Transcript Searching the Internet

Smart Searching:
Using the Internet
to get started researching
Your I-Search Topic
Internet Search Tools
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Search Engines:
– Google, Ask
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MetaSearch Engines:
– Clusty, Dogpile
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Directories:
– Yahoo
But how do they work?
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Crawler-based Search Engines
– Listings are generated automatically using
software (spiders) that “crawl” the web and
index sites based on words on the web page.
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Google
People-powered Directories
– People get paid to evaluate web pages into
various categories.
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Yahoo
Solving a Mystery
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Julia works in downtown Chapel Hill.
While on her lunch break one fine
spring day, she sees a flash in the sky!
She looks up to see a bird about the
size of a crow diving at high speed after
what looks to be a pigeon. The bird
then swoops out of sight. Julia is
captivated by the gray and white bird
with a crooked black and yellow beak.
What do already we know?
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Who/what ? gray and white bird, size of a crow,
crooked black and yellow beak
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Where ? downtown buildings, town of Chapel Hill, NC
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When ? Daytime in the Spring
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How ? Fast-flying, possibly hunting pigeons as prey
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Why ? Never seen it before. Is it migrating? Is it lost?
What do we want to know?
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I want to know more about a bird
– One term: bird
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I want to know more about a bird that
hunts
– Two terms: bird, hunter
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I want to know what birds that hunt live in
the Southeast
– Three terms: bird, hunter, Southeast
Start with Nouns
Bird
Crow
Beak
Chapel Hill
Spring
Hunter
Pigeon
Migration
Think like a Thesaurus
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Bird that hunts
– Bird of prey
– Hawk
– Eagle
– Owl
– Falcon
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Southeast
– Southern
– North Carolina
– Chapel Hill
String terms together into phrases
and use “quotes”
Try these searches in Google:
bird of prey = 1,810,000
“bird of prey” = 1,130,000
“bird of prey” “North Carolina” = 27,200
“bird of prey” “North Carolina” spring= 16,700
Boolean!
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AND is the invisible Boolean
Falcon migrate spring
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OR gets the most results
Falcon (grey OR gray OR yellow)
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NOT – eliminates certain words
Falcon (grey OR gray) “North Carolina”
–car –miami –shoe
Search Engine Tricks…
Try These:
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Exact quotes
“North Carolina Falconers Guild”
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Nesting
Falcon (grey OR gray OR yellow)
“North Carolina” (falcon OR falcons)
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Truncation
Hunt*
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Advanced Search
In Google, Advanced Search is located right next to the
search button.
Evaluating Websites
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Who is responsible for this info? Who
wrote it? Who published it to the
Internet? A school? A government
agency? What’s their level of expertise?
When was the page last updated?
Try to distinguish between promotion,
advertising, and serious content.
Who is linking to the page, and what links
to other pages does the page itself
maintain?
A Web Address Demystified:
http://www.bronxletters.org/pta.html
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"http" means hypertext transfer protocol and refers to
the format used to transfer and deal with information
"www" stands for World Wide Web and is the general
name for the host server that supports text, graphics,
sound files, etc. (It is not an essential part of the
address, and some sites choose not to use it)
“bronxletters" is the domain name, or name of the site.
In this case, our school, Bronx Letters.
“org" means that the site belogs to a non-profit
organization
“pta" is a specific page in the web site
"html" is the file type and, in this case, stands for
hypertext mark-up language (that's the language the
computer reads)
Website Rankings
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Rankings are often based on:
– Title of the Site
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When the webpage title contains your search
word, the page appears higher in the search
engine results
– Frequency
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Number of times a word(s) appears
– Location/Frequency
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Number of times the word(s) appear near the
top of the page
To Wiki or not to Wiki?
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Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia that anyone
with access to a computer and the Internet
can edit, change.
Pros: anyone can update
Cons: anyone can update
Like any encyclopedia, Wikipedia is best
used at the beginning of your search to
understand the basic facts about your topic.
It’s a good first stop, but your research can
not end with Wikipedia.
Searching is a process,
which means it takes time
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Before you click on a link from your search results page,
notice the title, how your terms are used, and what the
web address can tell you about who created the site.
Notice words and phrases found on relevant sites about
your same topic and use them to focus your search
In Google, once you find a really useful site, click on the
“Similar Pages” link to see other pages that are like the
one you found useful.
Planning for the End:
Compiling Works Cited
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Compile as you go!!!
Save often!!!
Cut and paste web addresses and text
into a Word document to keep track of
where you’re finding your information
Cut and past web addresses and text
into an email addressed to yourself
and click send
Thanks for your attention!
Questions
???