Searching the Interent

1
Finding Information
on the Internet
Lisa Harris
Winthrop University
2
Anatomy of an Internet Address
(or URL uniform resource locator)
http//coe.winthrop.edu/educ150/syllabus.htm
Protocol type
domain name
directory path
page name
http - hypertext transfer protocol ftp - file
transfer protocol
3
Internet Addresses

• Domain definition
• com companies/commercial sites
• edu education sites
• gov governments sites
• mil US military sites
• net computer network sites
• org private organizations

4
Guess the Address
5
Introduction to Searching

• Ways of locating information on the Internet
• searching online databases
• browsing directories
• Searching indices.
• Today you will learn how to
• search a database
• browse an directory
• perform an advanced Internet search

6
How will you teach information literacy skills?
7
Searching online databasesvs.Searching the web
8
Online Databases Searching for Full-text
Documents in Dacus

• DISCUS - SC Virtual Library
• Articles from journals, newspapers, magazines,
  government publications
• Multi-media encyclopedia
• http//www.winthrop.edu/dacus

9
Searching the Web Types of Search Engines

• Directories

10
Browsing Directories

• www.ipl.org - Internet Public Library
• indeces arrange web pages into categories - like
  subject listings in a card catalog
• www.awesomelibrary.org
• www.yahoo.com

11
Using Indices

• catalog web documents (generally by title)
• allow you to search (query) the database
• give you a list of web pages that match your
  query (hits)

search
Michael Jordan
hits
12
Natural Language Searching

• ask a question in plain English
• www.aj.com

13
Advanced Search Techniques

• phrase searching Declaration of
  Independence looks for all words together in
  this order
• specify words that must appear in results cookie
  oatmeal recipe
• specify words that must not appear in
  results monty -python
• boolean operators AND, OR, NOT (must be in
  Advanced Search) see example

14
Safe Search Engines

• Kids Search Toolswww.rcls.org/ksearch.htm

15
Meta Search Engines

• query multiple Web search sites at once
• www.mamma.com
• www.dogpile.com

16
Search Engine Reports

• provides updates on various search engines
• compares search engines stats
• www.searchenginewatch.com

17
Why more than one search engine?

• No single search engine indexes everything on the
  Web
• Different search engines catalog different Web
  pages and/ or catalog pages in different ways.
  (For instance, some search engines only catalog
  by the title of the Web page. Others catalog by
  title and words found in the document itself.)
• Different search engines have different search
  syntax. Consult the help screens to find out
  what each search engine will recognize.

18
For More Information

• Learn the Netwww.learnthenet.com
• Surf the Web
• Find Information

Homework Practice Search and Reading Assignment