Effective Search Strategies and Evaluating Web Sites

compiled and presented by Michele Rook

Effective Search Strategies

Tips for effective searching

·        Double Quotations           ( “    “)

      Look for words in exactly the same order you enter them

      Examples:  “great depression”

                        “school dress code”

·        Minus sign                          ( - )

     To exclude a word from your results

      Examples:   depression –great

                         Apple –computer

·        Addition sign                      ( + )

      To find all of the words you enter, not just some of them

       Examples:  “ Hawaii +hotels +oceanfront “

                         “Chocolate +cake +recipe +layered”

     Note:  Many search engines will let you search this way without using the plus  

    sign.  The results are very similar in most instances.

·        Limit by extension            (site: )

      Limit search to pages by certain groups

       Examples:    site: edu

                             site: org

                             site: gov

·        Search Examples: Search conducted Nov. 8, 2005 using www.teoma.com

Search:  Depression (illness)

Search: The Great Depression (history)

* Some search engines have a 10-word limit for search terms.

Search Engines

·        Teoma                                  Available from:  www.teoma.com

      Based on subject-specific popularity (rankings based on number of  

      Same-subject pages that reference or link to it.

      Offers suggestions to narrow search

       Provides resource links to websites from subject area experts

·        Vivisimo                               Available from: www.vivisimo.com

      Clusters results

·        Alta Vista                             Available from: www.altavista.com

      Includes multi-lingual search capabilities and translation services

·        Ask Jeeves                         Available from: www.askjeeves.com

      Good choice for students needing basic information.  Search can be conducted   

      by asking a question.

·        Noodle Tools                      Available from: http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/information/5locate/adviceengine.html      

     Provides assistance with finding the best search engine for specific    informational needs.

Evaluating Web Sites

Authority

·        Who is the author?

·        What are the author’s credentials?

·        Look for links that say “about us”, “background”, “who am I”

·        Does the author cite sources?

·        Who sponsors the page?

     You can check who the publisher is at:  http://www.easywhois.com

     Is it part of a larger website?

     Is there a link to a home page?

     Is there a link to email a webmaster?

     Is this a personal website?

     Look at the domain and URL.  Common domain names are:

                 .gov     government agency

                 .edu     educational institution

                 .mil      military

                 .org     organizations

                 .k12     US school sites (not all schools use this )

                 .com    company

                 .net      network

Note:  Even if a website has an .edu extension,  you still need to watch for personal pages.  A tilde (~), %, or the words “users”, “people” or “members” generally indicates that you are on a personal page and that the information is not an official document of the educational institution.

Example:  http://pubweb.northwestern.edu/~abutz/di/intro.html

     “Pubweb” means public web server

     “Northwestern.edu”  domain name

     ~          tilde indicates personal directory

Purpose

·        Is the purpose to inform, persuade, explain, or sell?

·        Is the information biased?

·        What does the author want you to understand or believe?

Note: Knowing why information is presented to you is as important as who is presenting it.

Currency

·        How recent are the facts and figures?

·        When was the site created?

·        When was the site last updated?

·        Example:  http://www.cnn.com.

Accuracy

·        Where does the information come from?

·        Does the author cite sources?

·        Can I find the same information somewhere else?

·        Is a bibliography included?

·        Do the additional links on the page work?

·        Examples: http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus.html.

                                           http://www.malepregnancy.com

Relevancy

·        Is this information useful?

Checking External Links

Anyone can link to a document or webpage.  You can find external links by going to www.altavista.com.  

Type link: in the search box and then enter the URL of the site you would like to search.

Example:     link:http://www.wcs.edu

Why is it important to evaluate information found on the Internet?

Many sites get on the top of a result list because they pay to be there, not necessarily because they are the best choice.

Companies outbid each other for certain keywords and phrases.

Go to www.overture.com.   Type a word in the search box.  To find the amount paid each time a visitor clicks on the word click on View Advertisers Max Bids.  The last line on each result will tell you how much the company bid to ensure their site was at the top of the result list.

Google Bombs:

 This is the  process by which  a website author can hyperlink a term to a website in order to raise the linked site’s ranking in a search result.