web searching and ppt. searching for information on the web goals: –decrease number of search...
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Web Searching and Web Searching and PPTPPT
Web Searching and Web Searching and PPTPPT
Searching for Information on the Web
Goals:– Decrease number of search results
– Increase number of relevant results
Method:
Structured vs keyword searching– Use any of several search tips and commands
– Search engines vary in terms of the commands they support. Just because one does not find it does not mean its not there.
Different search engines are different. All have “help”
http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/basics.html http://search.yahoo.com/web/advanced http://help.ask.com/en/docs/about/adv_search_tip
s.shtml
http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/search/help/faq.htm?r_fcid=416&r_fcp=top
Search Command Options
“Search engine math”– Basic tips to improve your search
Field searching– Search for terms within specific parts of the document
(e.g., title)
Boolean and other advanced commands (e.g., AND, OR)
Search assistance and display features– Features of the engines, themselves
Search Engine Math
Include term (+)– To ensure word is included in search
e.g., +camping +Arkansas
Exclude term (-)– find pages that have one word on them, but not another
word
e.g., +apples -computer
Phrase (“_”)e.g., “social psychology”
Search Engine Math II
Match any term– Automatic in some, option on others– Match all terms– Use + or menu; automatic at some (google)
Truncation/Wildcard (*)– To find all forms of a word– archaeolog* (-y, -ical, -ist)– Stemming: finds all forms based on the stem
automatically– Automatic at google
Field Searching and Limiting
Title search -- to search for words w/in titles of web pagese.g., +title:elephant +species
Site search -- to search w/in documents on a specific sitee.g., domain:memphis.edu psychology
URL search -- to search within the text of URLse.g., url:memphis.edu
Field Searching and Limiting II
Link search -- to search for pages that link to a particular page or domaine.g., link:psyc.memphis.edu/students/../
Limit by language– Search for documents in a particular language
Limit by date pages were created or modified Limit by type
– Engineering filetype:ppt
Boolean Commands
AND returns pages containing all search terms joined by AND e.g., Mars AND planet AND life
OR returns pages containing any or all search terms joined by OR e.g., “bed and breakfast” or inn
NOT returns pages containing the first but not the second terme.g., clinton NOT lewinsky
Boolean Commands II
NEAR returns pages containing keywords near each other on the pagee.g., psychology NEAR history
(distance can be specified . Alta Vista does this)
Nesting Boolean commands provides for complex queriese.g., psychology AND (social OR cognitive) . . . If no
parentheses . . .
(psychology AND social) OR cognitive
Combining Commands
Examples:– (cat* OR feline*) AND “endangered species”– +title:psychology +dream* -Freud*– “star trek” -voyager -“deep space nine” -“next
generation”
Works only if search engine supports each command, obviously
Search Assistance Features
Related Searches– Search engine provides related searches after a search
is complete
Find Similar– Provides ability to find other pages that seem similar
to those you like
Search Within– Do a second search within results already generated
Display Features
Ability to sort results by date (created or modified), with most recent documents listed first
Some search engines display the date page was created or modified
* Note: dates can be unreliable (gotten from server) Ability to increase the number of results that are
displayed Google use a patented algorithm for “search
order” display.
A Note about Meta-search Engines
Dogpile and MetaCrawler will allow many of these commands, but if the engine they are polling does not, you may end up with funky results
Sometimes, the syntax will be removed (e.g., Boolean operators)
At other times, however, they will become a keyword in the search (e.g., title:)
Specialty Search Engines
Catalog information particular to a narrow topic area
Pro: potentially more coverage versus the general search services
Con: don’t provide you the search options and flexibility of general search engines
A directory of search engines (general and specialty):www.beaucoup.com
Example
Compound interest quote
Checking things.
Not everything on the web is “correct” Not everything in print is “correct”. Often have to “check your facts…” http://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2006/07/22/
einstein-compound-interest-does-not-compute/
Sources
Understand the “trustworthiness” of the source. Credible publishers (webster) Probably okay Wikipedia reasonable but less reliable (many can
fix, but still many add/change). Blogs: often dubious
Ask why its there, what is their interest.
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