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Search Engines

1. Search engines are computer programs that search the web by gathering the text of web pages to make them searchable, but no search engine indexes the entire web. 2. Good search engines to learn include Google, All the Web, and Vivisimo. It's important to learn the syntax and features of one or two simple search engines and one complex meta-search engine. 3. Effective search strategies include using Boolean operators, phrase quotes, and field limiting to titles, URLs, or domains. Advanced search options provide additional filters to refine searches.

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81 views3 pages

Search Engines

1. Search engines are computer programs that search the web by gathering the text of web pages to make them searchable, but no search engine indexes the entire web. 2. Good search engines to learn include Google, All the Web, and Vivisimo. It's important to learn the syntax and features of one or two simple search engines and one complex meta-search engine. 3. Effective search strategies include using Boolean operators, phrase quotes, and field limiting to titles, URLs, or domains. Advanced search options provide additional filters to refine searches.

Uploaded by

Ritu Choudhary
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Information Technology Libraries

Web Search Engines


What Are Web Search Engines?
Search engines are computer programs that travel the Web, gather the text of Web pages and make it possible to search for them. Please keep in mind that no search engine covers the entire Web. In fact, experts estimate that the largest search engines cover only 15% of the World Wide Web. No search engine is completely up to date. Search engines are rugged individualistsnone of them index the same Web information, and none of them are searched the same way. It is imperative that you take the time to read the help screens before using any search engine.

How Can I Learn to Use Search Engines?


Excellent tutorials can be found at: 1. www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/ 2. http://library.albany.edu/internet

Are There Rules of Thumb for Learning to Use Search Engines?


1. Thoroughly learn to use one or two of the simple search engines such as Google. 2. Learn one meta-search engine such as Vivisimo www.vivisimo.com 3. Learn one complex search engine such as All the Web Advanced Search.

What Are Some Good Search Engines?


All the Web www.alltheweb.com An excellent simple search engine that is very similar to Google in that it ranks results according to the number of pages linked to them. Its Advanced Search option permits full Boolean searching. The Rules 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. All the Web reads spaces between words as the Boolean and. Put multi- word phrases in quotation marks united states. All the Web is case insensitive. United States is identical to united states. All the Web does not permit wildcards. All the Web simple search allows for Boolean and with a + sign, and Boolean not with a All the Web simple search enables searching for News, Pictures, Video, Audio and FTP files.

7. All the Web permits field limiters. A field limiter requires that a key word or phrase appear in a specific section of a Web page. The title limiter is perhaps the most useful in that if a search is confined to only the title of a Web page, it is likely that the results will be on topic. url:football link:www.mongtgomerycollege.edu title:Libraries Home Page seize language:fr (seize means 16 in French) 7. All the Web advanced search permits the use of Boolean operators,and or. Not is written andnot. 8. All the Webs advanced search includes several other filters. Google www.google.com One of the largest, fastest and easiest to use simple search engines. Google puts pages that have the most pages linked to them at the top of the search results list. This simple strategy is a surprisingly effective method of finding good sites quickly. The Rules 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Google reads spaces between words as the Booleanand . Google simple search permits or when input in ALL CAPS (horses OR riding). Be sure to put any multi-word phrase in quotation marks: united states. Google is case insensitive: Google reads United States and united states identically. Use + signs to include stop words in your search +in +the gloaming . Use signs to exclude words saturn car -automobile . Google does not permit Wildcards. You may field limit on the Google main search page by typing the kind of limit you wish, a colon, and then the keywords. title:hmo lawsuits . Google allows for field limits similar to those outlined for All the Web, above. 9. Google permits searching for pictures Usenet Newsgroups and an excellent Subject Directory. It does not have an easy method of searching for audio, video or FTP files. 10. Google Advanced Search is excellent and can be reached by clicking on Advanced Search On the Google Advanced Search : with all of the words is equivalent to the Boolean AND. with any of the words is equivalent to the Boolean OR. without the words is equivalent to the Boolean NOT. with the exact phrase is equivalent to putting a phrase. You may limit by language, date, format etc. Use Occurrences to limit by field.

Google Uncle Sam www.google.com/unclesam Searches government documents, some of the most useful information on the Web. The same rules apply. Vivisimo http.//vivisimo.com Vivisimo is a very sophisticated, very fast meta-search engine, with many useful features. The Rules 1. Both the simple and advanced search use the same syntax.. 2. Vivisimo has excellent help screens. Click on Help on the simple search screen, and Syntax on the advanced search screen. 3. Vivisimo will sort results into categories. This can be helpful. 4. You may select which search engines you wish to search in the advanced search window. 5. You may use either and, or , not, and not, as well as + -. A blank space is equivalent to AND. 6. It permits field limiting title:health maintenance organizations will find titles of web pages. url: www.montgomerycollege.edu will find text in the url. text:hmo and lawsuits will find phrase in the body of the paper. domain:edu will permit you to limit to a certain domain, e.g. .edu or .com etc. There are several excellent Web pages that compare search engines. The most thorough and objective is Search Engine Showdown. Its URL is www.searchengineshowdown.com Search Engine Showdown also lists and describes dozens of smaller, specialized search engines. These include: phone number databases, sites where experts will answer questions for a fee, news search engines, statistics, job postings, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, womens topics etc. Linda Fortney Montgomery College Rockville Campus Library [email protected] L/A 634 Web search engines la 634 aug. 2003

Need more help? Call or ask at the Reference Desk! Montgomery College Libraries Germantown Rockville Takoma Park 301-353-7853 301-251-7130 301-650-1536

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