Searching on the Net

Search Engines     Search Tools Scavenger Hunt     Research Tools     Advanced Search Engine Strategies

Looking for information on the Net can be daunting.  The sheer volume of information is enough to send even the most organized individual into fits of madness.  Search engines make searching for information more manageable, but to get the most out of the search tools available to you, you need to know some basics. 

The following activities are designed to help you sort through the mess. 

(If you are prompted for a password at any time during this tutorial,  just click cancel)

Search Engines

  1. Print out the search organizer handout.  You'll use this to record features of some of the sites that you visit.
  2. Visit one of the search tool sites listed below and carefully examine the features on its front page;
Search Engines

Spider's Apprentice guide to search engines

 Examples of search tools:
  • Beaucoup is a site that contains links to more than 2000 Internet search engines, directories, and indices categorized by type and subject.
  • I-World Internet services and information categorizes search tools by type and explains the differences between them.
  1. Determine what type of search tool you are working with.
  2. Visit the help or tips or about page. What are the "secrets" of the search tool?
  3. Carefully examine and evaluate the search tool so that you know its best and worst features;
  4. Is there a place for expert searchers? What special features does it offer?
  5. Are there any other special features? (image searching? translation? subject trees?)
  6. How are results organized and displayed? Are there summaries? Annotations? Keywords?
  7. Are the first two or three pages of results highly relevant?
  8. Try at least two searches to "road test" your search tool.

Try a general topic like "educational technology" and try a search with more than one concept.   For instance, integrating technology into classroom instruction.

Search Tools Scavenger Hunt

The Web is full of search engines.  You're visit to the Beaucoup site above should have revealed that to you.  Not all search engines are alike.  In fact what you may think of as a search engine, may not be a search engine at all.  The following scavenger hunt will help dispel any misconceptions surrounding searching and search tools.

A scavenger hunt usually involves some kind of a search.  In this case you will be searching for information.  You will be given fairly specific questions to answer and a Web address where you can find the answers.  These questions will assist you in sifting out the most important information about searching from these documents.  (Remember to sift, don't spend large amounts of time "reading".)

To help you, the question that you need to answer is listed first, followed by Web page where the answer can be found.  Each link will open in a new window so that you can have the questions and answer page open at the same time.  Search Tools Scavenger Hunt Word Document 

You will be using a variety of online guides for searching to help you identify and define the multitude of searching tools available to you.

FAQ's

A FAQ is a list of FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS. We read FAQ's before we post questions just in case our question has already been answered.   Read the FAQ's at Spider's Apprentice:
http://www.monash.com/spidap2.html

  1. Why do you need to use search engines? 
  2. How do search engines index web sites? 
  3. What search engine is the biggest? 
  4. What is the difference between Yahoo and Alta Vista? 

Directories

  1. What is a (subject) directory?
  2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a directory?
  3. What are some sample directories?
  4. When is it best to use a directory?

http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/lesson3.html

http://www.pandia.com/goalgetter/2.html

Search Engines

  1. What exactly is a search engine?
  2. How does a search engine work?
  3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of search engines?
  4. When should you use a search engine?
  5. What are some sample search engines?

http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/lesson1.html

http://www.pandia.com/goalgetter/2.html

Meta-searchers

What are Meta-searchers?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of meta-search engines?
When should you use a meta-search engine?
What are some sample meta-search engines?

http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/lesson2.html

http://www.pandia.com/goalgetter/2.html

Which search tool is rated the best?

  1. Which search site does Pandia choose for the top 3 search engines, directories, and meta-searchers?

http://www.pandia.com/goalgetter/2.html

  1. How does the Spider's Apprentice rate the search site that you use the most? 

http://www.monash.com/spidap3.html

Other types of search tools

What other types of search tools are available?
http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/lesson4.html

Research Tools

Search engines are not the only way to locate information on the Internet.  Centrally located archives contain millions of reports and documents that are accessible to you.

Finding Information
Examples of archives include: 

Information is attainable from archives through searches using keywords and descriptors. 

  • Visit the Albertson's Library site to see all of the different archives available to you. 
  • Go to "expanded academic (ASAP)" funded by LILI-D. 
  • Try a keyword search using "educational technology".

Advanced Search Engine Strategies

Understanding the difference types of search tools addresses only one piece of the searching puzzle.  In this next scavenger hunt you will discover ways to refine and narrow your searching so that your efforts don't result in the often encountered "1,000,000 results found" or the dreaded "your search resulted in 0 matches".  Again, the questions you need to answer will be presented first, followed by the links to sites where answers can be found.  Feel free to try out some of your newly learned searching skills by looking for answers in other places.

Choosing the best search tool for your purpose

How do you choose a search engine?
http://nuevaschool.org/~debbie/library/research/adviceengine.html

What is the best type of search tool to use?
http://www.pandia.com/goalgetter/2.html
http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/lesson6.html

Keyword vs. Concept-Based Searching

  1. Describe "Keyword Searching."
  2. Describe "Concept-based Searching."
  3. What do you have to do to "guarantee" the best results when concept-based searching?

http://www.monash.com/spidap4.html

Narrowing Your Search

There are a variety of techniques available for refining and narrowing your searches.   Explore the tutorial sites listed below and investigate the following list of options:

Boolean operators
Phrases
Proximity
Case sensitivity
Nesting
Truncation
Quotation marks
Wildcards

http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/bones.html
http://www.pandia.com/goalgetter/index.html

Recommendations

Read Pandia's 17 recommendations for searching
http://www.pandia.com/goalgetter/recommendations.html

 

Optimizing Your Search Engine of Choice (Optional)

Optimizing AltaVista's Advanced Query
Optimizing Google

Additional  Resources

This site provides information on a variety of search tools
http://www.lookoff.com/


http://www.ask.com/
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/