Transcript presentation source

Using the WWW for Research
Browsing the Web Using
Directories
And
Search Engines
EDD, UTK
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Two basic ways to find Information on the World Wide Web
 1.
browse directories by subject
 2.. search by keyword in search
engines
EDD, UTK
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Browsing Directories
 comparatively
small collections or
resources
 created and maintained by people
 Don’t cover the entire Web
 can be very effective, especially as a
beginning strategy
EDD, UTK
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Some well known Directories
 Excite--
http://www.excite.com
 Infoseek--http://www.infoseek.com
 Lycos Top 5%-http://www.pointcom.com
 Yahoo!--http://www.yahoo.com
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ExampleDirectories, or subject catalogs, are topical lists
of selected Web resources that are arranged in
a hierarchical way.
For Example
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Science
Physics
Health
Ecology
ozone depletion
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Lab Exercise, Yahoo
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EDD, UTK
Using Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com),
find the Sun Safety Quiz, take it and
record your score; also record the path
you took to get there
Using Yahoo find Internet tutorials;
record the URL for the top two sites,
take a quick look at one; record pat
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Lab Exercise, Yahoo
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• What are two generalizations you have
reached about Yahoo?
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•BONUS: Choose a subject and find
information about it with Yahoo. Record
the path
(Do not use the search option for any of
your searches!!)
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Lab Exercise, Infoseek
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Using Infoseek (www.infoseek.com) do
the same two/three searches as you did
with Yahoo (Sun Quiz, Internet tutorials,
and “your choice;”
What two things can you generalize
about Infoseek?
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Lab Exercise, Summary
EDD, UTK
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Complete the following with two
colleagues:
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Your have browsed two directories or
subject guides. What are the major
similiarities? The major differences?
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Virtual Libraries-Special
Directories
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EDD, UTK
Virtual libraries are great places to
begin your searches. They are
directories of collections of resources
that cybrarians have carefully chosen
and organized in a logical way. These
resources are carefully evaluated by
some knowledgeable in their field.
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Virtual Library, Lab
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Suppose that we want to find the
population of Egypt---•
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EDD, UTK
First, go to http://www.ipl.org
Open the Reference Collection
Click Reference
Then click Geography
Open World Factbook 1997
Click on E and then Egypt
Under Edit in the menu bar choose find in
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Page; type population
Virtual Library, con’t.
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EDD, UTK
Take a look at one other Virtual Library,
search out a topic of interest to you and
record the path your search took.
How is this similar to The Internet
Public Library you just used?
How dissimilar?
Share your ideas with a colleague!
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Virtual Libraries, con’t.
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Some of the best known Virtual Libs:
• Internet Public Library (http://www.ipl.org)
• World Wide Web Virtual Library
(http://vlib.stnford.edu/Overview.html)
• Librarians’ Index to the Internet
– (http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/InternetIndex)
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Search Engines
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• are created by robots or spiders
• more comprehensive than directories
• catalog the entire WWW, some full text
• search results more the domain of the
researcher and his/her search strategy
• are updated frequently
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Well known Search Engines
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• Altavista
http://www.altavista.digital.com
• HotBot http://www.hotbot.com
• Open Text http://index.opentext.net
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Search Engine Similarities
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• all ask for keywords or phrases
• then submit, search or seek
• usually lists “hits” according to their
• have online help
• phrase searching and Boolean
searching
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Boolean Operators
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EDD, UTK
The Boolean operators are AND, OR
and NOT:
(http://web.utk.edu/~ddoak/net/strategy.
htm#boolean)
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Phrase Searching
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EDD, UTK
Using quotes around two or more words
results in searches for that phrase
rather than the individual words.
(http://web.utk.edu/~ddoak/net/strategy.
htm#phrase)
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Using Boolean Search Operators
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Go to http://www.altavista.digital.com/
Type in keywords and start the search
(recycling plastic products)
Examine the search results
• How many links or hits did you get?
• Were they relevant?
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Boolean Operators, con’t.
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How might we refine the search to get
more relevant and useable returns?
Write a search query using the operator
“and;” “or;”
Use the “date” selection box in the
advanced search window
What were the results of each?
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Phrase Searching
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EDD, UTK
Write a query for recyling plastics using
the phrase search strategy
What were your results?
Try different phrase queries for this
topic..results?
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More Phrase Searching
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EDD, UTK
Use phrase searching in
http://www.hotWbot.com
To find the exchange rate of the
Japanese yen
What phrase/query string did you use?
Findings?
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Meta Search Tools
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EDD, UTK
Meta search tools allow one to use
several search engines simultaneously.
Here are some of the most popular
Meta-search tools:
All-in-one Search Page
http://www.albany.net/allinone
Internet Sleuth http://isleuth.com
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Meta Search Tools, con’t.
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EDD, UTK
MetaCrawler http://metacrawler.com
Search.Com http://www.search.com
SavvySearch
http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~dreiling/sm
artform.html
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Meta Search- All-in-One
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First, look at the All-in-One Search Page
http://www.albany.net/allinone
• What do you find?
• What does it do?
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Meta Search- Internet Sleuth
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Next Meta search is with Internet Sleuth
http://www.isleuth.coc
• the Sleuth allows you to search one
database at a time or several at once
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Meta Search- Savvy Search
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Savvy Search
http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~dreiling/sm
artform.html
• Query options provide for Boolean
searching
• Type in congressional campaign
contributions in the search form
• Summarize your results
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Searching Summary
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EDD, UTK
We have examined Directories(subject
indexes), Virtual Libraries, Search
Engines and Meta-search tools
Directories are “classified” dbases
Virtual Libraries are more specialized
“classified” dbases
Search Engines are more
comprehensive and use keywords with
Boolean operators and phrase searchs
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Summary, con’t
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Meta-search tools provide in some
cases links to a wide variety of dbases
• In other cases they provide access to
several search engines with one search
• Generally, meta searches do not use the
power of the advanced features of the
various search engines
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