Internet Search Tools Introduction

1
Internet Search Tools- Introduction

• Subject Directories
• Search Engines
• Mega Search Engines
• Specialty Search Engines

2
Directories vs. Search
Engines
If the Internet were a book, Directories would
probably be the table of contents and Search
Engines would be the index. (http//howto
.yahoo.com/chapters/2/2.html)
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Why use a search engine?

• 800 million documents are now out there
• Information is probably doubling per year
• 1.5 million Web pages are being added daily

Search engines and directories help you sift
through the Web so that you can find the informat
ion you need.
http//www.thewebtools.com/tutorial/internetsearch
.pdf http//www.completeplanet.com/Tutorials/Sear
ch/part1.asp
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Tracking Down Information
Reference http//britannica.com/cgi-bin/dictionar
y?vainternet
?
News http//www.nyt.com
?
Images http//accuweather.ap.org/cgi-bin/aplaunch
.pl
?
Statistics http//www.census.gov/datamap/www/inde
x.html
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Subject Directories

• UConn Homepage
  http//www.uconn.edu/
  
• Librarians Index to the Internet
  http//www.lii.org
  
• Yahoo
  http//www.yahoo.com
  

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Directory Search Tools
http//norman.lib.uconn.edu/NewSpirit/Redesign/def
ault.cfm?Campus0
research/ academic tool
7
...Directory Search Tools
http//www.lib.uconn.edu/websearch/
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UConn Library Homepage

• Electronic Reference Shelf
• http//www.lib.uconn.edu/ris/lib-assignments/refso
  urc.htm
  
• Resources by Subjects
• http//www.lib.uconn.edu/subjectareas/
• Web Search http//www.lib.uconn.edu/websearch/

Aimed at needs of UConn library users
identifies essential academic resources
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Librarians Index to the Internet
www.lii.org
URL
Best Search Tools

• Search Options
• Keyword
• Subjects
• Titles
• and more

Search Window
Help

Subjects
10
Librarians Index to the Internet
http//www.lii.org
Searching Hints Start by searching o
n just one or two terms, or a phrase
To truncate, use an asterisk ()
"librar" retrieves "library,"
"libraries," librarian," etc.
The "AND" operator between words is
assumed Use Subject Headings to impro
ve your search Bypass Surgery
Health

• results are displayed alphabetically
• 40 major subject categories (from arts-women)
• more than 7,300 Internet resources

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Yahoo!

• Categories
• Arts Humanities
• Business Economy
• News Media
• and more

www.yahoo.com
Help

News
Newspapers lists national and international
sources
Finance provides real time information
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Yahoo!
...a directory that is also searchable.
http//www.yahoo.com
Searching Hints Use quotation mar
ks around words that are part of phrase
For example great
barrier reef Use and -
For example apple pie

monty -python

• results are displayed in order of relevancy
• created by a staff of editors who visit and
  evaluate web site
  
• 14 main Yahoo! Categories and Sub-Categories
• includes news, maps, stock quotes and more
• local and international Yahoos

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Search Engines
http//www.google.com
world's largest search engine
http//www.altavista.com
fastest, most
comprehensive search http//www.alltheweb.com
world's biggest fastest sea
rch engine
14
Google
http//www.google.com
Im Feeling Lucky takes you to the first web page
Hint You dont have to use and
to combine words
Browse by category
Foreign language options
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Google
http//www.google.com

• Searching Hints
• Automatic "and" Queries Example hawaii
  vacation
  
• capitalization doesnt matterGeorge
  Washington", and "gEoRgE wAsHiNgToN" will
  return the same results
  

• most relevant and highly-regarded sites on any
  topic are listed first
  
• Google does not use "stemming" or truncation, so
• use different forms of words
  Example airline airlines

16
Altavista
http//www.altavista.com
language settings
Multimedia search options
Find results on web, news, discussion groups, p
roducts
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AltaVista
Use less common words... Example mare stallion
colt filly not horse
http//www.altavista.com
Search Cheat Sheet

• Relevance ranked results

Type in a question... where can i buy uconn huski
es tickets?
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Mega Search Engines
19
Metacrawler http//www.metacrawler.com/index.html
Option to click on several search engines
one of the first metasearch engines
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New Breed of Search Engines

• Those that will search into the Deep Web"
• Specialty Search Engines
• MySimon.com shopping site
• FindLaw.com legal reference
• Moreover.com headlines from online sources
• FinancialFind.com financial planning
  investment
  

New York Times quote Mining the 'Deep Web' With
Specialized Drills by Lisa Guernsey, January 5,
2001, http//www.nytimes.com/2001/01/25/technology
/25SEAR.html
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Searchhome office deduction

Additional Links
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Optimize Your Search

• Wording ski resorts Vermont
  (instead of skiing)
  
• Trucation Symbols
• chemi to find ? chemical, chemistry, chemist
• Quotations "chocolate cake"

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more on Optimizing Your Search...

• AND, OR and NOT
• dolphins -NFL
• recipes "chocolate cake" -nuts
• online AND brokers stocks OR securities
  

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Search Engines Directories
.
Scott Baldwin graphic http//www.nytimes.com/lib
rary/financial/2001outlook1-index.html?ibd

• Navigating Tools
• to find the sites that you need
• Search Engines
• Directories
• Mega Search Engines
• Specialty Search Engines

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Webography
Reference http//www.britannica.com News http
//www.nyt.com Statistics http//www.census.gov
Directories http//www.uconn.edu http//www.l
ii.org http//www.yahoo.com Search Engines htt
p//www.altavista.com http//www.google.com htt
p//www.alltheweb
Specialty Search Engines Shopping http//www.m
ysimon.com/ Legal http//www.findlaw.com/ Fina
ncial http//www.financialfind.com/ Mega Sear
ch Engines http//www.metacrawler.com/ http//w
ww.dogpile.com http//www.askjeeves.com