Introductory Concepts:
The Internet — A global network of linked computers, providing many information services such as e-mail, file transfers, access to stored information, access to software programs, newsgroups, and multimedia resources.
The World Wide Web —A graphical, multimedia online information resource of networked computers, available over the internet, with its own user interface, instructions, and means of accessing and presenting information.
Search Engine — A type of software application that locates key words or phrases on the Web.
URL — Uniform Resource Locator
DNS — Domain Name Server
FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions
http — Hypertext Transfer Protocol
html — Hypertext Markup Language
ftp — File Transfer Protocol
Some Common Domain Name Identifiers:
.edu education
.com commercial or business related
.net commercial or internet related
.gov U.S. government related
.org nonprofit organization
.mil military
.ca Canadian — country suffix
.uk United Kingdom
Types of Search Engines:
Browsable Directories — Rich hierarchy of information. A vast collection of categories and sub-categories constructed by humans–not automated. Directory search engines don’t look for anything on the Internet to obtain the information they produce. Rather, they get the information from people who enter it into the search engine database. Many require payment to be included in their directories.
About - Unique because of its human component. Each category has an expert called a "Guide" who culls information and sorts through links to find the most interesting and useful information. www.about.com
Goto - Much like Yahoo! But sells relevance by the dollar. Those paying higher prices get listed first. Not a great place to seek non-profit info. www.go.com is the same but with a better interface. www.goto.com
Robots — Automated programs "search engines" called robots (also known as ‘bots’ crawlers, spiders, harvesters, worms, or wanderers) that search, catalog, and organize information on the Internet.
Northern Light - Allows wide search of books, magazines, newswires, and databases. Some "Special Collection" resources cost a fee usually between $1.00 and $4.00. Unique collection of academic and business articles. Displays results in topic categories. www.northernlight.com
Alta Vista - Strong academic support. One of the largest databases. Has many sites not listed in other engines. One drawback of its huge catalog is that it often returns items that are merely tangential to your search. Can add or delete URLs from being searched. Supports advanced searches and includes language translation features. www.altavista.com
Hot Bot - One of the largest databases and works much like Alta Vista. Allows users to search for specific languages and media types such as Javascript. Part of the Lycos network but interface seems more tailored to serious searching. www.hotbot.com
Lycos - Filters and ranks results well. Large database. Simple interface but supports strong searches. www.lycos.com
Google - Uses a formula to assign importance points to each website. Good chance of direct hits unless Google is using different criteria for what is important. www.google.com
Direct Hit - Returns the ten best hits. Popularity formula is based on previous searchers inquiries and the links they choose to visit. www.directhit.com
Meta Search Engines — These search engines perform multiple searches simultaneously. They search robot search engines and/or directory search engines and can produce separate or integrated results.
Ixquick - Searches 14 web search engines. Translates query for each search engine. Sorts and allocates a star for each engine listing the hit within its top ten. Eliminates duplicates. Allows easy search for websites, news, mp3s and pictures. Clean user friendly interface. www.ixquick.com
Mamma - Similar to ixquick–Searches the top10 web search engines. Translates query for each search engine. Sorts resulting database and eliminates duplicates. Allows easy search for websites, news, mp3s and pictures. Clean user friendly interface. www.mamma.com
MetaCrawler - Searches 7 web search engines. Doesn’t translate query for each engine. Eliminates duplicates. Allows for easy search of websites, audio files and images. www.metacrawler.com
Webcrawler - Returns simplified and ordered results. Allows businesses to list with them much like Yahoo. Searches for websites, news, and photos. www.webcrawler.com
Dog Pile - Allows searches of many possible media formats. Allows businesses to list with them much like Webcrawler. Rather commercial. www.dogpile.com
Ask Jeeves - Jeeves attempts to translate plain language questions into meta search engine queries. Sometimes very helpful other times way off track. www.askjeeves.com
*Sherlock - Macintosh only meta search tool. Resides on the computer itself and returns results from any search engine you choose. Listed by relevance. Results are displayed in Sherlock and pages displayed in selected browser. Eliminates need to go back and forth to the search page. Very handy--just click on the world icon, select the search engines you wish to query and enter your search terms.
People Finders — Utilize area phone directories (both yellow and white pages) to create a system of finding businesses and people throughout the U.S. and world. Some even include backward searching where knowing a phone number yields the caller’s name and address. Most work basically the same. Examples: Switchboard, Superpages, Smartpages, Bigfoot, and 411.
PSU Library databases-- A myriad of databases to search for information. Click on the "description" button to get an idea of the type of information each database indexes.Lias databases
Creating a Search String
Phrase Matching — Putting quotes around a set of words will only find results that match the words in that exact sequence. Searching for "Ezra Pound" will not find a web page about uncle Ezra who lost 50 pound in the stock market but will find poems by the modernist poet Ezra Pound.
+, and And Qualifier — the query will only return results which include that search string. Searching for ‘cats and dogs’ will not find the web page for ‘Cats R Us’ but will find the page for ‘Cats are better than dogs.’
-, not Not Qualifier — The query will only return results which do NOT include that search string. Searching for ‘Nirvana —Cobain’ will help weed out articles on the 90s grunge rock band and focus more on concepts of heavenly bliss.
or Or Qualifier — Query will return results containing either search string one or search string two. ‘Finding a pet poodles or collies’ Will search for pages that help you find either a poodle or collie breed of dog.
* Wildcard — The asterisk acts as a place holder and will return all sites containing words that end or begin a certain way. ‘Pet*’ would find pages ranging from Peter to Petroleum and from Petrified to Petulance.
How do Search Engines work?
Brief presentation on search engines and how they work.
Search Tips:
Check ‘Search Help,’ ‘Search Tips,’ ‘Advanced Search,’ or ‘FAQ’ on many of the web pages to more closely determine exactly how they search. Not all engines recognize the operands above.
Think before you search — Brainstorm for possible search terms.
Try different search engines — Check www.searchenginewatch.com
Evaluating Source Credibility:
Credibility -- The library has a good webpage that will help you evaluate websites you may use for your projects in this and other classes. Go to: Libraries => Instruction => Instructional Programs => Tutorials => Information Literacy and You => Choose "Using Web Resources" and "Evaluating Your Search."
Using web resources
Evaluating your search
Web Search and Evaluation Practice:
The following practice worksheet will help you apply some of the concepts we talked about today and get you started on the research for your upcoming project. Today, you will be researching information for your web business project. This may be information on a suitable parent company, on other competitors, or on any aspect of the market analysis you'll be conducting. Perform a search using a PSU library database (NOT THE CAT) and one search engine from each of the categories explored in class–directories, robots, and meta engine. Find a different site from each search engine that is related to the topic you are researching. Use the library’s tutorial and the following worksheet to evaluate the credibility of each of the three sites you choose.
Library database used: _______________________________________________
Article title and journal: _________________________________________
Who is the author of the article ___________________________________________
Why is this author credible? _______________________________________________
How would you obtain a hard copy of this article from the library? ______________________
On what floor in Pattee/Paterno would you find a hard copy of the article? ______________
What is the call # for its location on the shelf _______________________________________
Search Engine used: _______________________________________________
Website name and address: _________________________________________
Who is the author of the website ___________________________________________
Why is this author credible? _______________________________________________
Is the information valid and accurate? _______________________________________
Who is the audience for the website? _______________________________________
When was the website last updated? ________________________________________
Search Engine used: _______________________________________________
Website name and address: _________________________________________
Who is the author of the website ___________________________________________
Why is this author credible? _______________________________________________
Is the information valid and accurate? _______________________________________
Who is the audience for the website? _______________________________________
When was the website last updated? ________________________________________
Search Engine used: _______________________________________________
Website name and address: _________________________________________
Who is the author of the website ___________________________________________
Why is this author credible? _______________________________________________
Is the information valid and accurate? _______________________________________
Who is the audience for the website? _______________________________________
When was the website last updated? ________________________________________
Evaluation
Print out your answers and turn them in at the end of lab. This lab is worth 5 points.