tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18575535760570713962024-02-08T04:10:27.575-08:00Web Search GuideWeb searching techniques, web searching tips, web searching tools and web search engines.Iqbalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17717709704239196285noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1857553576057071396.post-16546316325772334652008-02-21T02:36:00.000-08:002008-02-21T02:38:21.512-08:00Google<h2><a href="http://www.google.com/" target="blank">http://www.google.com/</a></h2> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Use Google when...</strong> </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">you are looking for a specific fact/person/event/narrow topic</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">your topic is made up of multiple ideas</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">you can't get enough of Google's link ranking of results</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">you like Google's specialized features such as spell checking, phone book and flight lookups, stock prices, etc.</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">you want to take advantage of Google's advanced search interface that lets you fill out a form to do a search targeted to your needs</li></ul> <p>Google is a general search engine that is everyone's favorite these days. It ranks results by the number of links from the largest number of pages also ranked high by the service. The more highly ranked pages that link to a certain page, the higher the linked-to page will be ranked by Google. This unique ranking system can be quite effective. </p> <p><strong>Special Features:</strong> </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Returns results ranked by the number of links from a high number of pages ranked high by the service; high ranking pages are also determined by the number of links to them</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">In determining relevancy ranking, the engine also looks at various textual clues including linking text</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Suggests an alternative search when search terms are misspelled.</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Search results include sites from the <a href="http://dmoz.org/" target="blank">Open Directory Project</a>, offering an interesting mix of sites from the wider Web and those chosen by editors for inclusion into the directory. See also Google's own version, the <a href="http://directory.google.com/" target="blank">Google Web Directory.</a> </li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">OR searching is supported if "OR" is typed in CAPS, e.g., university OR college; works only with multiple single words</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">For more refined searches, use quotations for phrases ("El Nino") or a minus sign (-) for the Boolean NOT</li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><em>I'm feeling lucky</em> option returns the top-ranked source for a query</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Offers searching of Web pages in a number of languages; and the Google site can be set to display only the tips and instructions in a different language</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Has a number of special search features, listed on its page about<a href="http://www.google.com/help/features.html" target="blank"> Google Web Search Features</a></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Searches the deep Web for such information as:</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Files in Portable Document Format, Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, Rich Text Format and PostScript</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Images, from the Advanced Web Search interface or from <a href="http://images.google.com/" target="blank">Google Image Search</a></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Maps from Yahoo! or MapBlast (enter an address)</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Phone book entry (enter first and last name, and city or zip)</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Stock prices (enter a comapny's ticker symbol)</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">And lots more!</li></ul> <p><strong>Drawbacks:</strong> </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">New Web pages will not appear in your results, as it takes time for the creators of other Web pages to link to new resources, and for this activity to be reflected at Google</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Google results can be manipulated ("bombed") by people who maintain Web pages. Bloggers and others sometimes attempt to associate words with a link to a specific Web site to make a political or other point. For example, the search terms "miserable failure" point to the official George Bush site. This site may become the number one hit on Google, even though the words are not relevant to it.</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">A number of other issues are pointed out by librarian Gary Price in his piece, <a href="http://www.pandia.com/post/020-2.html" target="blank">A Couple of Comments about Google</a></li></ul> <p>We will be using Google to learn a number of search techniques. </p> <h3>Exercise: Multiple concept search</h3> <p><strong>Query:</strong> I'd like to learn more about Richard Nixon's resignation. </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> </p> <ol start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Type: <b>Nixon resignation</b> [Google defaults to Boolean AND logic] </li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Examine results for relevancy</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Note the related categories from the Google Web Directory listed at the top of the results screen</li></ol> <p>This is a good example of a search tool that defaults to AND logic. It wouldn't hurt to use the plus (+) sign in front of each term, <strong>+Nixon +resignation</strong>, but this is not necessary. However, if you want a common word such as "where" or "with," you should use a plus (+) sign, e.g., <strong>+where</strong>. </p> <h3>Exercise: Phrase Search</h3> <p>For another way to ensure that all your search terms appear in documents you retrieve, use phrase searching. Enclosing a phrase within quotation marks is a syntax that works on nearly all search engines on the Web. </p> <p><strong>Query</strong>: I'd like to see information on the movie Gone with the Wind. </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> "Gone with the Wind" [capitalization is not necessary] </p> <h3>Exercise: Field Search</h3> <p>Field searching is a way to narrow your search to specific parts of the document or record. Google offers a variety of ways to use field searching to better focus your results. First, let's try a simple search that is <em>not</em> a field search. </p> <p><strong>Query</strong>: I'd like to see information on slavery. </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> <strong>slavery</strong> </p> <p>This is isn't the wisest search to do in a large, full-text database like Google because it brings back too many results. </p> <p>Let's look into ways to focus our results by using field searching. We will try these searches using Google's basic search box. Keep in mind that most of Google's field search options are also available on their <a href="http://www.google.com/advanced_search">Advanced Search</a> form that is even easier to use. </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> <strong>intitle:slavery</strong> </p> <p>This is a much better search. This search will look for <strong>slavery</strong> in the title field embedded within the HTML document. Notice how all the page titles contain the word <strong>slavery.</strong> </p> <p><i>Search (c)</i>: <b>inurl:slavery</b> </p> <p>This is also a good alternative search. This search will look for <strong>slavery</strong> in the URL of the file, e.g., in a subdirectory named <strong>slavery</strong>, or in a filename such as <strong>slavery.html</strong>. Notice how all the results contain the word <strong>slavery</strong> somewhere in the URL. </p> <h3>Exercise: Putting it all together: Phrase and Field Search</h3> <p><strong>Query</strong>: I'd like information about the Mars rover missions from the NASA site. </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> <strong>+"Mars rover" +site:nasa.gov</strong> </p> <p>This is a nicely-focused search. It uses the plus (+) sign to be sure that all of our search terms appear on the retrieved documents. In addition, the phrase <strong>Mars Rover</strong> is enclosed in quotation marks, and we have narrowed our search to retrieve documents only from the NASA site. </p> <p>If field searching appeals to you, Google offers a complete list of <a href="http://www.google.com/help/operators.html" target="blank">Advanced Search Operators</a> that you can examine and try. Also, be sure to check out Google's <a href="http://www.google.com/advanced_search">Advanced Search</a> page. There are many useful options there and filling out the form is easy. Remember: a focused search is more likely to bring you the results that you're looking for. </p>Iqbalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17717709704239196285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1857553576057071396.post-24046745738292477002008-02-21T02:32:00.000-08:002008-02-21T02:34:49.176-08:00Yahoo Directory<h2><a href="http://dir.yahoo.com/" target="blank">http://dir.yahoo.com/</a></h2> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Use the Yahoo Directory when...</strong> </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">you are using the Web for relaxation or personal use</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">you want to browse through subject categories to see what is available on your topic</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">you are willing to use a collection of generally unevaluated material</li></ul> <p>Note that the Yahoo site consists of several components. A Yahoo search defaults to a search of the general Web, using its own search technology. This page discusses the <a href="http://dir.yahoo.com/">Yahoo Directory</a> portion of the Yahoo site. </p> <p><strong>Special Features of the Yahoo Directory:</strong> </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Is one of the largest subject directories on the Web</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Has broad subject coverage</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Has a hierarchical subject organization that is good for browsing</li></ul> <p><strong>Drawbacks:</strong> </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Accepts almost any site submitted for inclusion to its database and does not do much to evaluate for quality or accuracy</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Makes no attempt to be balanced in any subject area; it is mostly the passive recipient of sites submitted to it</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">The Yahoo editors are so busy that they don't have time to include all submitted sites into the directory; therefore, significant and high quality sites may never make it onto Yahoo </li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">There is generally sporadic coverage of academic subjects</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Tends to index only the major landing page of a site; therefore, any significant subsidiary pages on a related or different topic may not show up on this site</li></ul> <table class="MsoNormalTable" style="width: 464px; height: 412px;" border="1" cellpadding="0"> <tbody><tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b>Quick Tip!<o:p></o:p></b></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <h4 style="text-align: center;" align="center">The Yahoo Directory is NOT an appropriate research tool.</h4> <p>Most sites listed in the Yahoo directory are submitted by users, not by editors who are searching the Web for valuable content. Most annotations are written by the site creators and may therefore not be objective. Yahoo explicitly makes no guarantee that its editors check for quality or accuracy. </p> <p>If you wish to use a wide-ranging directory portal, try the <a href="http://dmoz.org/" target="blank">Open Directory Project.</a> This directory is maintained by thousands of volunteer editors and links to nearly 2 million resources on the Web. The quality of its content is generally more reliable than the content on Yahoo. </p> <p>An excellent example of the Open Directory is the version maintained by the <a href="http://www.google.com/" target="blank">Google</a> search engine, called the <a href="http://directory.google.com/" target="blank">Google Web Directory.</a> This version utilizes Google's Page Rank technology and ranks results by link popularity.</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table>Iqbalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17717709704239196285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1857553576057071396.post-59245616798969347392008-02-21T02:21:00.000-08:002008-02-21T02:22:52.406-08:00Don Busca<p style="font-weight: bold;" class="center"><span class="searchtitle"><a href="http://www.donbusca.com/" target="blank">http://www.donbusca.com/</a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Use Don Busca when...</strong> </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">You want the convenience of a meta search engine that searches multiple sources simultaneously </li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Your topic is made up of multiple concepts</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Your topic is somewhat obscure so a search across multiple sources might help</li></ul> <p><strong>Special Features:</strong> </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Simultaneously searches several major search engines and subject directories</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">With each result, also offers a cached version, a link to the site archive in the Wayback Machine, site info from a variety of sources and various bookmark management options</li></ul> <h3>Exercise: <st1:place st="on">Meta</st1:place> searching</h3> <p><em>Query</em>: Does violence on televsion have an effect children? </p> <p><strong>Search</strong>: <strong>+violence +television +children</strong> </p>Iqbalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17717709704239196285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1857553576057071396.post-72508558938385719932008-02-21T02:17:00.000-08:002008-02-21T02:18:29.377-08:00BUBL<h2><a href="http://bubl.ac.uk/link/" target="blank">http://bubl.ac.uk/link/</a></h2> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Use BUBL when...</strong> </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">you are researching a relatively broad topic</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">you want to browse through subject categories to see what is available on your topic</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">you want to retrieve a small number of substantive results - in this case, usually between 5 and 15 of the most relevant resources on any given topic</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">you want to retrieve results that have been selected by information professionals</li></ul> <p>BUBL LINK is a significant, professionally-maintained directory that has been around for years. Begun as a volunteer librarian effort, it was a <st1:country-region st="on">UK</st1:country-region> funded project hosted by the <st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:placename st="on">Strathclyde Library</st1:PlaceName> in <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Glasgow</st1:City>, <st1:country-region st="on">Scotland</st1:country-region></st1:place>. Since this funding ended, BUBL has been maintained by staff at the <a href="http://cdlr.strath.ac.uk/" target="blank">Centre for Digital Library Research</a> at the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:placename st="on">Strathclyde</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>. Its many years of experience are apparent in the breadth of its listings, useful indexing, variety of access points and cogent, well-written annotations. Its main interface, BUBL LINK/5:15 offers between 5 and 15 relevant sources for most subjects. </p> <p><b>Special Features:</b> </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Offers strong coverage in academic subject areas</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Has wide coverage within topics</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">5:15 interface makes it easy to find highly relevant resources broken down into targeted subject categories for accurate information finding</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Listings may be accessed by: Subject, A-Z, Dewey Decimal Classification, and Types, e.g., biographies, essays, image collections, directories</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Coverage is noticeably worldwide</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Has a user-friendly search form</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Updates to the directory are listed each month</li></ul> <p>Let's explore BUBL LINK to get an idea of its coverage. </p> <h3>Exercise: exploring a professional directory</h3> <ol start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Select the <strong>Science and Mathematics</strong> category</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">On the next screen, notice the large number of subtopics from which to choose</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Select a topic that interests you, and keep selecting you retrieve a list of recommended sites</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">On the final results screen, notice the link index on the left side of the screen. On the right, you'll see that each listing includes a title, annotation, author and Dewey class.</li></ol> <p>Here is a list of other recommended subject directories with evaluated content. It is highly recommended that they become a part of your research repertoire. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>INFOMINE: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections</strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><a href="http://infomine.ucr.edu/" target="blank">http://infomine.ucr.edu/</a><br />INFOMINE is a large collection of scholarly Internet resources collectively maintained by libraries of the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:placename st="on">California</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> and offering many interesting search and retrieval options</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Librarians' Internet Index</strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><a href="http://lii.org/" target="blank">http://www.lii.org/</a><br />The LII is a well-organized, selective, and continually updated collection maintained by a large number of indexers in <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Intute</strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><a href="http://www.intute.ac.uk/" target="blank">http://www.intute.ac.uk/</a><br />This collection from <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Great Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region> is a gateway to large academic-oriented collections in major subject disciplines.</p>Iqbalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17717709704239196285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1857553576057071396.post-58997345081332164872008-02-21T02:07:00.000-08:002008-02-21T02:10:17.944-08:00Brainboost<h2><a href="http://www.brainboost.com/" target="blank">http://www.brainboost.com/</a></h2> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Use Brainboost when...</strong> </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">you are looking for the answer to a fact-based question that usually has one correct answer</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">you want to ask your question in plain English</li></ul> <p><b>Special Features:</b> </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Accepts plain English queries, so there are no searching rules to learn</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Tends to work best with queries that have precise and factual answers</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Offers a set of related questions that also retrieve results</li></ul> <p><strong>Drawbacks:</strong> </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Not all questions may answered with equal accuracy</li></ul> <h3>Exercise: Plain English query</h3> <p><i>Query</i>: Where can I learn to use a mouse? </p> <p><em>Search:</em> <strong>Where can I learn to use a mouse?</strong> </p> <span style="">Examine the results. Note that Brainboost did a good job of distinguishing the concept of <b>mouse</b> as an animal and <strong>mouse</strong> as a computer tool based on the way we asked the question. If you ask <strong>What is a mouse?</strong> you will get dictionary definitions that cover different uses of this word.</span>Iqbalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17717709704239196285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1857553576057071396.post-30127081113613536732008-02-19T04:48:00.000-08:002008-02-21T02:51:43.303-08:00Boolean Searching On the Internet<h1><u>Boolean Searching on the Internet<o:p></o:p></u></h1> <h1> </h1><h1><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This post is about the principles of search logic and the different manifestations of this logic on Web search engines<o:p></o:p></span></h1> <p>The Internet is a vast computer database. As such, its contents must be searched according to the rules of computer database searching. Much database searching is based on the principles of Boolean logic. Boolean logic refers to the logical relationship among search terms, and is named for the British-born Irish mathematician George Boole. </p> <p>On Internet search engines, the options for constructing logical relationships among search terms extend beyond the traditional practice of Boolean searching. This will be covered in the section below, Boolean Searching on the Internet. </p> <p>Boolean logic consists of three logical operators: </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">OR</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">AND</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">NOT</li></ul> <p>Each operator can be visually described by using Venn diagrams, as shown below. </p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"> <hr align="center" size="2" width="100%"> </div> <p><b><span style="font-size:14;">OR <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" spt="75" preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"> </v:formulas> <v:path extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" connecttype="rect"> <o:lock ext="edit" aspectratio="t"> </v:shapetype><v:shape id="_x0000_i1028" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="Venn diagram for OR" style="'width:151.5pt;height:102pt'"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\IQBAL~1.KAL\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\02\clip_image001.jpg" href="http://www.internettutorials.net/images/or.jpg"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/IQBAL%7E1.KAL/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/02/clip_image001.jpg" alt="Venn diagram for OR" shapes="_x0000_i1028" height="136" width="202" /><!--[endif]--></p> <p><b><span style="font-size:14;">college OR university <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p><strong>Query: I would like information about college.</strong> </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">In this search, we will retrieve records in which AT LEAST ONE of the search terms is present. We are searching on the terms <strong>college</strong> and also <strong>university</strong> since documents containing either of these words might be relevant.</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">This is illustrated by:</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">the shaded circle with the word <strong>college</strong> representing all the records that contain the word "college"</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">the shaded circle with the word <strong>university</strong> representing all the records that contain the word "university"</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">the shaded overlap area representing all the records that contain both "college" and "university"</li></ul> <p>OR logic is most commonly used to search for synonymous terms or concepts. </p> <p>Here is an example of how OR logic works: </p> <table class="MsoNormalTable" style="" border="1" cellpadding="0"> <tbody><tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b>Search terms<o:p></o:p></b></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b>Results<o:p></o:p></b></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">college</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">396,482</p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">university</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">590,791</p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">college OR university</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">819,214</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>OR logic collates the results to retrieve all the unique records containing one term, the other, or both. </p> <p>The <em>more</em> terms or concepts we combine in a search with OR logic, the <em>more</em> records we will retrieve. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="_x0000_i1031" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="Venn diagram for OR" style="'width:150.75pt;height:174pt'"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\IQBAL~1.KAL\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\02\clip_image002.jpg" href="http://www.internettutorials.net/images/or3.jpg"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/IQBAL%7E1.KAL/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/02/clip_image002.jpg" alt="Venn diagram for OR" shapes="_x0000_i1031" height="232" width="201" /><!--[endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal">For example:</p> <table class="MsoNormalTable" style="" border="1" cellpadding="0"> <tbody><tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b>Search terms<o:p></o:p></b></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b>Results<o:p></o:p></b></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">college</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">396,482</p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">university</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">590,791</p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">college OR university</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">819,214</p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">college OR university OR campus</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">929,677</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"> <hr align="center" size="2" width="100%"> </div> <p><b><span style="font-size:14;">AND <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="_x0000_i1032" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="Venn diagram for AND" style="'width:151.5pt;height:102pt'"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\IQBAL~1.KAL\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\02\clip_image003.jpg" href="http://www.internettutorials.net/images/and.jpg"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/IQBAL%7E1.KAL/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/02/clip_image003.jpg" alt="Venn diagram for AND" shapes="_x0000_i1032" height="136" width="202" /><!--[endif]--></p> <p><b><span style="font-size:14;">poverty AND crime <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p><strong>Query: I'm interested in the relationship between poverty and crime.</strong> </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">In this search, we retrieve records in which BOTH of the search terms are present</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">This is illustrated by the shaded area overlapping the two circles representing all the records that contain both the word "poverty" and the word "crime"</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Notice how we do not retrieve any records with only "poverty" or only "crime"</li></ul> <p>Here is an example of how AND logic works: </p> <table class="MsoNormalTable" style="" border="1" cellpadding="0"> <tbody><tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b>Search terms<o:p></o:p></b></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b>Results<o:p></o:p></b></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">poverty</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">76,342</p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">crime</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">348,252</p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">poverty AND crime</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">12,998</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>The <em>more</em> terms or concepts we combine in a search with AND logic, the <em>fewer</em> records we will retrieve. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="_x0000_i1030" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="Venn diagram for AND" style="'width:150pt;height:154.5pt'"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\IQBAL~1.KAL\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\02\clip_image004.jpg" href="http://www.internettutorials.net/images/and3.jpg"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/IQBAL%7E1.KAL/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/02/clip_image004.jpg" alt="Venn diagram for AND" shapes="_x0000_i1030" height="206" width="200" /><!--[endif]--></p> <p>For example: </p> <table class="MsoNormalTable" style="" border="1" cellpadding="0"> <tbody><tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b>Search terms<o:p></o:p></b></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b>Results<o:p></o:p></b></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">poverty</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">76,342</p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">crime</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">348,252</p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">poverty AND crime</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">12,998</p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">poverty AND crime AND gender</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">1,220</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>A few Internet search engines make use of the <em>proximity operator</em> NEAR. A proximity operator determines the closeness of terms within the text of a source document. NEAR is a restrictive <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">AND.</st1:place></st1:country-region> The closeness of the search terms is determined by the particular search engine. Google defaults to proximity searching by default. </p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"> <hr align="center" size="2" width="100%"> </div> <p><b><span style="font-size:14;">NOT <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="_x0000_i1029" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="Venn diagram for NOT" style="'width:151.5pt;height:102pt'"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\IQBAL~1.KAL\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\02\clip_image005.jpg" href="http://www.internettutorials.net/images/not.jpg"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/IQBAL%7E1.KAL/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/02/clip_image005.jpg" alt="Venn diagram for NOT" shapes="_x0000_i1029" height="136" width="202" /><!--[endif]--></p> <p><b><span style="font-size:14;">cats NOT dogs <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p><strong>Query: I want information about cats, but I want to avoid anything about dogs.</strong> </p> <ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">In this search, we retrieve records in which ONLY ONE of the terms is present</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">This is illustrated by the shaded area with the word <strong>cats</strong> representing all the records containing the word "cats"</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">No records are retrieved in which the word "dogs" appears, even if the word "cats" appears there too</li></ul> <p>Here is an example of how NOT logic works: </p> <table class="MsoNormalTable" style="" border="1" cellpadding="0"> <tbody><tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b>Search terms<o:p></o:p></b></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b>Results<o:p></o:p></b></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">cats</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">86,747</p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">dogs</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">130,424</p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">cats NOT dogs</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">65,223</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>NOT logic excludes records from your search results. Be careful when you use NOT: the term you do want may be present in an important way in documents that also contain the word you wish to avoid. </p> <h1><a name="boolean"></a>Boolean Searching on the Internet</h1> <p>When you use an Internet search engine, the use of Boolean logic may be manifested in three distinct ways: </p> <ol start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Full Boolean logic with the use of the logical operators</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Implied Boolean logic with keyword searching</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Predetermined language in a user fill-in template</li></ol> <h3>1. Full Boolean logic with the use of the logical operators</h3> <p>Few search engines nowadays offer the option to do full Boolean searching with the use of the Boolean logical operators. It is more common for them to offer simpler methods of constructing search statements, specifically implied Boolean logic and template language. These methods are covered below. </p> <p>If you want to construct search queries using Boolean logical opeartors, you will need to experiment with search engines and see what happens when you search. You can try some of the search statements shown below. </p> <p><strong>Examples:</strong> </p> <p><strong>Query:</strong> I need information about cats. </p> <p><strong>Boolean logic:</strong> OR </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> cats OR felines </p> <p><strong>Query:</strong> I'm interested in dyslexia in adults. </p> <p><strong>Boolean logic:</strong> AND </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> dyslexia AND adults </p> <p><strong>Query:</strong> I'm interested in radiation, but not nuclear radiation. </p> <p><strong>Boolean logic:</strong> NOT </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> radiation NOT nuclear </p> <p><strong>Query:</strong> I want to learn about cat behavior. </p> <p><strong>Boolean logic:</strong> OR, AND </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> (cats OR felines) AND behavior </p> <p>Note: Use of parentheses in this search is known as <em>forcing the order of processing.</em> In this case, we surround the OR words with parentheses so that the search engine will process the two related terms first. Next, the search engine will combine this result with the last part of the search that involves the second concept. Using this method, we are assured that the semantically-related OR terms are kept together as a logical unit. </p> <h3>2. Implied Boolean logic with keyword searching</h3> <p><em>Keyword searching</em> refers to a search type in which you enter terms representing the concepts you wish to retrieve. Boolean operators are not used. </p> <p><em>Implied Boolean logic</em> refers to a search in which symbols are used to represent Boolean logical operators. In this type of search on the Internet, the <em>absence</em> of a symbol is also significant, as the space between keywords defaults to either OR logic or AND logic. Nowadays, most search engines default to AND. </p> <p>Implied Boolean logic has become so common in Web searching that it may be considered a de facto standard. </p> <p><strong>Examples:</strong> </p> <p><strong>Query:</strong> I need information about cats. </p> <p><strong>Boolean logic:</strong> OR </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> [None] </p> <p>It is extremely rare for a search engine to interpret the space between keywords as the Boolean OR. Rather, the space between keywords is interpreted as AND. To do an OR search, choose either option #1 above (full Boolean logic) or option #3 below (user fill-in template). </p> <p><strong>Query:</strong> I'm interested in dyslexia in adults. </p> <p><strong>Boolean logic:</strong> AND </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> +dyslexia +adults </p> <p><strong>Query:</strong> I'm interested in radiation, but not nuclear radiation. </p> <p><strong>Boolean logic:</strong> NOT </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> radiation -nuclear </p> <p><strong>Query:</strong> I want to learn about cat behavior. </p> <p><strong>Boolean logic:</strong> OR, AND </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> [none] </p> <p>Since this query involves an OR search, it cannot be done with keyword searching. To conduct this type of search, choose either option #1 above (full Boolean logic) or option #3 below (user fill-in template). </p> <h3>3. Predetermined language in a user fill-in template</h3> <p>Some search engines offer a search template which allows the user to choose the Boolean operator from a menu. Usually the logical operator is expressed with substitute language rather than with the operator itself. </p> <p><strong>Examples:</strong> </p> <p><strong>Query:</strong> I need information about cats </p> <p><strong>Boolean logic:</strong> OR </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> Any of these words/Can contain the words/Should contain the words </p> <p><strong>Query:</strong> I'm interested in dyslexia in adults. </p> <p><strong>Boolean logic:</strong> AND </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> All of these words/Must contain the words </p> <p><strong>Query:</strong> I'm interested in radiation, but not nuclear radiation. </p> <p><strong>Boolean logic:</strong> NOT </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> Must not contain the words/Should not contain the words </p> <p><strong>Query:</strong> I want to learn about cat behavior. </p> <p><strong>Boolean logic:</strong> OR, AND </p> <p><strong>Search:</strong> Combine options as above if the template allows multiple search statements </p> <p><b><span style="background: rgb(238, 232, 205) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;font-size:15;" >Quick Comparison Chart:<br />Full Boolean vs. Implied Boolean vs. Templates</span></b><b><span style="font-size:15;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <table class="MsoNormalTable" style="" border="1" cellpadding="0"> <tbody><tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b> <o:p></o:p></b></p><br /></td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b>Full Boolean<o:p></o:p></b></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b>Implied Boolean<o:p></o:p></b></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b>Template Terminology<o:p></o:p></b></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">OR</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">college or university</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">[rarely available]<br />*<em>see note below</em></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">any of these words<br />can contain the words<br />should contain the words</p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">AND</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">poverty and crime</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">+poverty +crime</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">all of these words<br />must contain the words</p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">NOT</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">cats not dogs</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">cats -dogs</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">must not contain the words<br />should not contain the words</p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">NEAR, etc.</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">cats near dogs</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">N/A</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">near</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>* Most multi-term search statements will resolve to AND logic at search engines that use AND as the default. Nowadays most search engines default to AND. Always play it safe, however, and consult the Help files at each site to find out which logic is the default. </p> <p><b><span style="background: rgb(238, 232, 205) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;font-size:15;" >Where to Search:<br />A Selected List</span></b><b><span style="font-size:15;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <table class="MsoNormalTable" style="" border="1" cellpadding="0"> <tbody><tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b>Feature<o:p></o:p></b></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b>Search Engine<o:p></o:p></b></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">Boolean operators</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.dogpile.com/" target="blank">Dogpile</a> | <a href="http://www.google.com/" target="blank">Google</a> [OR only] | <a href="http://ixquick.com/" target="blank">Ixquick</a> </p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">Full Boolean logic with parentheses, e.g.,<br /><em>behavior and (cats or felines)</em></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://alltheweb.com/advanced?advanced=1&&q=" target="blank">AlltheWeb Advanced Search</a> | <a href="http://www.altavista.com/web/adv" target="blank">AltaVista Advanced Web Search</a> | <a href="http://ixquick.com/" target="blank">Ixquick</a> | <a href="http://search.msn.com/" target="blank">Live Search</a> </p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">Implied Boolean +/-</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">Most search engines offer this option </p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">Boolean logic<br />using search form terminology</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">Most advanced search options offer this, including:<br /><a href="http://alltheweb.com/advanced?advanced=1&&q=" target="blank">AllTheWeb Advanced Search</a> | <a href="http://www.altavista.com/?qbmode=" target="blank">AltaVista Advanced Web Search</a> <a href="http://search.aol.com/aolcom/advanced.jsp" target="blank">AOL Advanced Search</a> | <a href="http://www.ask.com/webadvanced">Ask.com Advanced Search</a> | <a href="http://www.google.com/advanced_search" target="blank">Google Advanced Search</a> | <a href="http://search.yahoo.com/search/options?fr=fp-top&p=" target="blank">Yahoo Advanced Web Search</a> </p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal">Proximity operators</p> </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://beta.exalead.com/search" target="blank">Exalead</a> | <a href="http://www.google.com/" target="blank">Google</a> [by default] | <a href="http://ixquick.com/" target="blank">Ixquick</a> </p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p><o:p> </o:p></p>Iqbalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17717709704239196285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1857553576057071396.post-49581563942071832962008-02-19T03:36:00.000-08:002008-02-19T03:50:46.031-08:00General Search Strategies<ul type="disc"><br /><li><strong>Most search engines employ the principles of Boolean logic in the formulation of search queries.</strong> See <strong>Boolean Searching on the Internet</strong> detailed information about search strategy. If you take the time to understand the basics of Boolean logic, you will have a better chance of search success.</li><br /><li><strong>Search engines tend to have a default Boolean logic.</strong> This means that the space between multiple search terms defaults to either OR logic or AND logic. <em>This has become a de facto standard.</em> It is imperative that you know which logical operator is the default. Nowadays, the default logic tends to be AND, but you should always check the site's Help file to make sure.</li><br /><li><strong>Another de facto standard is the requirement to search for phrases within quotations,</strong> e.g., "dealth penalty".</li><br /><li><strong>If the option is available, use proximity operators (e.g., NEAR) if these are available rather than specifying an AND relationship between your keywords.</strong> This will make sure that your search terms are located near each other in the full text document. The closer your terms are placed, the more possibly relevant the document will be. Google does proximity searching by default. See <strong>Boolean Searching on the Internet</strong> for a list of more sites that offer proximity searching.</li><br /><li><strong>Field searching is another extremely important way of limiting your search results in large search engines that contain millions of full-text files.</strong> For example, </li></ul><p><strong>TITLE:slavery</strong><br /><br />in a search engine such as AltaVista will bring you more relevant hits than merely searching on the keyword <strong>slavery</strong>. </p><ul type="disc"><li><strong>To enhance subject searches, try the URL field to narrow your results.</strong> The URL field offers a good way to search for certain subject terms. This is because of the make-up of the URL.</li></ul><h4>Anatomy of a URL</h4><p>This is a URL on the CNN home page<br /><br /><strong>http://www.cnn.com/feedback/comments.html</strong><br /><br />This URL is typical of addresses hosted in domains in the United States. Structure of this URL: </p><ol type="1"><li>Protocol: <strong>http</strong></li><li>Host computer name: <strong>www</strong></li><li>Second-level domain name: <strong>cnn</strong></li><li>Top-level domain name: <strong>com</strong></li><li>Directory name: <strong>feedback</strong></li><li>File name: <strong>comments.html</strong></li></ol><p>The <em>directory name</em> and <em>file name</em> often contain subject terms. These can be searched with the URL field.<br /><br />For example:<br /><br /><strong>URL:slavery</strong><br /><br />will give you more relevant results than the keyword <strong>slavery</strong> by searching for this term as a directory name or a file name.</p><ul type="disc"><li><strong>To find a home page when you know the </strong><em><strong>location or sponsor</strong></em><strong> of the information, use the SITE field.</strong> In this case, you search on the top-level and second-level domain names together, and then use AND logic to add subject terms to your search.</li></ul><p>Examples of sites:<br /><br />mit.edu<br />nasa.gov<br />microsoft.com<br /></p><p>For example, if you are searching for information about spacewalks conducted by NASA, go to AltaVista and try something like this:<br /><br />+site:nasa.gov +spacewalks<br /><br />This search will limit your results to files at the NASA Web site.</p><ul type="disc"><li><strong>Beware of searching on three-letter top-level domains to narrow your search. Do NOT try to search for the URL </strong><em><strong>edu</strong></em><strong> or </strong><em><strong>com.</strong></em> There are too many pages in these domains for the search engine to handle. On the other hand, searching for the URL <em>gov</em> may be more successful because there are far fewer of these pages. Still, all searches on top-level domains should be used with caution.</li></ul><p>Keep in mind that there are a few search services that specialize in retrieving Web pages from individual top-level domains. For example: </p><ul type="disc"><li><a href="http://www.searchedu.com/" target="blank">SearchEdu.com</a> limits results to the <em>edu, gov</em> and <em>mil</em> domains</li><li><a href="http://www.google.com/ig/usgov" target="blank">Google U.S. Government Search</a> limits results to the <em>gov</em> and <em>mil</em> domains</li></ul><p>Use these specialty engines when you wish to limit your results to these domains, as your results are more likely to be accurate and comprehensive. </p><ul type="disc"><li><strong>Limiting a search by a two-letter country code, also a top-level domain, might be a viable option.</strong> Take a look at this <a href="http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/websoft/wwwstat/country-codes.txt" target="blank">list of ISO 3166 Internet country codes</a>.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" border="1"><tbody><tr><td><p align="center"><strong>Quick Tip!</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Best Bet Search Syntax</strong></p><ul type="disc"><li>Place the plus sign ( + ) in front of all words you wish to retrieve</li></ul><p><strong>+hibernation +bears</strong></p><ul type="disc"><li>Place a phrase within quotations</li></ul><p><strong>"freedom of the press"</strong><br />Putting it all together:<br /><strong>+"drug policy" +"United States"</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table></li></ul>Iqbalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17717709704239196285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1857553576057071396.post-42370810142727645032008-02-19T03:01:00.001-08:002008-02-19T03:15:12.499-08:00Quick Tips<p><br />This will help you about when you should use what.</p><p><br /><strong>When should I use a subject directory?</strong> </p><ul type="disc"><li>When you have a broad topic or idea to research</li><li>When you want to see a list of sites on your topic often recommended and annotated by experts</li><li>When you want to look around in a controlled environment</li><li>When you want to retrieve a list of sites relevant to your topic, rather than numerous individual pages contained within these sites</li><li>When you want to search for the site title, annotation and (if available) assigned keywords to retrieve relevant material rather than the full text of a document</li><li>When you want to avoid viewing low-content documents that often turn up on search engines.</li></ul><p><strong>When should I use a search engine?</strong> </p><ul type="disc"><li>When you have a narrow or obscure topic or idea to research</li><li>When you are looking for a specific site</li><li>When you want to search the full text of millions of pages</li><li>When you want to retrieve a large number of documents on your topic</li><li>When you want to search for particular types of documents, file types, source locations, languages, date last modified, etc.</li><li>When you want to take advantage of newer retrieval technologies such as concept clustering, ranking by popularity, link ranking, and so on</li></ul><p><strong>When should I use the deep Web?</strong> </p><ul type="disc"><li>When you want dynamically changing content such as the latest news, job postings, available airline flights, etc.</li><li>When you want to find information that is normally stored in a database, such as a phone book listing, listings of lawyers, doctors, plants etc., searchable collections of laws, geographical and company data, and so on. </li></ul><br /><p>Here are sample topics and the tools you should use to retrieve information about them. This rule is not absolute, but should give you some general guidelines about how to approach subject directories and search engines as research tools. </p>Iqbalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17717709704239196285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1857553576057071396.post-54038966782213267672008-02-19T02:28:00.000-08:002008-02-19T03:15:50.333-08:00Selecting a Tool for Your Search<p><br />This post offers general guidelines to get you started on your search of the Web. It is important to think about your information need <em>before</em> selecting a search tool. To help you do this, the chart below lists different kinds of questions, information needs and preferences that you may have. These are organized into categories that list a sample of tools that you should try.<br />This will help you select search tools based on particular features that can help you find what you want. </p><table cellpadding="0" border="1"><tbody><tr><td><p align="center"><strong>Query Types</strong></p></td><td><p align="center"><strong>Examples</strong></p></td><td><p align="center"><strong>What to use</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><ul type="disc"><li>Your topic is general</li><li>You want to view a collection of sites recommended by experts</li><li>You want to browse the possibilities</li><li>You want a limited number of high-quality results</li></ul></td><td><ul type="disc"><li>I'm doing research on drug abuse</li></ul></td><td><ul type="disc"><li>Subject Directories, especially academic and professional</li><li>Some general queries might be helped by the next group of options below</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><ul type="disc"><li>You want results organized into concept clusters rather than one long list of results</li><li>You are doing in-depth research that includes an exploration of several subtopics</li><li>You want a better understanding of the scope of your topic</li><li>You are unfamiliar with your topic</li></ul></td><td><ul type="disc"><li>I'm doing research on discrimination</li></ul></td><td><ul type="disc"><li>Concept clustering search engines: <a href="http://www.clusty.com/" target="blank">Clusty,</a> <a href="http://www.iboogie.com/" target="blank">iBoogie,</a> <a href="http://www.infonetware.com/" target="blank">Infonetware,</a> <a href="http://www.queryserver.com/search.htm" target="blank">Query Server</a> </li></ul><ul type="disc"><li>Search engines that offer searches on similar documents in the results list, or provide a hyperlinked list of alternative topics for retrieving related results: <a href="http://www.altavista.com/" target="blank">AltaVista,</a>, <a href="http://ask.com/" target="blank">Ask.com</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/" target="blank">Google,</a> <a href="http://ixquick.com/" target="blank">Ixquick</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><ul type="disc"><li>Your topic is narrow and limited in scope</li><li>You are looking for specific site/fact/individual/event, etc.</li><li>Your topic consists of more than one concept</li><li>Your topic is obscure</li><li>You are looking for a specific domain, file type, geographic location, etc.</li></ul></td><td><ul type="disc"><li>I'm doing research on age discrimination</li><li>I'm researching civil rights in Turkey</li><li>I'm looking for the site of the Society of American Registered Architects</li><li>I'm looking for information about Nelson Mandela from South Africa</li></ul></td><td><ul type="disc"><li>Peer ranking search engines: <a href="http://ask.com/" target="blank">Ask.com</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/" target="blank">Google</a></li><li>General <a href="http://www.internettutorials.net/engines.html" target="blank">Search Engines</a></li><li>Meta search engines: <a href="http://www.fazzle.com/" target="blank">Fazzle</a>, <a href="http://ixquick.com/" target="blank">Ixquick</a>, <a href="http://www.internettutorials.net/engines.html#meta" target="blank">more...</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><ul type="disc"><li>You are looking for the appropriate search terms</li><li>Your search terms are ambiguous</li></ul></td><td><ul type="disc"><li>What search terms should I use to investigate my topic?</li><li>How can I learn about bridge?</li></ul></td><td><ul type="disc"><li>Thesaurus-creating search engine: <a href="http://www.surfwax.com/" target="blank">SurfWax</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><ul type="disc"><li>You are looking for dynamically-changing information</li><li>You are looking for very recent information</li><li>You are looking for non-textual files such as software, graphics, multimedia, documents in PDF format,etc</li><li>You are looking for information usually stored in a database such as a directory, phone book, etc.</li></ul></td><td><ul type="disc"><li>I need today's stock price for Microsoft</li><li>I want to search news stories from yesterday</li><li>I want to see a photo of the World Trade Center</li><li>I need a list of lawyers in Albany, N.Y.</li><li>I want to research the laws of California on computer crime</li></ul></td><td><ul type="disc"><li>Deep Web sources:</li></ul><ul type="circle"><li>Specialized search engines: <a href="http://www.findsounds.com/" target="blank">FindSounds.com</a>, <a href="http://www.wnnetwork.com/" target="blank">WorldNewsNetwork</a>, many more</li><li>Search engines with specialized search offerings: <a href="http://www.altavista.com/" target="blank">AltaVista</a>, <a href="http://www.icerocket.com/" target="blank">IceRocket</a>, many more</li><li>General <a href="http://www.internettutorials.net/engines.html" target="blank">Search engines</a>: keyword searches may turn up a relevant site with a searchable database</li><li><a href="http://www.internettutorials.net/subject.html" target="blank">Directories</a>: keyword searches may turn up a relevant site with a searchable database</li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table>Iqbalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17717709704239196285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1857553576057071396.post-16209541645649677852008-02-15T05:51:00.000-08:002008-02-19T03:16:32.324-08:00Where to Start Searching<p><br /><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Where to start searching</strong><a name="types"></a>The Internet can be valuable source of information, but sometimes it is hard to know where to start searching. There are several different <strong>types of search tools</strong> you can use to help you find what you are looking for on the World Wide Web</p><p><strong>Types of Search Tools:</strong></p><table style="WIDTH: 450px; HEIGHT: 242px" cellpadding="0" border="1"><tbody><tr><td align="middle" width="156"><strong>Search Engines</strong> </td><td align="middle" width="234"><p><strong>Subject Directories</strong></p></td><td align="middle" width="202"><p><strong>MetaSearch Tools</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td align="middle" width="156"><p><a href="http://www.alltheweb.com/">All the Web</a></p></td><td align="middle" width="234"><p><a href="http://about.com/">About.com</a></p></td><td align="middle" width="202"><p><a href="http://clusty.com/">Clusty</a></p></td></tr><tr><td align="middle" width="156"><p><a href="http://www.altavista.com/">Alta Vista</a></p></td><td align="middle" width="234"><p><a href="http://library.sau.edu/bestinfo/">Best Information on the Net</a></p></td><td align="middle" width="202"><p><a href="http://www.dogpile.com/">Dogpile</a></p></td></tr><tr><td align="middle" width="156"><p><a href="http://www.ask.com/">Ask.com</a></p></td><td align="middle" width="234"><p><a href="http://directory.google.com/">Google Web Directory</a></p></td><td align="middle" width="202"><p><a href="http://www.excite.com/">Excite</a></p></td></tr><tr><td align="middle" width="156"><p><a href="http://www.google.com/">Google</a></p></td><td align="middle" width="234"><p><a href="http://infomine.ucr.edu/">Infomine</a></p></td><td align="middle" width="202"><p><a href="http://www.ixquick.com/">Ixquick</a></p></td></tr><tr><td align="middle" width="156"><p><a href="http://hotbot.lycos.com/">HotBot</a></p></td><td align="middle" width="234"><p><a href="http://www.lii.org/">Librarians' Internet Index </a></p></td><td align="middle" width="202"><p><a href="http://www.metacrawler.com/index_metafind.html">Metacrawler</a></p></td></tr><tr><td align="middle" width="156"><p><a href="http://www.live.com/">Live Search</a> </p></td><td align="middle" width="234"><p><a href="http://dmoz.org/">Open Directory Project</a></p></td><td align="middle" width="202"><p><a href="http://www.search.com/">Search.com</a></p></td></tr><tr><td align="middle" width="156"><p><a href="http://www.lycos.com/">Lycos</a></p></td><td align="middle" width="234"><p><a href="http://dir.yahoo.com/">Yahoo Directory</a></p></td><td align="middle" width="202"><p><a href="http://www.surfwax.com/">SurfWax</a></p></td></tr><tr><td align="middle" width="156"><p><a href="http://www.yahoo.com/">Yahoo</a></p></td><td align="middle" width="234"><p></p><br /></td><td align="middle" width="202"><p></p><br /></td></tr><br /></tbody><br /></table><br /><p><a name="different"></a><strong></strong><br /><strong>What is the Difference Between Types of Search Tools?</strong></p><br /><table style="WIDTH: 450px; HEIGHT: 170px" cellpadding="0" border="1"><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Search Engines </strong>are databases created by computers using an automated process. "Web spiders" or "crawlers" search web sites and add the information to the database. They attempt to provide comprehensive coverage of the Web, and do not evaluate the sites added to the database.<strong>When to Use Search Engines?</strong> Use search engines when you are looking for a <strong>narrow, specific topic</strong>, or a particular document or web site. Most search engines have <strong>help</strong> links that will give you in depth information on available searching features.</p></td></tr></tbody></table><table style="WIDTH: 448px; HEIGHT: 208px" cellpadding="0" border="1"><br /><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Subject Directories</strong> are databases created by people who evaluate the sites that are added. They are arranged by subject categories, and are usually also searchable by keyword. Some subject directories also rate the quality of the sites they index.<strong>When to Use Subject Directories?</strong> Use subject directories when you want <strong>broad coverage of a topic</strong>. Directories will provide you with a list of web sites dealing with a particular topic, rather than just links to individual pages within sites. Directories are also useful if you want to see sites that have been <strong>evaluated</strong> by individuals knowledgeable on a particular topic. Often when using search engines for a subject search, you end up with many documents that are not relevant, or don't provide much content. A subject directory will help you find more <strong>content-rich</strong>, quality web sites on your subject.</p></td><br /></tr></tbody></table><table style="WIDTH: 447px; HEIGHT: 172px" cellpadding="0" border="1"><br /><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>MetaSearch Tools</strong> search several of the different search engines at one time, and provide you with results. This may sound like a great way to search, but you only get about 10% of the results from any individual database searched.<br /><br /><strong>When to Use MetaSearch Tools?</strong> Use MetaSearch tools when your topic is specific, and you want to get a sampling of what information may be available, or what results your keywords might return. MetaSearch tools can be used for <strong>quick searches</strong>, but if you don't get results, start with one of the good single search engines like <a href="http://www.google.com/">Google</a>.</p></td><br /></tr></tbody></table>Iqbalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17717709704239196285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1857553576057071396.post-75161361507300048242008-02-15T05:42:00.000-08:002008-02-19T03:17:03.575-08:00Basic Searching Aids<p><br /><strong>Boolean Operators</strong><strong>:</strong><br /><br />Most search engines now offer boolean capabilities. Boolean operators express different and specific relationships between words and phrases used in the search.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff6666;">AND</span></strong> limits a search by requiring each term must be present. For example a search on learning AND cognition specifies that you want information on BOTH learning and cognition. If an article only has the term learning in it, it will not be matched. Using AND will usually produce fewer hits.<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>OR</strong> </span>expands the search by combining discrete terms into a conditional set. Searching for learning OR cognition specifies that you want information either learning or cognition. Using OR usually produces the most hits.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff6666;">NOT</span></strong> limits the search by specifying that a term not be present. Searching for learning NOT training will find matches with the term learning but not training.<br /><br /><strong>Proximity Operators</strong>:<br /><br />With some search engines you can use proximity operators such as OpenText's <strong><span style="color:#ff6666;">NEAR</span></strong> operators or Webcrawler's <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>ADJ</strong>ecent</span> or the <strong><span style="color:#ff6666;">FOLLOWED BY</span></strong> operator. With each of these operators, word order is important. For example: if you place square brackets such as [learning theory] causes a hit if they are found within 100 words of each other (Gray, 1966).<br /><br /><strong>Truncation(*):</strong><br /><br />You can use truncation on most search engines. That is, you can use the asterisk (*) operator to end a root word. For example: searching for teach* will find teacher, teaching, and teachers. Note: the asterisk can not be the first or second letter of a root word.<br /><br /><strong>Wildcard(?):</strong><br /><br />You can find words that share some but not all characters using the question mark (?) operator. For example: Johns?n will find Johnson and Johnsen. Note: the ? can not be the first character in the search.<br /><br />You may also use combinations of truncation (*) and single character wildcard (?) in your searches.</p>Iqbalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17717709704239196285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1857553576057071396.post-49435104723329286232008-02-15T04:34:00.000-08:002008-02-15T05:39:18.262-08:00Five Principles of Smart Searching<p><br /><strong>The Key to Successful Searching</strong>:<br /><br />Remember, you are smarter than a computer. Use your intelligence. Search engines are fast, but dumb.<br /><br />A search engine's ability to understand what you want is very limited. It will obediently look for occurrences of your keywords all over the Web, but it doesn't understand what your keywords mean or why they're important to you. To a search engine, a keyword is just a string of characters. It doesn't know the difference between cancer the crab and cancer the disease...and it doesn't care.<br /><br />But <strong><em>you</em></strong>know what you query means (at least, we hope you do!). Therefore, you must supply the brains. The search engine will supply the raw computing power.<br /><br /><strong>The principles of Smart Searching: </strong><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong><em>1. Know Where to Look First</em></strong><br /></span><br />Are you looking for information about a person? A company? A software product? A health-related problem? Do you want to find a job? Get a date? Plan a vacation? Do you need to research a term paper? Document a news story? Size up your company's competition?<br /><br />There are various databases containing specific information that might be more useful to you than a general search engine.<br /><br /><em><span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>2. Fine-tune your keywords </strong><br /></span></em><br />If you're searching on a noun (the name of a person, place or thing), remember that most nouns are subsets of other nouns. Enter the smallest possible subset that describes what you want. Be specific. Try to meet the search engine halfway by refining your search <em>before </em>you begin.<br /><br /><em><span style="color:#ff6666;">Example:</span></em> If you want to buy a car, don't enter the keyword "car" if you can enter the keyword "Toyota." Better still, enter the phrase "Toyota Dealerships" AND the name of the city where you live.<br /><br /><em><span style="color:#339999;"><strong><span style="color:#ff6666;">3. Be Refined</span> </strong><br /></span></em><br />Read the help files and take advantage of the available search refining options. Use phrases, if possible. Use the Boolean AND (or the character +) to include other keywords that you would expect to find in relevant documents.<br /><br />Also learn to EXCLUDE with the Boolean NOT. Excluding is particularly important as the Web grows and more documents are posted. Run your initial query over again several times, each time adding further refinements to narrow down your list of relevant hits.<br /><br /><strong><em><span style="color:#ff6666;">Example:</span></em> </strong>If you want to find out how medical details about your grandmother's diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease, try entering "Alzheimer's" AND "symptoms" AND "prognosis." If you want to find out about Alzheimer's care and community resources, query on "Alzheimer's" AND "support groups" AND "resources" AND NOT "symptoms."<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong><em>4. Query by example</em></strong><br /></span><br />Take advantage of the option that many search engine sites are now offering: you can "query by example," or "find similar sites," to the ones that come up on your initial hit list. Essentially what you're doing is telling the search engine, "yes, this looks promising, give me more like this one."<br /><br /><strong><em><span style="color:#ff6666;">5. Anticipate the answers</span></em></strong></p><br />Before searching, try to imagine what the ideal page you would like to access would look like. Think about the words its title would contain. Think about what words would be in the first couple of sentences of a webpage that you would consider useful. Use those words, or that phrase, when you enter your query.Iqbalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17717709704239196285noreply@blogger.com0