Some Tips on Searching
As you search, keep these ideas in mind:
*
If your first search isn't fruitful, try broadening it. Think about what subject category
the topic might fit under.
*Try narrowing your search by using key words. If you are too
specific, you probably will get fewer results; if it is too general, then
too many.
*If you don't find what you need, increase the
number of results.
*Two different
search engines will not return the same results, so always try more than one source.
Search Engines
Search engines constantly visit web sites on the Internet in order to catalog web pages.
Because they do not rely upon a human element to categorize or evaluate the information,
they provide significantly more information than directories. But the amount of
information can be overwhelming.
Search Engines look for key words in the title and content of web documents. You type a
string of characters, and the search engine looks for the string in the web pages it has
indexed. It then displays links to the pages it finds that match your search request.
Popular Search Engines
Some of the more popular search engines are as
follows:
AltaVista: http://www.altavista.com
Excite: http://www.excite.com
Hotbot: http://www.hotbot.com
Infoseek: http://www.infoseek.com
Lycos: http://www.lycos.com
Northern Light: http://www.northernlight.com
WebCrawler: http://www.webcrawler.com
Dogpile: http://www.dogpile.com/
Dogpile queries many of the major search engines all at once. You might use this URL to
search on an item of interest and then compare the results that are returned from the
various engines.
Pros
and Cons of Some Search Engines
Yahoo: The largest directory, and a good place to start any
search. It is the best place to go for basic searches, although one of the search engines
will be better for more specific searches. Content and organization are its strengths.
Hotbot: The graphical search tools and filtering options make
Hotbot extremely user friendly. Knowledge of Boolean terms and other operators is not
necessary, since you can filter your searches using drop down menus. It is highly
recommended for all searches but is especially good for news searching.
AltaVista: Associated with Yahoo. It lacks the easy graphical
interface of HotBot, but it accepts all the advanced
search terms so it's good for customized queries.
InfoSeek: A good overall site, which is among the best for
simple searches and fairly good for customized searches.
Excite: Fine for simple searches and good for less experienced
users. It is not very good for advanced searches or
current news, or for academic searching.
Lycos: Provides numerous search options, a comprehensive
directory, and good returns on simple searches. It often
provides multiple hits to the same site, which you will have to sort through.
WebCrawler: Good for novice users.
Finding
Stuff by Manipulating the URL
Knowing the basic format of the URL can help you go to a page quickly without going
through a search engine, and
it can help you when you get stuck. The basic format of a URL is as follows:
service_type://host-name/directory/file.html
The host-name specifies the server where the information resides. The host-name consists
of three parts: www. location or host.domain name.
Most but not all addresses begin with "www."
Common Domain Names
Common domain names are as follows:
.com =Commercial entity
.edu =Educational institution
.gov =Government agency or department
.mil =Military organization
.net =Network resource
.org =Non-profit organization
Be aware that because of the increasing use of web pages, additional domain names are
being added.
People Finder
YAHOO lists a
number of other sources on their White Pages page. Email addresses found
through other source
are frequently out of date. Beginning at YAHOO (http://www.yahoo.com), select Reference,
then White Pages.
Other "people finders" can be found at these sites:
Bigfoot: http://www.bigfoot.com
WhoWhere: http://www.whowhere.com
Good
Luck!
Remember to ask a lab assistant if you have any questions! |
