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Becoming a Super Searcher



We all know the glories of the World Wide Web (WWW). It is convenient, quick, and can provide instant gratification for our information needs. In a perfect world, search directories and search engines would seem to know instinctively our information needs and then produce for us only the most relevant Web sites. Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world. While the Internet is an invaluable source of information, we must approach searching it with some basic knowledge and some basic skills. A few minutes now with this tutorial will save you hours of frustration later.

 

Who needs a plan, man?

Searching the Internet without a clear idea of what information you need is akin to going to the biggest grocery store imaginable without a list or a map. You might eventually come home with what you need, but chances are you will have wasted time wandering around aimlessly. Consider and answer the following three questions before you jump in and start your search:


  1. What are your information needs?
  2. What exactly are you trying to find?
  3. What type of Internet resource might be able to help you find what you need?

Let's look at an example search.

  1. What are your information needs?
    I need information about monkey attacks.
  2. What exactly are you trying to find?
    A news story about a monkey attack.
  3. What type of Internet resource might be able to help you find what you need?
    A search engine, a newspaper with searchable archives.

After answering these three questions, it's time to brainstorm keywords for your search. The following chart assists you with keyword organization. We'll talk about the AND and OR search tools in the section, Tips to retrieve LESS than 2,000,000 irrelevant hits. For each concept in our search need, monkey, attack, and news, we brainstormed synonyms or other keywords. After all, not all of us talk about the same or similar concepts in exactly the same way!

 

 

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Engines? Directories? What's the difference and why do I care?

There is a significant difference between subject directories and search engines. Depending on your search needs, a search engine might be a much more useful and efficient tool. Let's take a look at each one.

 

Subject Directories
Subject directories are created, cataloged, and organized by humans. In other words, humans visit Web sites, evaluate them, and categorize them into categories and sub-categories. Theoretically, each Web site included in a subject directory has been viewed, evaluated, and categorized (at least once) by a human. Because each included Web site must be at least visited by a human, subject directories usually contain a VERY small portion of the Web.

 

Directories are most useful for finding information on popular or scholarly subjects. If you are looking for something specific, use a search engine.

 

Some examples of directories:


Search Engines
Unlike subject directories, search engines do not rely on humans to organize and catalog included Web sites. Instead of humans, search engines use robots or spiders (i.e., computer programs) to scour the Web and index the words on Web sites. In other words, search engines are powered by computer programs; subject directories by humans. Because search engines use computer programs to crawl the Web, search engines can index vast numbers of Web sites. Futher, search engines are not neatly categorized like subject directories. Thus, when using search engines, it is imperative to have a search plan.

 

Search engines are most useful for finding specific information about a topic, but in order to avoid the "needle in a haystack syndrome", users must have a search plan and strategy using specific search tips and tools.

 

Some examples of engines:



Some search engines, such as Google, also offer subject directories: Google Directory. Google has also introduced some specialized search engines:



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All Web sites are not created equal.

It's worth repeating: All Web sites are not created equal. Truer words may never have been spoken. The wonderful thing about the Web is that anyone can put up anything. The horrible thing about the Web is that anyone can put up anything. This includes misinformation about every topic from anthropology to zoology. Such misinformation can be very harmful (medical misinformation), inflamatory (Holocaust revision), seriously skewed (Exxon's views on the Valdez disaster), or just plain misleading (reasonable prices for swampland down in Florida).

 

Therefore, when using the free Web for serious research or education, remember to evaluate each Web site critically. Quality control does NOT exist on the Web.

 

Ask yourself the following questions when looking at a Web site:


  1. Who wrote and/or created the site? What was his or her motivation?
    People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Gallaxo-Welcome (a pharmaceutical company) are likely to have very different views on animal testing.
  2. Who endorses the site? A university? A for-profit company?
    While certainly not always the case, universities, organizations, or government agencies may not be as biased as for-profit companies. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency and Exxon probably have different ideas about Valdez.
  3. Does the site indicate from where its information comes? Does it include citations or a bibliography? Does the site contain uncited facts or statistics?
    Let's say a site tells us that "47 percent of Americans love cheese." Who collected this statistic? Is there a link to its original source? Be suspect!
  4. Is the site accurate? Does it contain many spelling mistakes and poor grammar?
    If the site contains many typographical errors, it might have been thrown together carelessly.
  5. Is the site current?
    Always be wary of sites last updated in, say, 1996. Also, be wary of sites that don't include when they were last updated.

Take a look at this extreme example of a suspect Web site. What are the clues that something might be wrong?
http://kathyschrock.net/infolit/cat.htm

 

The Internet Detective is a great tutorial that teaches how to become a savvy Internet user.

 

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Tips to retrieve LESS than 2,000,000 irrelevant hits.

So, we know we need a search plan, and we know the difference between a search engine and a subject directory. We also know we need to be critical of any Web site we encounter. But how do we actually conduct efficient searches? As we pointed out in the search engines section, the Web is HUGE and search engines, with their computer robots and spiders, are able to crawl much of it. To avoid the "needle in the haystack" syndrome, use the following tips to create efficient and precise searches.

IMPORTANT: Each search engine (Google, AltaVista, etc.) may treat these search tools differently. For example, in Google, the Boolean AND is implied; you don't need to type it in. Make sure you visit the Help or Search Tips page at each search engine.


Phrase Searching
Use when using exact phrases.
Example: "monkey attack"


Boolean AND
Use when combining concepts.
Example: "monkey attack" and news
Sometimes the and is implied.
Example: "monkey attack" news


Boolean OR
Use when searching with synonyms
Example: "monkey attack" and (news or fact)
Some search engines do not allow the use of OR.


Truncation
Use when searching with multi-root words.
Example: educat* will find educator, education, educational, etc.


Remember: Each search engine may allow different uses of these search tools. Consult the search engine's help pages. Or, Search Engine Showdown has a chart which details major search engines' searching features: http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/features/.

 

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Ready, set, go!

There you have it -- our quick, relatively painless tutorial about becoming a super searcher. Notice we used the word "becoming"; learning how to search efficiently and quickly is a process that takes practice and planning (like most things in life). If you're really interested in search engines, check out the following two sites for all you ever wanted to know about the topic:



Or, if this tutorial wasn't enough for you, check out the following resources that offer more advice and instruction about "Becoming a Super Searcher."



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