Tutorials | Using Search Engines
Using Search Engines
You can locate useful or interesting web sites by using a
search engine. This is an organization with a web site containing
a huge database of web site addresses. You key in a subject or a
name that describes what you are seeking, and the search engine
provides you with a list or selection of web site addresses that
fit your inquiry. You then simply click on an address to jump to
that web site.
Although search engine is really a general class of programs,
the term is often used to specifically describe systems like Alta
Vista and Excite that enable users to search for documents on the
World Wide Web and USENET newsgroups.
Typically, a search engine works by sending out a spider to
fetch as many documents as possible. Another program, called an
indexer, then reads these documents and creates an index based on
the words contained in each document. Each search engine uses a
proprietary algorithm to create its indices such that, ideally,
only meaningful results are returned for each query.
Preliminary Searching Hints
- Choose a search engine, directory or library in accordance
with the kind of search you are doing and the kind of results
you are seeking.
- Consider: Are you looking for a Web site? Information that
might be contained within Usenet? Academic articles that may
only be retrievable with gopher?
- Determine your aims: Do you want a specific hard-to-find
document on an esoteric subject, or general information on a
broader topic? Do you need to search the entire Web, or is what
you are seeking likely to be found on a number of sites, or only
the most popular sites?
- In making your choice, determine whether the information you
are looking for is likely to be in a page's title or first
paragraph, or buried deeper within the document or site.
- Use a search engine's advanced features, if available, and
read the help files if you are unclear about its searching
procedure.
Choosing Search Terms And Syntax
- Enter synonyms, alternate spellings and alternate forms
(e.g. dance, dancing, dances) for your search terms.
- Enter all the singular or unique terms that are likely to be
included in the document or site you are seeking.
- Avoid using very common terms (e.g. Internet, people), which
may lead to a massive amount of irrelevant search results.
- Determine how your search engine uses capitals and plurals,
and enter capitalized or plural forms of your search words if
appropriate.
- Use a phrase or proper name if possible to narrow your
search and therefore retrieve more relevant results (unless you
want a large number of results).
- Use multiple operators (e.g. AND, NOT) if a search engine
allows you to do so.
- If you receive too many results, refine and improve your
search. (After browsing the results, you may become aware of how
to use NOT - e.g. Boston AND hockey AND NOT Bruins)
- Pay attention to proper spacing and punctuation in your
search syntax (i.e. no space when using + means +term not
+ term)
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