Internet
Search Tips
Kayse
Moyer
The following are five good guidelines for creating a
more efficient and effective search in any of the major search engines. Try them!
They work and will save you time!
1.
Jot down the most important words or phrases in
your search and be as specific as possible.
Check them off as you search so that you remember what you have already
searched.
2.
Use quotation marks around exact phrases. This will really help to narrow your results
to exact terms. Ex: “To be or not to
be”
3.
Use synonyms of words that seem
ineffective. Ex: instead of “cars”
maybe search for automobile manufacturers, transportation, or Ford Motor Co.
4.
Check your spelling! Sometimes something this simple can easily go unnoticed and lead
you on a bad search.
5.
To differentiate between included words and
optional words use capitalized conjunctions such as: and, or, and not. Ex: automobiles AND cars AND NOT racing or
drag racing.
Additionally below are some of the major search engines
at the moment:
1. AltaVista was the first
Internet web search engine begun in 1995.
2. AllTheWeb provides
comprehensive coverage of the web with outstanding relevancy.
3. Ask Jeeves allows
searchers to ask a question in natural language. See also Ask Jeeves for Kids.
4. Google produces
results that match all of your search terms, either in the text of the page or
in the link anchors pointing to the page and then ranks results based on
popularity of links to that site. This
engine is huge right now!
5. Gigablast is one
single database of indexed web pages including PDF, Microsoft Word, Powerpoint,
PostScript, and Excel files.
6. Hotbot refines Boolean
queries with dropdown boxes and is a lively alternative to AltaVista.
7. Teoma is a smaller index
but good relevancy ranking with a resources section that points users link
resources about various topics.
8. WebCrawler recently
incorporated into Excite for AOL allows keyword searches of the web and Usenet.
9.
WiseNut
is marketed as the “Fastest, smartest and most comprehensive search engine on
the market.” Check it out and see!
Good luck students! Happy searching!!!