GCSE ICT Year 9 Project 1a Collecting Information

OBJECTIVES By the end of this lesson you will: Understand the benefits of using more than one search engine Be able to discuss the problems when searching on the Internet Be able to search the Internet efficiently using advanced search criteria

Search Engines There isn’t one search engine that covers all of the Internet Using more than one may find more results Some search engines may return better results than others Search Engine Self-Report. Size (Billions) Est. Size (Billions) Coverage Of Indexed Web Coverage Of Total Web Google %69.6% Yahoo 4.2 (est) %57.4% Ask %46.1% MSN (beta) %44.3%

Problems with Internet Searches

Too many results  Searching for Doctor returned 4,240,000 pages Too much irrelevant information  Searching for Doctor returned information on: ­ Doctor Who ­ DIY Doctor ­ Bicycle Doctor ­ Doctor Job ­ Travel Doctor ­ Wine Doctor Takes too long to find relevant information

The Effective Internet Search The more words used the more specific the search will be Medical Doctor is better than just Doctor You can use the AND, OR, NOT, +, - “ “, operators to make improve your search You can use a search engines advanced search page

Search Criteria Operators AND/+: used to search for more than one word such as Doctor AND Salary. Returns all web pages with these words on it anywhere OR: used to search for one word or another such as Salaries OR Qualifications. Returns all web pages with either of these words on it NOT/-: used to exclude a word from a search so Doctor NOT Who will not find pages about Doctor Who. Returns all web pages with the first word but not the second one. “ “: used to search for specific phrases or questions such as “nurse’s duties” or ”how much does a nurse earn”. Returns all web pages with these words on it and the words are together in the same order.

Advanced Search Pages Google advanced search page gives you many useful options:

Advanced Search Pages Allows you to combine AND, OR and NOT searches Choose: language, when it was created, where the information is found, the type of domain

Advanced Image Search Pages Allows you to specify:  The size you require  The file types as jpg tend be to photographs while gif tends to be more cartoon or clipart like  Choose the colours used such as black and white, greyscale or coloured

Section 1 – ICT Searches You must provide evidence of several searches covering more than one career The first search MUST BE BASIC AND ONLY USE ONE WORD AND NOT FIND ANY USEFUL INFORMATION e.g. Doctor The second search must be complex and improve on the first search e.g. Doctor AND Salary All other searches must be complex searches The reasons for the criteria should demonstrate you know how to search effectively:  “because it will find more specific results”   “because by searching for Doctor AND Salary the search engine will find all web pages that contain both words therefore finding more specific results.” 

Homework 1.Collect at least two photocopies of leaflets on more than one of the careers you have chosen to include in your booklet from the school careers library