ENG 21 INTERNET ACTIVITY #2: SEARCH ENGINES Renee Gaskill
Your Name: _____________________
Skills practiced: 1) Reading 2) Following written instructions 3) Comparing search engines 4) Selecting the most appropriate search engine 5) Finding information on a topic over the Internet.
SUBJECT-ORIENTED SEARCHES:
When researching a new topic, begin by conducting a subject-oriented search. This will tell you how much information is available on your topic. Type the name of the subject you are researching (for instance, American History) into the blank search field. Search engines which are well-suited to subject-oriented searches are:
Yahoo displays items that match your search terms in groups of 25. Scroll down through the matches to see what Yahoo found. To see an item, click on the highlighted word.
Magellan includes websites and newsgroups. It rates sites on a scale from 1 to 10 which indicates to the viewer how comprehensive, up-to-date, well-organized, easy to navigate, and how appealing each site is.
Lycos offers quick access to the most popular 10% of the Web.
KEY WORD SEARCHES
Key word searches look for very specific key words in documents regardless of the subject of the documents. You will pull up more information but most of it will not be exactly what you are looking for. This type of search will be more time-consuming but with persistence, it may turn up exactly the piece of detailed information you are looking for. With key-word searches you need to perfect the art of advanced search syntax which narrows the scope of your search with words such as AND, OR, NOT, and NEAR. For instance, here are some tips for searching for information on Martin Luther.
1. Put the two word search terms into quotes: "Martin Luther" so they are not searched separately.
2. Type "Martin Luther AND NOT "Martin Luther King" to eliminate unwanted material.
If you were searching for information on Martin Luther King, you would:
1. Type in "Martin Luther King".
2. Use parentheses to group search terms, such as "Martin Luther King" AND ("I Have a Dream" OR "Letter from a Birmingham Jail")
Engines well-suited to key-word searches are:
When you search for a key word on AltaVista you are likely to get thousands of hits. AltaVista sorts the hits according to their relevance. The Live Topics button organizes pages with similar content into groups.
In addition to searching Web pages, Lycos has a section that searches for pictures and sounds.
With WebCrawler you actually search a Web index rather than the Web itself. The index is updated daily.
CONCEPT SEARCHES
Concept searches are good for users who have trouble with key word searching. Concept searches are appropriate when you have a general idea about what you are looking for but don’t know how to be specific. The following search engines work well for concept searches.
Excite offers concept oriented searches. It also offers the following:
1. Excite Reviews of interesting Web sites,
2. Excite Live! which creates personalized news, sports, weather, financial, and lifestyle reports on topics you are interested in,
3. Excite Seeing Tours of more interesting Web sites,
4. Excite Reference, a quick way to look up people, businesses, and e-mail addresses, and
5. ExciteCity.Net, a world guide to geography and travel destinations.
InfoSeek has a key word search engine called Ultraseek and a concept-oriented search called Ultrasmart. When you have found your site, Ultrasmart offers Related Topics (other relevant areas) and Related News (relevant news stories). InfoSeek also has a subject index, a news center, and yellow pages of people and businesses. PC Week gives InfoSeek a very high rating.
INTERNET ASSIGNMENT:
1. Subject-oriented searches. (Re-read the section on subject-oriented searches.) Then, picture yourself in the following situations:
a. The teacher in your American Poetry class has asked you to bring in your favorite poem by an American writer to share with the class. You have no favorite American poet and have no idea what to do. Therefore, search for the subject, American Poetry, on one of the following subject-oriented search engines: Yahoo, Magellan or Lycos. Find a poem you like by an American poet and write the poem legibly on separate paper. Don’t forget to include the name of the poet.
Which engine did you use? _________________________________________________
b. You want to find out about the latest Hawaiian vocal releases. Use either Yahoo, Magellan or Lycos to search for the subject, Hawaiian Music. Find at least two sites that give you information on new hits and write the URLs of both sites as well as their names below:
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Which engine did you use? _________________________________________________
2. Key word searches (Re-read the section on keyword searches.) Then picture yourself in the following situation:
You are attending college on the mainland and want to impress your teacher with a report on the Merrie Monarch Festival. Use either AltaVista, Lycos or Webcrawler to search for the specific keywords, Merrie Monarch Festival. Click on one of the articles covering the 1998 Festival. Select a subtopic and read the entire article. Write down its URL and a paragraph about what you learned. Use separate paper, if necessary.:
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Which engine did you use? _________________________________________________
3. Concept searches (Re-read the section on concept searches.) Then picture yourself in the following situation: You are an accomplished surfer but have never had a chance to learn to snow ski. You decide to take a skiing holiday over Christmas vacation. Use Excite or Infoseek to search for the concept, Snow Skiing. Surf the Web and list the URLs and names of the precise sites where you can get information on the following:
a. Tips on how to ski: _____________________________________________________
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b. Where to go to ski: _____________________________________________________
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c. Where to stay: _________________________________________________________
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d. Cost of airfare: ________________________________________________________
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e. Cost of hotel & food for two weeks: ________________________________________
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Which engine did you use? _________________________________________________
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