Keyword Searching on the Internet

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Keyword Searchingon the Internet
Some Tricks of the Trade....
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The Search Box

• When you use a search engine such as Google,
  there will be search box that looks similar to
  this

Search
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Using the Search Box

• When you type in one or more keywords and click
  on the search button, the search engine will
  search for web sites on the topic that you typed
  in, e.g.

Spectacled Bears
Search
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Spelling

• When using a search engine, you must spell
  keywords correctly to ensure that you come up
  with relevant web sites!
• If you are looking for information on spectacled
  bears, for example, but type in Specticald Bears
  in the search box, you will not come up with the
  information you need.

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Can this be avoided?

• You could use a dictionary to ensure that the
  keyword is spelt correctly.
• You could also learn some tricks - truncation
  tricks!

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Truncation Tricks

• Search engines have a feature that allow them to
  overcome the problems caused by spelling called
  truncation
• Pronounced trun-kay-shin

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Truncation Tricks

• Truncation allows you to type in only a few
  letters of a word and a special symbol or ? in
  the search box.
• This instructs the search engine to look for all
  the word matches that begin with the first few
  letters you typed in.

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Example

• If you're not sure how to spell crocodiles
  correctly, you could enter it in as follows

Croc
Search
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Watch Out!

• The search engine will come up with subjects that
  have nothing to do with the subject you're
  researching, simply because they too contain the
  letters "croc"!

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Watch Out!

• The list would include subjects such as
  "crochet", "crock and "crocus", to mention just
  a few!

crocus
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Understanding Databases

• When doing a keyword search, and type in a word
  that is too general, you will find too many
  answers to look through.
• However, if you type in a word that is too
  specific, you may not find anything at all!

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Understanding Databases

• The trick therefore, is to know how large or
  small to make the group that you're searching -
  much easier said than done!
• However, understanding how search engines work
  will help you choose useful keywords....

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Understanding Databases

• A search engine gathers information by visiting
  computers all over the world from time to time
  and "collecting notes" on various web sites that
  it finds.

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Understanding Databases

• It does NOT store the actual web site - just
  information about the web site! These notes are
  called a database.
• The size of a search engine's database can be
  measured by how many sites it has included, how
  many words it has used to describe the site, and
  so on.

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Search Phrases

• When you type in two words such as Minnesota
  Gophers computers have a hard time deciding
  whether you meant the two words to be together,
  or whether they can be separated.

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What is the reason for this?

• Computers are not very good at understanding
  human speech, especially when they are given only
  a few words to work with!

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Consequently...

• most search engines will look for both Minnesota
  and Gophers
• You will find web sites on
• those cute, furry little critters called
  "gophers",
• information about the state Minnesota, AND
• any of the many sport teams from the University
  of Minnesota!

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Minnesota Gophers
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Example Chicago Bulls
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Solution

• You can tell the search engine that you only want
  web sites where the words you typed in appear
  side-by-side and in exactly the order that you
  typed them.
• This is called PHRASE SEARCHING
• Lets look at some examples.

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Examples
Minnesota Gophers
Search
Chicago Bulls
Search
Spectacled Bears
Search
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Boolean Operators

• Much database searching is based on the
  principles of Boolean logic.
• It is named for the British mathematician George
  Boole.
• Boolean logic refers to the logical relationship
  among search terms.

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Boolean Operators

• Boolean logic consists of three logical
  operators
• and
• or
• not

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Query African Elephants

• How would you ensure that your query does not
  come up with too much information, e.g.
  information on Africa in general, or other kinds
  of elephants?

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Solution Use and
African AND elephants
Search
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Search Results

• The circle on the left represents all the web
  sites that the search engine could find
  containing the word "African".

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Search Results

• The circle on the right represents all the web
  sites that the search engine could find
  containing the word "elephants".

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Search Results

• The colored area represents all the web sites
  that contain both keywords.

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Query Polar Bears
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Solution Use or
Polar or bears
Search
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Search Results

• The circle on the left represents all the web
  sites that the search engine could find
  containing the word "polar".

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Search Results

• The circle on the right represents all the web
  sites that the search engine could find
  containing the word "bears".

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Search Results

• The colored area represents all the web sites
  that contain both keywords.

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Query Dolphins
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Solution Use not
Dolphins not football
Search
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Search Results

• The circle on the left represents all the web
  sites that the search engine could find
  containing the word "dolphins".

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Search Results

• The circle on the right represents all the web
  sites that the search engine could find
  containing the word "football".

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Search Results

• The colored area represents all the web sites
  that contain web sites on dolphins, except those
  that refer to football teams named after
  dolphins, which would include the Miami Dolphins.

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Additional Examples
Im interested in the relationship between crime
and poverty.
crime AND poverty
Search
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Additional Examples
I need information on going to college.
college OR university
Search
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Additional Examples
I need information on pets, but want to exclude
cats.
pets NOT cats
Search
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