Computer Classes at The Library
East Brunswick Public Library
Current estimate of the number of web pages – many
billions Too many to search all of the web directly
billions.
directly.
So we use different tools - search engines, subject
directories, & meta search engines to comb the web to obtain
the information we need.
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L
h
h engines
i
t search
h
Learn
how search
& meta
engines work & how to use them.
Learn how to choose which search site is
best for your search.
Are collections off links to subjects compiled by people,
not software robots.
Organized by category or topic. Can be very precise
and annotated.
Examples are Yahoo and the IPL2 – www.ipl.org
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Computer Classes at The Library
East Brunswick Public Library
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Act as a full-text index of p
pages,
sites, etc.
g
Use to search for specific words or phrases
– “keywords.”
USE software robots – “bots,” or spiders to
compile their databases.
Examples include Bing, Ask, Google, etc.
Use to search multiple search engines at the same
time.
 E.g. Ask Jeeves, Metacrawler, Dogpile, etc.
 Drawbacks are that they only search and show
10% from each search engine.
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Subject Directories - search for information on broad
topics – art – science – or music. Or be even more
specific – musicians – astronomy – painting.
Use Search Engines to search for distinctive words or
phrases, e.g “racial profiling,” “affirmative action,” or
“cone of juvenility.”
Generally, the results in a directory search will be less
specific to your topic, and there will be less of them.
However, you might miss something that a search
engine search would have found.
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Computer Classes at The Library
East Brunswick Public Library
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There are many different search engines
and directories.
Most major sites now offer features of each,
as well as features like free web-based
email and more. Referred to as portals or
hubs.
E.g. Yahoo offers both the directory search
and and a search engine, as does Google.
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Computer Classes at The Library
East Brunswick Public Library
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Connect to the web site by typing in the
engine’s web address in the box above the
content screen where the URL is displayed.
Each engine will display a “search
search box
box”
somewhere near the top of the page.
Enter your search terms in it.
Hit the enter key or click on the search
button.
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I’m Feeling Lucky Button – opens the one
result – most popular
After you submit your search request, the search engine
begins searching its own database of web pages that its
has indexed.
Note that web search engines do not search the entire
world wide web for every search.
No engine has indexed the entire content of the web.
Large parts of it are excluded because sites have barred
the search engines from indexing their entire sites.
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Computer Classes at The Library
East Brunswick Public Library
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A list of all web pages containing your keywords after
comparing your keywords against the words contained
in it’s database.
Ranking depends upon the criteria the engine has
established to determine which sites are more likely to
be what you want.
Th URL ffor each
The
h site
i is
i given
i
as a hyperlink
h
li k that
h you
may click onto and access each page.
A short summary of the site displayed with the URL to
help you in your decision whether to access that site.
Click on the various links in your results list to
determine which of the links contains the information
you are seeking.
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Definition – on results page
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Google Spell check – Did you mean?
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The Google Cache feature – a snapshot of a
webpage
Use quotation marks to tell the engine to
search for both terms together: E.g.
“Strawberry Fields”.
Use Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT to
combine search terms.
Substitute + for And and – for Not.
In Google, use the tilda (~) for synonyms.
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Computer Classes at The Library
East Brunswick Public Library
Different search engines can return widely different
results for the following reasons:
1. The way they handle a search when you enter
multiple words differs.
2. The size of their databases vary greatly.
3. Ranking differences. Some search engines such
as Google also rank by popularity of the sites
obtained in the results.
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Can search by listed phone
numbers
Can search stock symbols
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Movies
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Weather
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Computer Classes at The Library
East Brunswick Public Library
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Use Search Engines:
To look for very specific
information.
When you have time to
b
browse
a llong li
listt off sites.
it
When you’d like to get a
sense of the full range of
information available.
When you have a good
grasp of the terminology
of your subject.
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Additional Search Features – Click on
About Google from the Google home
page, then Google Web Search Features
Different searches – images, video, news,
and maps
Map searching – type in a complete
address, street town, state and zip code.
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Use Directories:
When you don’t know
much about the
information you need.
For an overview of a
subject before moving on
to a search engine.
When you are willing to
rely on the recommendation of others.
When you want a best of
the web list.
Choose a subject directory or search engine
depending on the breadth of search topic.
No one site searches every web page
page. You may
have to use several different sites.
Use synonyms to increase your number of
search terms and hence, results.
Use symbols to define your search in the box +,
-, “ “, ~
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Computer Classes at The Library
East Brunswick Public Library
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Always double check your tying & spelling.
Check the search tips
p from each site.
Use the asterisk (*) to search for multiple forms
of a search term. This is also referred to as
truncation.
Use phrase searching.
No one search engine or subject directory will access
the entire web
You may need to use a number of search engines until
you find what you are looking for.
For new search engines
& ratings
g
g go
g to review sites
such as Search Engine Watch.
http://www.searchenginewatch.com
Be smart searchers by being critical of what you find.
Assess both the materials and authorship in
determining whether to accept the information.
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Getting More from Google –
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Google Web Search Features –
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Internet Search Tools -
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http://www.ebpl.org/Library_Online/pdf/Getting_More_from
_Google.pdf
http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html
http://www.ebpl.org/Main/polDocType.cfm?docclass_code=
INTERNET SEARCH
Noodle Tools – Choose the Best Search for Your
Information Need-
http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/information/
5locate/adviceengine.html
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