Web Searching Strategies Independent Investigations for Grades 9-12, Teacher Training, and Staff Development.

Web Searching Strategies

Independent Investigations for Grades 9-12, Teacher Training, and Staff Development

© 2004 PDC, Santa Rosa County School District

Web Searching Strategies

• The Web is huge• Search engines make finding information much

easier when used effectively• Search directories are a good alternative to

search engines when your topic is very general• Don’t forget to properly cite information found• Make searching safe for students• Understand and teach your students how to

evaluate Web sites


Search Engines


How Search Engines Work

• Search Engines are huge, searchable databases of Web sites– They search the Internet -- or select pieces of the Internet --

based on important words. – They keep an index of the words (keywords) they find, and

where they find them. – They allow users to look for words or combinations of words

found in that index.

• “Keyword”– A word that is entered into the search form or search "window"

of an Internet search engine to search the Web for pages or sites about or including the word and information related to it.



• What are robots, spiders, and crawlers?– Computer programs the automatically gather

information– Spiders look at sites submitted to search engines– Crawlers are programmed to constantly search the

web, following any and all links they come across

• Spiders (http://computer.howstuffworks.com/search-engine1.htm)



• How do search engines display results?– A list of document titles with links to the Web site

containing your keyword(s)– The number of files located that contain your

keyword(s)– A brief description of your keyword(s)



• Do different search engines produce similar lists of titles and descriptions?

– www.google.com

– www.teoma.com

– www.altavista.com/web/ [Activity]

http://www.google.com/

http://www.teoma.com/


Word Spelling, Meaning, and Order

• How does capitalizing letters in keywords affect a search?– Most engines ignore case

• How does the spelling of keywords affect a search?– Most suggest alternate spellings

• How does making keywords plural affect a search?– Most search singular forms of words as strictly that

and plural as plural.


Word Spelling, Meaning, and Order

• How does using a synonym affect a search?– Narrows the search

• bed versus garden plot bed• hi-fi versus hi-fi record player phonograph

• How does the order of keywords affect a search?– Unless you use quotes, most engines ignore order

• flower garden and garden flower yield similar results

[Activity]


Refining a Search

• Boolean Operators– Use to broaden or narrow your search

– AND, OR, NOT

– Also: + –

• Phrases

– Use quotation marks

– Search engine finds pages with exact word order in quotes


Refining a Search Boolean Operators

• How do Boolean operators affect a search?– violence AND prevention

• reduces number of hits

– violence OR abuse AND prevention

• increases number of hits

– abuse AND prevention AND child NOT spouse

• returns child abuse prevention rather than spouse abuse prevention


Refining a SearchBoolean Operators

• How does the minus symbol affect a search?– If you were looking for non-surgical treatments for

glaucoma…

• glaucoma +treatment -surgical

– If you were looking for types of rock…

• types rock -roll


Refining a Search

• How do quotation marks around keywords affect a search?– Reduces the number of pages– Yields more desirable results

• types rock –”rock and roll”• “America flag” yields approximately 2,000,000 fewer results

than American flag


Advanced Search Menus

• How do advanced search menus work?– Most search engines provide advanced options for

searching.– Many of these options are simply user-friendly,

graphical versions of symbols or Boolean operators– Advanced options are handled differently on almost

every site– Always look for the Help, FAQ (Frequently Asked

Questions), or Advanced Search pages of the search engine site for more details.


Advanced Search Menus

• How do advanced search menus work?– http://www.google.com/advanced_search

• http://www.google.com/help/refinesearch.html

– http://s.teoma.com/AdvancedSearch• http://sp.teoma.com/docs/teoma/about/advsearchtips.html

– http://www.altavista.com/web/adv• http://www.altavista.com/help/search/help_adv

http://www.google.com/advanced_search

http://www.google.com/help/refinesearch.html

http://s.teoma.com/AdvancedSearch

http://sp.teoma.com/docs/teoma/about/advsearchtips.html

http://www.altavista.com/web/adv

http://www.altavista.com/help/search/help_adv


Organizing Keywords

• How can you make a search specific?– Use specific, unambiguous keywords.

• migraine research instead of headache information

– Use the most unique or significant words first.• architecture classical

– Use more keywords for more precise results.• “US Army veteran” “World War II” Europe -Navy instead of

war vet

– Use words and quoted phrases when possible.• architecture classical “18th century”


Word VariationsTruncation

• Truncation– the process of typing a special symbol at the end of a

word's root form to retrieve all possible endings of that word

– Symbols used for truncation include the asterisk (*) and less frequently, the question mark “?”.

• e.g., child* will retrieve child, childhood, children, child's, etc. • end truncation example: colleg* finds college, colleges,

collegium, collegial• internal truncation example: col*r finds color, colour, colander


Word VariationsStemming

• Stemming– Related to truncation, stemming usually refers to the

ability of a search engine to find word variants such as plurals, singular forms, past tense, present tense, etc. without using truncation.

– Some only cover plural and singular forms. – Stemming example: lights finds light, lights, lighting, lit


Word Variations

• How do search results differ when an asterisk or question mark is used in keywords?– Use the asterisk "*" at the end of a search

word or string of letters to find all words beginning with these same letters.

– For example, child* will retrieve child, childhood, children, child's, etc.


Word VariationsSites

• Sites– Truncation: AltaVista (Google allows only “word * * word”

truncation)– Represent Single Word within Phrase: AltaVista, Google – Automatic Truncation: Yahoo! – Word Stemming: MSN Search

• http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/features/ • http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/features/byfeature.sh

tml

• Activity: How do search results differ when an asterisk or question mark is used in keyword?

http://www.altavista.com/web/

http://www.altavista.com/web/

http://www.google.com/

http://www.yahoo.com/

http://www.msn.com/

http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/features/

http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/features/byfeature.shtml

http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/features/byfeature.shtml


Word Variations

• Activity: How do search results differ when an asterisk or question mark is used in keyword?


Citing Web Resources

• Using Web resources without crediting the original author is plagiarism

• Citing Web resources is easy:– Web Page: Author’s last name, first name. “Title of

site or page.” Name of institution or sponsoring organization. Date of document OR date of visit to site. <Web address>.

– Online image/video clip/sound [object]: Title or description of [object]. Online [object]. Date of object creation OR date of visit to site. <Web address>.


Citing Web Resources

• What is the correct way to cite information found on the Web?– MLA web citation page:http://www.mla.org/publications/style/style_faq/style_faq4.htm

– APA, MLA, and other citation styles at LIU Library Web site:

http://www.liunet.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citation.htm

http://www.mla.org/publications/style/style_faq/style_faq4.htm




Subject Directories

• A search directory is a Web database composed of lists of Web sites categorized by subject.

• Best used when unsure about your exact topic– Putting crayfish in a search engine would yield

thousands of results.– In a search directory, you could start with the topic

related to crayfish that you are most concerned with: science, biology or science, zoology or food, or business


Subject DirectoriesCompared to Search

Engines

• What is the difference between a subject directory and a search engine?

Search Directory Search Engine

An index of hierarchical menus

A database of weighted key words

Organized by humans Organized by programs

Smaller Larger

Use when you’re not sure what you want

Use when you know exactly what you want


Subject Directories

Activity:Do different directories produce similar lists of titles for subjects and subtopics?


Subject DirectoriesSample Sites

• Directories– About.com - maintained by a trained volunteer

editors.– dmoz.org - maintained by volunteer editors.– www.dogpile.com/ - powered by infospace; search

the net. NOTE: find the words “Web Directory”

http://www.about.com/

http://www.dmoz.org/


Subject Directories“Best Of” Sites

• “Best Of” Directories– Access Place - internet.. simple, easy to navigate

directory of high-quality sites. http://www.accessplace.com/

– StartSpot - internet.. human editors categorize the net thru a network of sites. http://www.startspot.com/network/

– Top9.com - popularity.. categorized directory of the most highly-trafficked websites. http://www.top9.com/

– WorldHot.com - popularity.. sites rated by traffic and hits. http://www.worldhot.com/

http://www.accessplace.com/




http://www.startspot.com/network/

http://www.startspot.com/network/

http://www.top9.com/

http://www.worldhot.com/

http://www.worldhot.com/


Subject DirectoriesFor Children

• How does the organization of directories for kids compare with directories for adults?– Child directories are evaluated for

• Age appropriateness,• Readability,• Interest level, and • Usefulness to children.

– AskJeeves For Kids http://www.ajkids.com/ – KidsClick! http://www.kidsclick.org/ – Yahooligans http://www.yahooligans.com/

http://www.ajkids.com/



http://www.kidsclick.org/



http://www.yahooligans.com/




Web Search Miscellany

• Activity: How do selected advanced search options work in different search engines?– http://s.teoma.com/AdvancedSearch – http://www.google.com/advanced_search

http://s.teoma.com/AdvancedSearch

http://www.google.com/advanced_search


Web Search Miscellany (Cont.)

• Activity: Where can I learn more about various search engines and research sites?– http://www.searchengines.com/ – http://www.allsearchengines.com/

http://www.searchengines.com/

http://www.allsearchengines.com/



• Activity:Do meta search engines produce significantly different results from a search engine?– http://www.surfwax.com/ or– http://www.webcrawler.com/ or– http://www.allsearchengines.com/

http://www.surfwax.com/

http://www.webcrawler.com/

http://www.allsearchengines.com/



• Activity: Where can I learn more about Web site rating systems?– http://www.icra.org/

http://www.icra.org/



• Activity: Where can I learn more about software designed to filter Web content?– http://www.cybersitter.com/ or– http://www.netnanny.com/ or– http://www.kidsnet.com/

http://www.cybersitter.com/

http://www.netnanny.com/

http://www.kidsnet.com/



• Activity: Where can I learn more about "safe searching" options in a search engine?– http://www.safekids.com/ – http://www.rcls.org/ksearch.htm – http://www.cybertipline.com/ – http://www.safeteens.com/

http://www.safekids.com/

http://www.rcls.org/ksearch.htm



• What questions do I need to consider when I evaluate Web sites?– Author and Contact info?– Creation/Revision info? – Current info?– Accurate? and Unbiased?– Readable?– Useful, labeled graphics?– Enough info to justify visit? – Easier to find on Web or in Library?

Web Searching Strategies Independent Investigations for Grades 9-12, Teacher Training, and Staff Development.

Documents

search bed

search specific

search window

search form

huge search engines

search engines crawlers

different search engines

advanced search pages