.com