Secondary How To >> Search Strategies >> Electronic Search Strategies >> Search Engines

Search Strategies Search Engines Skillful use of the Web requires knowledge of the different types of search tools, knowledge of good search techniques, and the ability to evaluate what you find.

The Web is a very interesting medium for research: Anyone can publish any kind of "information." A complete list of Web sites does not exist. There are no official organizers, catalogers, or evaluators. Sites constantly change; new sites are created and old sites disappear. There are no standards for Web search tools. When you use the Web for research, don't assume: "You can find it faster." "The information is more current." "The information is just as reliable." Searching is not evaluating. Given the nature of Web information, it's vital to evaluate the Web pages you dig up. See Evaluating Web Pages for things to consider when evaluating a Web page. On this page, "Web pages" means the "free Web " or Web sites anyone can access, not the Web-based research tools like the databases that your school library subscribes to for students and faculty. Directories: Best used for: browsing subjects; finding quality Web sites. These sites will open in a new window. Close the window to return here. Britannica | Internet Public Library | Open Directory | Yahoo! | Awesome Library Search Tip: When using a directory's keyword search option, note the subject categories your search retrieves. Directories organize Web sites by categories (i.e. subjects). People who work on directories decide in which category a Web site should be listed. Since directories are built and maintained by people, directories include far fewer Web sites than search engines. However, directories are the best place to begin browsing a subject, and most directories focus on including quality Web sites. Some directories are specifically designed to support the research needs of students. Search Engines Best used for: finding specific sites or specific information. This site will open in a new window. Close the window to return here. Search Engine Watch <http://searchenginewatch.com/> Do you want to know how to USE search engines to actually FIND something ? This is the place!! It contains the world's largest collection of directory and search engine tips, tricks, reviews, and guides. It should be required that everyone visit SearchEngineWatch and read "Search Engine Math" and "Power Searching for Anyone." Search Tip: Use more than one search engine; Explore each search engine's various search options; Don't assume the first hit is the best one; If you don't find what you are looking for in the first 25 hits, modify your keywords and search again. Search engines use software called spiders, Web crawlers, or bots to automatically collect the words on millions of Web pages. These words are fed into a searchable database. So when you search a search engine, you are not searching the Web - you are searching that search engine's index of Web pages collected by its spider in the recent (or not-so-recent) past. Relevancy software determines in what order hits are listed. Search engines are extremely incomplete in terms of retrieving most of what is available. Also, there is little overlap between the search engines' databases. Therefore, use more than one search engine on a regular basis. Visit the Electronic Searching and Keyword Searching pages for more information and assistance. Metasearch Engines Best used for: searching for obscure keywords; getting an overview of what's available. These sites will open in a new window. Close the window to return here. DogPile | Ixquick | Metacrawler | ProFusion | SavvySearch Search Tips: Keep your search simple - use only a few keywords; Note the search engines used by a particular metasearch engine. Metasearch engines send your keywords to a few search engines and give you the combined search results. Metasearch engines can't handle complex searches, so keep your search terms short and simple. Portals Best used for: finding the most popular types of information (weather, stock quotes, sport scores, etc.) These sites will open in a new window. Close the window to return here. Excite | Go.com | Lycos | NBCi | Yahoo! Portals attempt to provide such a wide variety of information and services that one would rarely need to browse elsewhere on the Web. Portals are designed for the general public. Most include a basic search engine as well as a search directory. Learn More About Searching These sites will open in a new window. Close the window to return here. Search Engine Showdown <http://www.notess.com/search/> An excellent source for statistical comparisons of search tools. Comparisons of the search options each tool offers are also available. Search Engine Watch <http://www.searchenginewatch.com/> Provides news, commentary, and comparisons of search engines. This site includes reviews of search engines and links to Web-searching tutorials. Web Searching from About.com <http://websearch.about.com/> The articles in the "In the Spotlight" column are useful. Credit: Eugene School District 4J, Eugene, OR, and OSLIS Revision Committee 2002