What to Know: 9 Essential Things to Know About Web Searching Janet Eke Graduate School of Library and Information Science University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana  2003

2 Topics 3 Essential Conceptual Things to Know About the Web. 3 Essential Practical Things to Know About General-purpose Search Tools. 3 Essential Useful Tips to Know About Search Strategy.

3 Essential Conceptual Things to Know About the Web

4 What to know: Web concepts 1. Understand basic context and structure. Know what the World Wide Web is.

5 Key Terms Defined The Internet is a global network of computers. The World Wide Web is a service running on the Internet. –it is the name given to a collection of documents stored on computers connected to the Internet –these documents are written in a markup language (usually HTML) and characterized by ‘hypertext links’

6 Key Terms Defined A web browser is a piece of software. –its purpose is to read and display web pages

7 Key Terms Defined To search the web, we use search tools accessed via web pages. –Search tools may be as simple as a list of links, or as complicated as a large database of information gathered from web pages.

HTML tags define document structure Web browser software interprets HTML and displays page

9 What to know: Web concepts 2. Know the basic types of general- purpose search tools and how they work. –search engines versus subject directories

10 Basic Web Search Tools Both Subject Directories and Search Engines offer access via a web page to a database of information about web sites. The information in their databases, however, and the way this information is gathered, organized and maintained, is very different.

11 Subject Directories A subject directory searches a human- compiled database of web sites, organized into subject categories. The database includes the name and URL of the web site, plus a brief description. The database does NOT include individual web pages within the site.

12 Search Engines A search engine searches a computer- compiled database of information about individual web pages. There are no subject categories. No human examines the web sites. The database includes detailed information from the web site -- in some cases every word on every page is indexed; in others only selected portions are indexed.

13 Directories VS Engines UI LIS Current Clips:

14 What to know: Web concepts 3. Bear in mind the implications of the structure of the Web environment and its search tools. –Web sources must be carefully evaluated. –Everything is NOT on the Web. –There is no such thing as a ‘live’ Web search. –There is no such thing as a fully comprehensive Web search.

3 Essential Practical Things to Know About General- purpose Search Tools

16 General-purpose Search Tools 1. Know when directory results may be more useful than search engine results, and vice versa.

17 Directories VS Engines UI LIS Current Clips:

18 E.g., Yahoo! Search keywords here Or browse subject categories here

19 Search Results: 5 types Blends site results from Google and Yahoo Directory Yahoo Directory category matches Types of results

20 Search Results: Directory only

21 Yahoo Directory Site

22 Google Directory

23 Example Find major earthquake engineering research centres.

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26 Category view Annotated directory entries

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28 General-purpose Search Tools 2. Know advanced search features and syntax, such as ‘search engine math.’

29 Basic ‘Search Syntax’ Searching Phrases “”searches enclosed terms as a phrase Example: Find source and completion of quotation beginning: “went down to the station to look for her there”

30 Without Quotation Marks First results NOT relevant. Terms are scattered in documents.

31 Search terms as a phrase Enclose terms in quotes to search as a phrase.

32 Full album is in one web page

Use browser to search page

36 Basic Search Syntax +-- include term --- exclude term *-- truncation symbol (AltaVista) –allows for 5 characters at end of word –use to search plurals / alternate endings –e.g., computer* retrieves ‘computers,’ ‘computerized,’ etc.

37 Advanced Search Syntax Field searching Format: fieldname:TERM

38 Advanced Search Syntax Field Searching Examples title:drucker searches for ‘drucker’ only in title of web page (Google: intitle) url:hoovers searches for ‘hoovers’ anywhere in the web address (Google: inurl) domain:ca searches for ‘ca’ (canada) only in the domain portion of the web address link: searches for pages that link to lyrics site:j-tull.com searches for the word ‘lyrics’ within the site (Google)

39 Example Search for Canadian federal election results. “federal election” domain:ca –retrieves documents containing BOTH the phrase “federal election” in the text, and the domain “ca” in the web address

40 Example Search for a good list of international phone directories. –we already know a good Canadian online phone directory –strategy: see what other sites link to it link:canada411.sympatico.ca

41 Google Search

42 Google Search

43 Google Search

44 Listing of Web Phone Dirs.

45 Google Advanced Search

46 General-purpose Search Tools 3. Know where to go to learn more quickly. –what search tools are out there? –what are their advanced features? –where do they get their results? –is there a more specialised search tool for my topic?

47 Search Engine Watch

48 Search Engine Watch

49 Search Engine Watch Search Features Charts

50 Search Engine Showdown

51 Search Engine Showdown Search Tool In-depth Reviews

3 Essential Useful Tips to Know About Search Strategy

53 Search Strategy 1. For some topics, consider using general-purpose search tools to search for sources, not for directly for content.

54 Example What is the provenance of the Leonardo da Vinci painting “Virgin of the Rocks” in the National Gallery (UK)?

55 Direct search in Google

56 Direct search in Google Results may be useful. Need to examine and evaluate individually. No source stands out as useful for future provenance searches.

57 Search for general topic, to find source Search for general topic, to find source

58 Search for general topic, to find source Search for general topic, to find source

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65 Search Strategy 2. Find expert sources by asking yourself, Who cares about this topic?

66 The ‘Who Cares?’ strategy Ask Who cares about this? –Rather than searching for the info needed, find out if someone has already gathered it together for you identify a likely organisation and its web site use specialised tools to find ‘guru pages’ and subject guides

67 Strategy: Who cares? Is there an organisation or person interested in this problem? –Is there a government agency responsible for collecting or disseminating this info? –Would a trade association be interested on behalf of its members? –Has a university department or independent scholar or hobbyist created a subject guide?

68 Example Where can I find coal production statistics for the US?

69 Example Where can I find coal production statistics for the US? Who cares? –United States Geologic Survey (USGS) –often government agencies are responsible for compiling statistics

70 Government Agency US Geologic Survey publishes the Minerals Yearbook. Sample: Coal Product statistics

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72 Search Strategy 3. Build a core collection of specialised search tools beyond general-purpose subject directories and search engines. –collect sites useful for searching your subject area –develop a workable way to organise and access them

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79 Powermarks bookmark utility -- creates searchable database of bookmarked sites; easy to organise, weed, and search.

80 Powermarks bookmark utility -- creates searchable database of bookmarked sites; easy to organise, weed, and search.

81 Summary 3 Essential Conceptual Things to Know about the Web: –Know what it is; know basic definitions and components involved. –Know that there are two basic types of general-purpose search tools, and how they work. –Bear in mind implications of structure for how searches work, and limitations of the Web.

82 Summary 3 Essential Practical Things to Know about General Purpose Search Tools: –Know when directory results may be more useful than search engine results, and vice versa. –Know advanced search features and syntax, such as ‘search engine math.’ –Know where to go to quickly learn more.

83 Summary 3 Essential Useful Tips to Know About Search Strategy: –Consider using general-purpose search tools to search for sources, not for directly for content. –Find expert sources by asking yourself, Who cares about this topic? –Build a core collection of specialised search tools beyond general-purpose subject directories and search engines.