What are search engines? Tools used for locating web pages Automated software programs known as spiders or bots to survey the Web and build their databases. SE databases are knows as the search engine index The best urls are returned to you as hits.

What is a URL? Uniform Resource Locator: a protocol for specifying addresses on the Internet An address that identifies a particular file on the Internet Usually consisting of the protocol, as http, followed by the domain name

What is a domain? A group of computers and devices on a network that are administered under the same protocol. Indicates the type of organization, geographical location, or both Designated in the suffix as.com for commercial enterprises in the U.S.

Domains to Know....com = a commercial business.edu = an educational institution.gov = a governmental institution.org = a non-profit organization.mil = a military site.net = a network site

What’s the URL? The Domain? ftp://www. pcwebopedia.com

Why would you use a Search Engine? Finding information on the Web Looking for a Job Researching a topic for school or a project Looking for Health or Diet Information Making a purchase—new car, home, computer, book, cell phone Locating an old Friend or an Address Planning a Vacation

How Large is a Search Engine? Some have logged the words from over 1 billion documents (REMEMBER that there are billions of pages on the Web.)

What Search Engine is the Biggest? Google with 3.3 billion pages Alltheweb.com with 3.1 billion pages

Some Examples Lycos – one of the original Ses Alltheweb – largest index, fastest look-up time AltaVista – a favorite until Google came! Excite – concept-based SE

How do Search Engines Work? Rely on computer programs called spiders or robots to crawl the Web A robot is a piece of software that automatically follows hyperlinks from one document to the next around the Web. Scans its database and returns a file with links to websites containing key words

Getting Ready to Search Identify the Main Concepts in your topic Determine the following: Synonyms, Alternate Spellings, Variant Work Forms Example: hard stone, hard test or cardiac for the word heart Know how to use the various search tools available Search Engine – Alta Vista Subject Directory -- Yahoo

What’s the Difference between a SE and a Subject/Web Directory? Less than there used to be... Today SEs have built large subject catalogues Subject or Web directories organize the Web into topics and subtopics. Arts, Science, Health, Business, News, Entertainment Think of SEs as an index that enables you to seek specific words and phrases.

When to use what? For broad, general information go to a subject or web directory. For narrow, specific information use a Search Engine

Which would you use for this example? You'd like to create your own home page on the Web, but you don't know how to write HTML, you've never created a graphic file, and you're not sure how you'd post a page on the Web even if you knew how to write one. In short, you need a lot of information on a rather broad topic--Web publishing.

Use a Subject or Web Directory To find out about Web page publishing from Yahoo, select the Computers and Internet Topic, under which you find a subtopic on the Wide World Web. Click on that and you find another list of subtopics, several of which are pertinent to your search: Web Page Authoring, CGI Scripting, Java, HTML, Page Design, Tutorials. Selecting any of these subtopics eventually takes you to Web pages that have been posted precisely for the purpose of giving you the information you need.

Use a Strategy when Searching Without a clear strategy, using a search engine is like wandering aimlessly in the stacks in a library trying to find a particular book!

Techniques to Effectively Use Search Engines Identify Keywords Definition: A Keyword is any word on a Web page Breakdown the topic into key concepts; use quotation marks to group words together Example: to find information about what the FCC has said about the wireless communications industry use— FCC “wireless communication”

Principles for a Smart Search 1. Know where to look first 2. Fine tune your keywords 3. Query by example—use the help options that the SE provides 4. Anticipate the answer

Search Ratings by Spidap Google -- Biggest, Fastest, Most Comprehensive Google – Most Relevant Results Altavista – Best Advanced Search Refinement Ask Jeeves for Kids – Best Search Engine for Kids Google – Best Directory

Remember You are smarter than a computer. 2. Use your intelligence. 3. Search Engines are fast, but dumb!

Bibliography/Sources Using Search Engines by Deb Flanagan, 2004 The Spider’s Apprentice by Spidap, 2007