t l w smart searching

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sFinding the Needle in a

Haystack“Smart Internet Searching”

Pam Krambeck

Papillion-La Vista Schools

[email protected]

Web site: plv.ishareinfo.org/pkrambeck

(handout, docs & presentation under documents)

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sGathering Internet Resources &

Information With Students:

Finding information on the internet is not unlike using a rake to find a needle in a field full of haystacks.

Now, imagine the haystacks getting bigger by the day!

If you could you would use a special magnet that would automatically, quickly and effortlessly attract that needle for you.

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sGathering Internet Resources &

Information With Students:

The "needles" in this metaphor are the key information pieces you or your students seek for a project or research.

“Smart Searching Techniques” will be the magnet that attracts the information you are seeking "from the enormous haystack of information".

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sSearch Engines Serve a Role—

A Limited Role • Commonly referred to as "spiders" or "crawlers" • Search the web for new pages at all times• Are automated and index many sites• Often find information not listed in directories• Often pull up unrelated information for the topics • Web Search Engines Include:

Yahoo Search Engine (it also has a directory)LycosAsk.comGoogleMSN SearchAlta Vista

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sPublic Search Engines

Use advertising to finance their sitesDisplay search results based on predetermined factors--could be advertising dollars

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sSearch Directories

• index a site based on an independent description • do not spider your site to gather information

about it• organizes sites by subject• usually maintained by humans instead of

software• web search directories include:

•Yahoo Search Directory•Yahoo! Kids (formerly Yahooligans!)•About.com

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sRefine Your Search--Use

Advanced Features • narrow search results• located to the right of the

search blank at most sites• provide a number of options• specify an exact phrase to

include or exclude• examples: Google, Yahoo

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sSearch Engine Math

• Addition: Using the + SymbolFor example, to find pages that have references to both Nebraska and

Buffalo Bill Cody on the same page. You could search this way:+Nebraska +Buffalo Bill Cody

Results: 1,020,000 vs 233,000

• Subtraction: Using The - Symbol to Subtract Using the - symbol will find pages that have one word but not another.

For example, to find information about penguins not including pages relating to the hockey team. You could search this way: penguins -hockey

Results: 13,400,000 vs 2,270,000 add “macaroni penguin”+ habitat (683)

• Multiplication: Quotation marks “ ” work like multiplication--they allow you to combine words into a searchable phrase

For example, if you were looking for information on Platte River State Park the easiest way to find information that contains this phrase is to search:

“Platte River State Park”–Results: 1,280,000 vs 777

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sBoolean Searching

• used for searching through traditional databases • comfort level in using what is already familiar• Boolean commands must be in uppercase• OR: used to allow any of the specified search terms to be present

on the web pageBuffalo Bill Cody OR William Cody OR Buffalo Bill

• AND: used to require that all search terms be present on the web page--using the + symbol is generally a good alternative.

Wild West Show AND Buffalo Bill• NOT: used to require that a search term NOT be present on web

pages listed in results. It can also be described as an Exclude search.

• Buffalo Bill Cody NOT Wyoming• More Resources

–http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/newsarchive/000629.shtml –http://library.albany.edu/internet/boolean.html

–http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/feb98/story1.htm

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sDomain Specific Searches

• Searching specific domains is helpful if you want to exclude .com sites

• Know your domains: .edu, .gov, .org, com• Google & Others: use site:domain in the search box

Example for Google: “Marzano’s Strategies” + site:edu

• Alta Vista: use host:domain in the search boxExample for Alta Vista: “Marzano’s Strategies” + host:edu





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sWhat’s in a (Domain) Name

• .com and .net are examples of extensions• extensions are an important part of domain name• extensions shows who publishes the domain• common extensions

.edu Educational organization (most US universities)

.k12 US school site (not all US schools use this)

.ac Academic institution (outside of US)

.sch School site (some schools outside of the US use this)

.com Company (usually .co in the UK)

.org Any organization

.gov Government agency

.net Network

.mil Military institution

• extensions can also include country codes.uk, .ca, .za For a complete list refer to the Computer User High-Tech Dictionary: http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/noframes/nf.domains.html

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sLinks to Tutorials & Resources• Internet Searching Strategies: Rice University

offers several tutorials on creating a search strategy and evaluating results.

http://www.rice.edu/fondren/tmp/netguides/strategies.html

• Searching the Internet: David Warlick has created a site for teachers that includes this series on how to search the Internet.

http://www.landmark-project.com/fotb/search1.html

• Finding Information on the Internet: Tutorial based on workshops taught at the University of California at Berkeley.

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html

t l w smart searching

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