1. 1 Discussion Class 1 Three Information Retrieval Systems

2. 2 Discussion Classes Format: Questions. Ask a member of the class to answer. Provide opportunity for others to comment. When answering: Stand up. Give your name. Make sure that the TA hears it. Speak clearly so that all the class can hear. Suggestions: Do not be shy at presenting partial answers. Differing viewpoints are welcome.

3. 3 Question 1: Document sets Each of the three information retrieval systems indexes a set of documents: (a) What documents does Google index? (b)What documents does the Library of Congress catalog index? (c)What documents does Medline index? In each case are you searching surrogates or the full text of documents?

4. 4 Question 2: Palestine What in history led to the current turmoil in Palestine and the neighboring countries? (a)How does the Library of Congress Catalog help a user answer this question? (b)How does Google help a user answer this question? Under what circumstance would you use each system to find information such as this?

5. 5 Question 3: Fielded searching For each of the search systems: (a) Is it full text or fielded searching? (b)What fields can you search on? How was the fielded information created (by author, by professional cataloger/indexer, by algorithm, etc.)?

6. 6 Question 4: Language support Which of the following does each system support? (a) stop lists (ignore common words) (b) stemming (compute, computer and computing) (c) thesaurus (heart attack, cardiac arrest) (d) other (e.g., gazetteer)

7. 7 Question 5: Search options (a)What Boolean operators does each system offer (and, or, not, etc.)? (b)What special symbols does each system allow in queries as wild cards, etc. (e.g., ? as a truncation symbol)? (c)What is meant by a "search limit"?

8. 8 Question 6: Browsing (a) What support does Google give for browsing? (b)What support does the Library of Congress Catalog give for browsing? (c)What support does Medline give for browsing?

9. 9 Question 7: Red wine What is the medical evidence that red wine is good or bad for your health? (a) How does Google help a user answer this question? (b)How does Medline help a user answer this question? Under what circumstance would you use each system to find information such as this?