Searching the Internet

Knowing how to identify key words and synonyms and modify searches using Boolean operators can save you a lot of time when researching a topic. While Internet search engines have become very adept at interpreting your search query, online libraries and databases are not as sophisticated.

As search technologies progress, you will always benefit from being able to identify key words and modify your search to make more efficient use of whatever technology is available.


Figure : Boolean search



Metasearch Engines

Metasearch engines perform keyword searches on multiple search engines and provide the results in one list.

When to use:

• 
  Determining the scope of a topic (how much/what kind of information is available)
  
• 
  Perform a quick search across several search engines
  

Benefits:

• 
  Fast method for conducting a broad search
  
• 
  Some have special features such as clustering
  

Drawbacks:

• 
  Usually only return the first 10 or 20 results from each source.
  
• 
  Some rely heavily on paid listings
  
• 
  Advanced search operators may not be supported.
  

1. 
   Go to dogpile.com. Click About Dogpile (page bottom).
   With any search tool, it’s a good idea to learn something about how the tool works. You can avoid duplication and save time.
   
2. 
   In the About page (see Figure ) you learn (at the time of this writing) that Dogpile uses Google, Bing, and Yahoo!.
   Now you know that if you do a search on Dogpile, you may not need to repeat the search at these sites separately. However, remember that Dogpile will limit the results list so if you need to dig deeper another search may be required.
   
3. 
   Click the links for Metasearch 101 and FAQs and any other links you might find useful. Write down something you learned about Dogpile or searching in general.
   

Figure : Learn more about a search engine

1. 
   Click in the search box and type the key words video game addiction.
   In reviewing the results list, sponsored (paid) sites are listed first, followed by the non-sponsored sites. Each item also displays the source search engine.
   
2. 
   Click the News tab above the search box (see Figure ).
   Many search sites and metasearch sites allow you to filter search results to a specific type.
   
3. 
   Click the Web tab to return to web results.
   In the Are you looking for? section you may find related terms to help you in your search.
   
4. 
   Click Dependence on Technology link.
   If you were writing a paper on video game addiction, the information from this search may help relate video game addiction to other social behaviors.
   
5. 
   Now go to ixquick.com. Click About at the top of the page.
   On the About page, in the More accurate search results section, you learn, among other things, that stars are used to rank the search results based on the number of search engines.
   
6. 
   Use the Back button to return to the Ixquick home page and search for video game addiction.
   
7. 
   Point to the stars next to the first non-sponsored site (see Figure ).
   A screen tip appears showing the search engines used. Note that some of the search engines are metasearch engines too.
   

Figure : Ixquick search results

Clustered Search

1. 
   Go to Yippy.com. Search for video game addiction.
   Yippy not only searches the web, it presents logical “groups” or “categories” called “clouds” to organize the information. This is sometimes referred to clustering.
   
2. 
   Click the details link above the results list (see Figure ).
   Information about the source of the results is listed.
   
3. 
   Click the details link again to collapse the list. In the results list point to each icon next to a result site to learn their function. Try using the Preview icon to view the result site directly in the results list.
   
4. 
   In the clusters panel on the left, review the “clouds”. Click the plus sign (+) next to any one of the categories listed.
   The search results now focus on the category you selected.
   
5. 
   Click the Sources tab in the clusters panel
   Now you can see which sites come from which search engines and can filter your search results to a specific search engine.
   
6. 
   Explore the other two tabs, sites and time to view changes to the results.
   

Many government and private sector sites provide access to documents and data that is not available from the most common search engines. For example, if you wanted to gather statistics about a particular school, you might search the web for Education Statistics. You would quickly find the National Center for Education Statistics where you can build queries on the data available there. One such query tool is the Elementary/ Secondary Information System (ElSi)

Example: you want to compare pupil/teacher ratios for your elementary (or one in your area).

2. 
   Go to nces.ed.gov (National Center for Education Statistics). Click in the search box in the upper right corner of the page, type ELSI, and press Enter.
   Many web sites allow you to search within the site.
   
3. 
   Click ELSI - Elementary and Secondary Information System. Review the page for any notices you should be aware of (sometimes data is not up-to-date or contains errors).
   
4. 
   Click the Begin button next to quickFacts. Use the options presented to learn more about the pupil/teacher ratio for a school you attended or one in your area for the most recent years available. Compare that to the oldest dates available.
   Since the page is generated dynamically (when you ask for it), surface web search tools cannot index it.
   

Figure : NCES Search

Find Specialized Search Tools

Some deep web resources are indexed in directories maintained by specialists in the field. To find some of these deep web search tools use your favorite search engine and add the following keywords (or synonyms) to the topic you are interested in. Remember, anybody can post anything on the Internet, so always be skeptical of your search results.

• 
  “web directory”, “resources” or “internet resources” or “web resources”
  
• 
  “library”, or “portal”
  
• 
  “pathfinder” for lists of printed resources
  

1. 
   Use bing.com to perform a search for each of the following. Use different tabs so you can compare results.
   

agriculture	agriculture portal
agriculture “web resources”	agriculture pathfinder

Are all of the search results the same or different? How would this help if you were writing a paper about agriculture?

2. 
   Find your own search tools: Use a search engine of your choice to search for the following types of search tools. Write the URL of a site for each and a brief description how the search site works or how search results are arranged.
   

Good search engines for students	Visual search engines (Search results or related topics are presented visually)
Deep web search engine	Reference tools (dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, almanac, etc…)

Figure : Many Search Tools are available on the Web

Use Research Databases

Most colleges now offer electronic databases that allow you to search periodicals. You can use some of the same techniques to search these databases.

1. 
   Go to the Wor-Wic web site (www.worwic.edu), point to Quick Links, click Library Services, and then under Research Databases, click By Subject.
   
2. 
   We’ll be looking for information about Video Game Addiction so let’s start with Social Sciences and choose the first database on the list, Academic OneFile.
   
3. 
   Perform a keyword search on Video Game Addiction.
   
4. 
   When the results are displayed, change the search options to limit the search results to peer-reviewed publications published in the last year.
   
5. 
   Open another tab, repeat step 1 to go to the Library Services page, select the Health, Medicine & Nursing category and choose the Health and Wellness… database. Use the Advanced search to find full text articles on Video Game Addiction published in the last year.
   
6. 
   How do the two searches compare? Practice modifying your search by removing the date filter (look for “revise search” or “remove limit”).
   
7. 
   Click one of the article titles to open the full document. Look for a “print” link on the page and use it to print page 1 only.
   Use the print link to open the article in a format more suitable for printing. NOTE that some articles may open in Adobe reader which is also suitable for printing.
   

Figure : Academic One File


Figure : Health & Wellness Resource Center

More search examples and suggestions

More Practice

1. 
   For each of the following, indicate what kind of search (keyword, wildcard, phrase, directory, deep web) would be most appropriate and why. Try your search strategy to see how well it works.
   

Searching for	Asnwer	Reasoning
Ideas for fun things to do on the weekend.	Directory search	You can focus in on activities of interest. With the other searches, many different activities would be included in the search results. It would be harder to weed out the ones you aren’t interested in.
Title of a poem when you only know a few words that aren’t necessarily next to one another in the poem.	Keyword or wildcard	You are looking for something specific and have some of the words in the poem. If you know the order of the words, you can use wildcards, otherwise, just use a keyword search.
Your turn…
How to treat a bee sting
Write a paper for astronomy class
Obtain education statistics for US schools by state or region.
Information on Richard I

2. 
   Go to www.agoogleaday.com and see how many questions you can answer. Be sure to use the Google a day search site so as not to give away the answer.