Using Search Engines - A Tutorial - The Diigo Meta page

• 10 Apr 12
  

  Cathy Sweeney
• 27 Feb 12
  

  ben fuhs

  for project in moodle

  • search engines rely on computer programs called spiders or robots to crawl
  • he Web and log the words on each page
  • With a search engine, keywords related to a topic are typed into a search "box."
  • Without search strategies or techniques, finding what you need can be like finding a needle in a haystack.

  2 more annotations...

• 22 Feb 12
  

  Alison VanKlompenberg

  search engines

  search engines

  • With a search engine, keywords related to a topic are typed into a search "box."
  • it is essential to apply techniques that narrow results and push the most relevant pages to the top of the results list.
  • IDENTIFY  KEYWORDS
  • BOOLEAN  AND

  2 more annotations...

• 21 Feb 12
  

  nathanel wright
  • Search engines are very different from subject directories.
  • Because these databases are very large, search engines often return thousands of results.
  • To use search engines effectively, it is essential to apply techniques that narrow results and push the most relevant pages to the top of the results list.  Below are a number of strategies for boosting search engine performance.

  1 more annotation...

• 

  Preslie Williams

  searchengines

  • With a search engine, keywords related to a topic are typed into a search "box."

  • practice" link appears, click on the link to practice the technique with AltaVista's search engine. 

     

  • IDENTIFY  KEYWORDS

     

     When conducting a search, break down the topic into key concepts.   For example, to find information on what the FCC has said about the wireless communications industry, the keywords might be: 

  • BOOLEAN  AND

     

     Connecting search terms with AND tells the search engine to retrieve web pages containing ALL the keywords.  

    FCC   and   wireless   and   communication

     

    The search engine will not return pages with just the word FCC.  Neither will it return pages with the word FCC and the word wireless
  • will only return pages

  • BOOLEAN  OR

     

    Linking search terms with OR tells the search engine to retrieve web pages containing ANY and ALL keywords.  
  • The need for AND NOT often becomes apparent after you perform an initial search.
  • AND NOT to filter out the undesired websites.

  • NOTE: AltaVista's Simple Search requires the use of plus and minus rather than AND, OR, and AND NOT.   

    +welding   +process 

    +Saturn   -car 

    couch   sofa
  • PHRASE  SEARCHING
  • appear side-by-side

  • NOTE ON IMPLIED BOOLEAN LOGIC (+/-): When a phrase search is combined with additional keywords using implied Boolean logic (+/-), you must put a plus or minus sign before the phrase as well as the other keywords.   If the search involves a phrase with no additional keywords (e.g., "Walt Disney World"), the plus sign before the quotes is optional.  
  • PLURAL FORMS, CAPITAL LETTERS, AND ALTERNATE SPELLINGS
  • TITLE SEARCH example instructs the search engine to return web pages where the phrase George Washington appears in the title and the words President and Martha appear somewhere on the page.  Like plus and minus, there is no space between the colon (:) and the keyword.

  • HOST  SEARCH

     

    The HOST SEARCH comes in handy when you need to find something located at a large site that does not have an internal search engine.

  • URL  SEARCH

     

    The URL SEARCH limits search results to web pages where the keyword appears in the URL or website address.  A URL search can narrow very broad results to web pages devoted to the keyword topic. 

  • LINK SEARCH

     

    Use the LINK SEARCH when you want to know what websites are linked to a particular site of interest.

  15 more annotations...

• 

  emma millhoupt

  search_engines

  • Search engines are very different from subject directories.
  • search engines rely on computer programs called spiders or robots to crawl the Web and log the words on each page.
  • With a search engine, keywords related to a topic are typed into a search "box."
  • search engine scans its database and returns a file with links to websites containing the word or words specified.
  • Without search strategies or techniques, finding what you need can be like finding a needle in a haystack.

  3 more annotations...

• 20 Feb 12
  

  kiera brest
  • IDENTIFY  KEYWORDS
  • When conducting a search, break down the topic into key concepts.
  • FCC   wireless   communication

     

  •  AND

     

     

    Connecting search terms with AND tells the search engine to retrieve web pages containing ALL the keywords.
  • FCC   and   wireless   and   communication

  • OR

     

    Linking search terms with OR tells the search engine to retrieve web pages containing ANY and ALL keywords.  
  • FCC  or  wireless  or  communication
  • car  or  automobile  or  vehicle
  • buy  or  purchase

  • AND  NOT

     

     AND NOT tells the search engine to retrieve web pages containing one keyword but not the other.  
  • AND  NOT
  • dolphins   and  not   Miami
  • PLUS  &  MINUS
  • The plus sign (+) is the equivalent of AND, and the minus sign (-) is the equivalent of AND NOT
  • +welding   +process 

    +Saturn   -car 

    couch   sofa

  • PHRASE  SEARCHING

     

    Surrounding a group of words with double quotes tells the search engine to only retrieve documents in which those words appear side-by-side
  • "John F. Kennedy" 

    "Walt Disney World" 

    "global warming"

     
  • (AND, OR, and AND NOT)
  • (+/-)
  • For best results,

  • +"heart disease"   +cause 

    "heart disease"   and   cause
  • interpret lower case letters as either upper or lower case
  • or all upper case letters, type your keywords that way.
  • "George Washington"
  • TITLE  SEARCH
  • For example, if you wanted to find information about George Washington and his wife Martha, you could try the following search:
  • +title:"George Washington"  +President  +Martha 

    title:"George Washington"  and  President  and  Martha
  • DOMAIN  SEARCH
  • United Kingdom (.uk), educational institutions (.edu), or government sites (.gov).
  • +domain:uk   +title:"Queen Elizabeth" 

    domain:uk   and   title:"Queen Elizabeth" 

  • +domain:edu   +"lung cancer"   +smok* 

    domain:edu   and   "lung cancer"   and   smok*

     
     
  • .com   =   a commercial business
  • .edu    =   an educational institution
  • .gov    =   a governmental institution
  • .org     =   a non-profit organization
  •     .mil     =   a military site
  • .net     =   a network site
  • HOST  SEARCH
  • HOST SEARCH comes in handy when you need to find something located at a large site that does not have an internal search engine.
  • +host:www.disney.com   +"special offer" 

    host:www.disney.com   and   "special offer"

  • URL  SEARCH

     

    The URL SEARCH limits search results to web pages where the keyword appears in the URL or website addres
  • can narrow very broad results
  • +url:halloween   +title:stories 

    url:halloween   and   title:stories
  • LINK SEARCH
  • Use the LINK SEARCH when you want to know what websites are linked to a particular site of interest.

  43 more annotations...

• 

  hallie boldt
  •  
     
     

     Search engines are very different from subject directories.  While humans organize and catalog subject directories, search engines rely on computer programs called spiders or robots to crawl the Web and log the words on each page.  With a search engine, keywords related to a topic are typed into a search "box."   The search engine scans its database and returns a file with links to websites containing the word or words specified.  Because these databases are very large, search engines often return thousands of results.  Without search strategies or techniques, finding what you need can be like finding a needle in a haystack.   

    To use search engines effectively, it is essential to apply techniques that narrow results and push the most relevant pages to the top of the results list.  Below are a number of strategies for boosting search engine performance.   When a "practice" link appears, click on the link to practice the technique with AltaVista's search engine. 

     
     
  • DENTIFY  KEYWORDS
  • FCC   wireless   communication

     
  • Connecting search terms with AND tells the search engine to retrieve web pages containing ALL the keywords.  
  • FCC   and   wireless   and   communication
  • Linking search terms with OR tells the search engine to retrieve web pages containing ANY and ALL keywords.  
  • (FCC  or  wireless  or  communication)
  • AND NOT tells the search engine to retrieve web pages containing one keyword but not the other.
  • dolphins   and  not   Miami

  7 more annotations...

• 

  Levi VanDerKolk
  • SEARCH   ENGINES  

  •  Search engines are very different from subject directories.  While humans organize and catalog subject directories, search engines rely on computer programs called spiders or robots to crawl the Web and log the words on each page.  With a search engine, keywords related to a topic are typed into a search "box."   The search engine scans its database and returns a file with links to websites containing the word or words specified.  Because these databases are very large, search engines often return thousands of results.  Without search strategies or techniques, finding what you need can be like finding a needle in a haystack.   

    To use search engines effectively, it is essential to apply techniques that narrow results and push the most relevant pages to the top of the results list.  Below are a number of strategies for boosting search engine performance.   When a "practice" link appears, click on the link to practice the technique with AltaVista's search engine. 

     
     

    IDENTIFY  KEYWORDS

     

     When conducting a search, break down the topic into key concepts.   For example, to find information on what the FCC has said about the wireless communications industry, the keywords might be: 
  • Connecting search terms with AND tells the search engine to retrieve web pages containing ALL the keywords.  
  • FCC   and   wireless   and   communication

  • The search engine will not return pages with just the word FCC.  Neither will it return pages with the word FCC and the word wireless.  The search engine will only return pages where the words FCC, wireless, and communication all appear somewhere on the page.   Thus, AND helps to narrow your search results as it limits results to pages where all the keywords appear. 

    Practice AND 
     
     
      

     
  • dolphins   and  not   Miami

  4 more annotations...

• 12 Feb 12
  

  Holly Eagar
• 09 Feb 12
  

  Kelly Horrocks

  search engines search engines

• 08 Feb 12
  

  The King's School Library

  tutorial boolean study_skills internet searchengine searchengines ict

• 30 Jan 12
  

  Ally Carpenter

  search_engines

  • When conducting a search, break down the topic into key concepts.   For example, to find information on what the FCC has said about the wireless communications industry, the keywords might be: 

    FCC   wireless   communication

     
     
  • Connecting search terms with AND tells the search engine to retrieve web pages containing ALL the keywords.  
  • The search engine will not return pages with just the word FCC.  Neither will it return pages with the word FCC and the word wireless.  The search engine will only return pages where the words FCC, wireless, and communication all appear somewhere on the page.   Thus, AND helps to narrow your search results as it limits results to pages where all the keywords appear.
  • Linking search terms with OR tells the search engine to retrieve web pages containing ANY and ALL keywords.  

  • For example, the following search statement locates information on purchasing a used car:  

    (car  or  automobile  or  vehicle)  and  (buy  or  purchase)  and  used
  • AND NOT tells the search engine to retrieve web pages containing one keyword but not the other.
  • dolphins   and  not   Miami

  • The above example instructs the search engine to return web pages about dolphins but not web pages about the "Miami Dolphins" football team.  Use AND NOT when you have a keyword that has multiple meanings.  The need for AND NOT often becomes apparent after you perform an initial search.  If your search results contain irrelevant results (e.g., Saturn the car rather than Saturn the planet), consider using AND NOT to filter out the undesired websites.  
  • In many search engines, the plus and minus symbols can be used as alternatives to full Boolean AND and AND NOT.  The plus sign (+) is the equivalent of AND, and the minus sign (-) is the equivalent of AND NOT.  There is no space between the plus or minus sign and the keyword.
  • Surrounding a group of words with double quotes tells the search engine to only retrieve documents in which those words appear side-by-side.  Phrase searching is a powerful search technique for significantly narrowing your search results, and it should be used as often as possible.
  • "John F. Kennedy" 

    "Walt Disney World" 

    "global warming"

     

  • For best results, combine phrase searching with implied Boolean (+/-) or full Boolean (AND, OR, and AND NOT) logic. 

  • +"heart disease"   +cause 

    "heart disease"   and   cause

  11 more annotations...

• 17 Nov 11
  

  Drew Marcks

  search_engines tutorials

• 10 Nov 11
  

  caden riegel

  serch engines

• 30 Sep 11
  

  Leslie Pirtle
• 17 Jul 11
  

  Karen Moroughan

  search engines tutorials boolean search

• 28 Apr 11
  

  rob hurst

  A website detailing how to properly use a search engine from phrase searching, to boolean text, to identifying key words.

  chapter 2 using search engines search engine key word searching internet internet domain how to how to search web

• 26 Apr 11
  

  Katie Lark

  Explains how search engines work, which words to use in the search engine, how to search better

  chapter2 search engines

• 

  Amanda Arnold

  This website teaches students how to use search engines correctly. It explains different types of searches, such as "and", "or", and phrase searches. There are also practice searches that can be performed with help from this website.

  chapter 2 search engines tutorial

• 24 Apr 11
  

  Siobhan Roulston

  Boolean Search Engines

• 22 Apr 11
  

  Katherine Hodge

  This website gives an overview of search engines. It also gives you great examples on how to use a search engine.

  chapter2 searchengine tutorial

• 10 Mar 11
  

  Anne Morris
• 17 Feb 11
  

  Charlotte Hill

  boolean tutorials search

• 21 Jan 11
  

  mcds lrc

  boolean search_engines search_tools

• 03 Jan 11
  

  Gina Smith

  Research

• 09 Dec 10
  

  Diane L
• 04 Dec 10
  

  remoore76

  Gives a brief look at how search engines operate. Goes into some depth with several popular search engines, and features that they support.

  search

• 22 Sep 10
  

  searchengine tutorials

• 31 Jul 10
  

  Antoinette Simon

  shows how to do the link: title: url: searches
  Found this from Kathy Schrock's website.

  search engines TL tutorials

• 16 Apr 10
  

  Brigid Stevens

  A free, interactive tutorial on how to search the Internet using basic and advanced search techniques.

  ICT

• 08 Jan 10
  

  Colleen Kennedy

  E-commerce

• 08 Oct 09
  

  Robbi McKenney

  Boolean

• 24 Sep 09
  

  Sharon Axthelm

  A free, interactive tutorial on how to search the Internet using basic and advanced search techniques.

  web searching techniques boolean

• 21 Jul 09
  

  Christie Snyder
  • SEARCH   ENGINES
  • search engines rely on computer programs called spiders or robots to crawl the Web and log the words on each page.
  • To use search engines effectively, it is essential to apply techniques that narrow results and push the most relevant pages to the top of the results list.
  • Connecting search terms with AND tells the search engine to retrieve web pages containing ALL the keywords.  
  • Linking search terms with OR tells the search engine to retrieve web pages containing ANY and ALL keywords.  
  • AND NOT
  • The plus sign (+) is the equivalent of AND, and the minus sign (-) is the equivalent of AND NOT.  There is no space between the plus or minus sign and the keyword.
  • double quotes
  • if you want both upper and lower case occurrences returned, type your keywords in all lower case letters
  • most search engines interpret singular keywords as singular or plural
  • URL SEARCH limits search results to web pages
  • LINK SEARCH when you want to know what websites are linked to a particular site of interest.

  10 more annotations...

• 11 Apr 09
  

  Margie Weil

  searching

• 22 Mar 09
  

  Karen Scanlon

  InternetSearch

• 14 Dec 08
  

  nu2 much

  search

• 10 Nov 08
  

  K T

  search engines searching research reference web internet

• 05 Aug 08
  

  Debbie Shoulders

  imported Bookmarks Technology search searchengines education internet boolean research web

• 07 Dec 07
  

  Bryan Lee
• 05 Feb 07
  

  shahid bashir

  search_techniques

• 23 May 05
  

  Candace Brown

  tutorials search_engines

• 30 Jan 05
  

  Terry Elliott

  Research

• 

  Franjo Pehar

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