More information on this topic can be found
in Chapters 5 and 6 of the textbook.

Unit 3: Searching/Metasearching

Indexing is done either by people (site managers and cybrarians) who read the content of web pages and describe the page by assigning keywords (what they call keyword indexing), or by computer programs (called a spider or a robot) that gathers web page data from the internet and indexes them according to the formula of the search engine. If the search engine maintains an index of the entire text of each web document, it is using full-text indexing. Some robots are programmed to drop prepositions (in, on, over, above, etc.) and articles (the, a, an, etc.), which are referred to as stop words.

Boolean Operators

The term "Boolean," often encountered when doing searches on the Web, refers to a system of logical thought developed by the English mathematician and computer pioneer, George Boole (1815-64). In Boolean searching, an "and" operator between two words or other values (for example, "pear AND apple") means one is searching for documents containing both of the words or values, not just one of them. An "or" operator between two words or other values (for example, "pear OR apple") means one is searching for documents containing either of the words. (from http://www.whatis.com).

For an illustrated example of Boolean logic, see the Boolean Searching page.

Hits and details

Hits is the term for any requested file, including each of a page's images, so you may get a list of URLs that take you to web pages, image files, or directories in which your query appeared. For best results, make your searches specific by using multiple words in your query, and by narrowing your search using detailed search pages available on some search engines. Be careful with stopwords – words the search engine doesn't index, such as "and," "the," and "HTML."

10 Steps to a Basic Search

Refer to pages 142-143 of the textbook

Finding and Analyzing Search Engines and Directories

Search Engine Watch
http://www.searchenginewatch.com

Getting the Most From Search Engines

AltaVista
- read The Basics for AltaVista
http://www.altavista.com/av/content/help.htm

About.com
- model of how a portal service can be organized and how identifiable individuals gather and present subject resources
http://www.about.com

Yahoo
- read the Search Options for Yahoo!
http://search.yahoo.com/search/options
- take their online tutorial, Searching the Web with Yahoo!
http://howto.yahoo.com/chapters/

Infoseek
- read How To Search for Infoseek:
http://infoseek.go.com/

HotBot
- read the Advanced Search Features for HotBot
http://www.hotbot.com/help/tips/search_features.asp

Lycos
- read Lycos Pro Search
http://www.lycos.com/help/lycospro-help.html
- read Lycos' Advanced Search
http://lycospro.lycos.com

Test yourself on this unit