Searching Strategies

1. Searching Strategies More ways to use the web By Dr. Jennifer Bowie

2. Searching Choice 1: Search Engines • Built by computer robot programs (spiders and bots) that crawl the web and create an index of the words on the pages • Actually search the index and not the whole web as it exists at the time of your search (very new info may not be available at the time of your search) • Pages are ranked by a computer algorithm • Search based on word matches between your query and the full text of the web pages (even hidden text) • Results: many results, may require refining or sub searching • Results require your evaluation • Best method so far for search (according to USC Beaufort) Library) • Cons: may return too much for simple searches, may return many irrelevant pages Sources: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/ToolsTables.html &http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/pages/bones/lesson1.shtml

3. Searching Choice 2: Subject Directories • Created & managed by human editors Results often annotated • Organized into subject categories based on predetermined selection criteria • Limited search (only of visible text) • Results: more select and are already evaluated, less results then most search engines • Pros: good organization, often higher quality content • Cons: More dead links Sources: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/ToolsTables.html & http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/pages/bones/lesson3.shtml

4. Searching Choice 3: Metasearch Engines • Searches a variety of search engines for your search (one stop shopping) • May analyze and cluster results for a smarter (but not necessarily wiser) search • Allows you to see which engines work best for your search • Good for rushed searches or simple searches • Doesn’t allow the same amount of control • Not recommended method according to Berkley • A few engines: Dogpile, Mamma, Vivisimo Sources: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/ToolsTables.html &http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/pages/bones/lesson2.shtml

5. A few Searching tips: Math • Add (+) to find all the words you include • Example: +spinach +tomatoes +recipe Will get you pages that have spinach, tomatoes and recipe on them • Subtract (-) to find things with some words in them, but not others • Example: +spinach +tomatoes +recipe -pasta Will get you pages that have spinach, tomatoes and recipes on them, but not pasta

6. A few Searching tips: Boolean • OR: Search engine looks for any of the terms • Example: cats OR dogs Will find web pages with the term cats in them and web pages with the term dogs in them • AND: Search engine looks for all of the terms • Example: cats AND dogs Will find web pages with both the terms cats and dogs in them • NOT: Search engine will not include pages with that term • Example: cats NOT dogs Will find web pages the terms cats but not dogs in them • Nesting: Allows more complex searches • Example: marathons AND (Maine OR Georgia) Will find web pages with the terms marathons and Maine in then or pages with Marathon and Georgia in them Make sure you use all caps for Boolean searches Sources: http://searchenginewatch.com/facts/article.php/2155991

7. A few more Searching tips • Uses quotation marks around phrases when you want the exact wording in your results • Example: “four score and seven years ago” Will return results with the exact phrase four score and seven years ago in them • Do not capitalize words unless you only want the word with a capital. Use lowercase if you want both • Example: Robin Will only return pages with Robin in them and not robin • Example: robin Will only return pages with Robin and robin in them • Use an asterisk (*) to open your results to various word endings • Example: nav* Will return page with terns that start with nav such as navigation, navigate, navigator, NAVISTAR, nav, NAV, and more

8. Happy Searching!