Finding it on the Internet: Advanced

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Finding it on the Internet Advanced

• An InFoPeople Workshop
• Winter 2000
• Instructor Carole Leita
• leita_at_infopeople.org

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Agenda

• Review
• Search Strategy
• Search Techniques
• Evaluating Results
• Search Engine Specifics
• Searching Newsgroups

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Review Basic Search Operators

• to require
• - to exclude
• " " to phrase
• to truncate

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Search Strategy

• What, when, where, why, how
• 2 or 3 concepts
• First concept - your subject (What)
• 6 to 8 keywords
• Use nouns and objects
• Avoid action terms and modifiers

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Search Pitfalls

• Typos - yours
• Ignored terms - e.g. computers, Internet,
  software, Web - if so, put in quotes
  
• Too many terms, synonyms - limit concepts to 3,
  keywords to 6 - 8
  
• Alternate spellings

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Downloading Bookmarks File

• 1. Put disk in Adrive
• 2. In Netscape, go to www.infopeople.org/temp/asbk
  mk.html
  
• 3. Click on Netscape File menu, then Save As
• 4. In Save As window, click on Save In arrow
  select 3½ Floppy (A) by clicking on it.
  
• 5. Double-click on the asbkmk file to save it

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Loading Bookmarks File

• 1. Click on Netscape's Bookmarks button, then on
  Edit Bookmarks
  
• 2. Click on the Bookmarks File menu, then on
  Open...
  
• 3. In the Open Bookmarks file window, go to 3½
  Floppy (A) in the Look in box, double-click on
  the asbkmk filename

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Field Search Techniques

• Title
• Date
• Source/Location/Domain
• File or media type
• Language

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Exercise 1 - Field Searching

• Stop!
• Read the instructions and all the questions
  before you begin working.

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Boolean Operators

• AND, OR, AND NOT
• NEAR - only AltaVista
• within 10 words
• Parentheses ( ) - to nest expressions

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Boolean Nesting Syntax

• Expression starts with an open parenthesis and
  ends with a closed parenthesis
  
• Expressions are read from the "inside-out"
• Need a balanced number of parentheses in the
  entire query
  
• Expressions at the same "level" are read in
  order, from left to right
  

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Boolean Pitfalls

• Excessive nesting of terms
• Unintended results from combining the AND and OR
  operators
  
• Improper (and unintended) use of the AND NOT
  operator
  
• Unbalanced parentheses

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Example

• Question I need a good recent article or
  resource about some new planets being discovered
  outside our solar system within the past 5 or 6
  months.
• IN AltaVista
• ("multiple planets" OR "new planets") AND
  (discover OR find) AND (domainedu or
  domaingov)
  
• Also limit by date and sort by most important
  keyword(s)
  

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Exercise 2 - Boolean Searching

• Remember
• Read the whole thing before you begin.

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Evaluating Results

• Authority of the source
• Quality of the information
• Currency of the information
• Bias of information
• Intellectual responsibility for the site

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AltaVista

• Very large database
• with advanced searching capabilities
• Most flexible (and complex) search syntax - can
  use Boolean NEAR
  
• Excellent new advanced search tutorial
• Cons
• only 10 results at a time
• 1st generation ranking

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Exercise 3 - AltaVista

• Brainstorm terms
• animals, wildlife
• identify, recognize, information
• tracks, spoor

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Northern Light

• Very large database
• sort results by date
• limit to subject areas
• limit to document type
• Custom Folders
• Cons
• mix of 1st and 2nd generation ranking
• more 404s and duplicate entries

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NL - Custom Folders

• Subject (e.g., hypertension, baseball, camping,
  expert systems, desserts)
  
• Type (e.g., press releases, product reviews,
  resumes, recipes)
  
• Source (e.g. commercial Web sites, personal
  pages, magazines, encyclopedias, databases)
  
• Language (e.g., English, German, French, Spanish)

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Exercise 4 - Northern Light

• REMEMBER
• REMEMBER
• REMEMBER

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Fast

• Largest of all search engines
• Fastest of all search engines
• Cons
• no complex Boolean
• template with AND, OR, NOT equiv.
• Limited field searching
• 1st generation results ranking

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Exercise 5 - Fast

• And your search strategy is?

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Google

• 2nd generation results ranking
• by of times page is linked to
• links on more linked pages more important
• Caches pages when indexed
• Database growing quickly
• Cons
• no Boolean
• no advanced searching

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Searching Newsgroups

• Information on people (professional and personal
  interests)
  
• Product experiences/evaluations
• Technical computing questions
• Breaking news
• Identifying experts (self-proclaimed and
  otherwise)
  

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Deja.com

• Database goes back to March, 1995
• Covers more than 15,000 newsgroups
• Power Search has full archive
• Full Boolean including NEAR
• Up to 100 results per page
• Sort results several ways
• Can post, track, read newsgroups

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Evaluation Form

• www.infopeople.org/wseval.html