There are things you need to know about the tools you use to conduct a search. Before getting started ask yourself, "Who is in control here? " and then strap yourself into the fighting chair at the stern of the boat and take charge.
Consider search engines and how they work. Take a look at a site called Search Engine Showdown to get an idea of how interesting and complicated seach tools can be.
Just casually looking over all the details and files on the Showdown site is enough to overwhelm the most curious among us but don't give up too fast. After all, practicing your sorting and highlighting techniques is part of learning how to manage information even when it seems to be too much too fast.
Quickly skim across the page looking for facts and bits of information that apply to your immediate needs. It's all interesting but you need to get your assignment done by its due date so isolate what is relevant and promise yourself that you'll come back later when you have more time.
Settle on a place to start. Take a look at the Recent News block since it usually offers the latest breaking tips alerting you to the newest information that may help you to mentally update some of the files the site hasn't had time to amend yet. Next, click on the word FEATURES for a chart that highlights some of the most important features of the most popular search engines. Remember to watch the " last updated " information in the right hand corner of the page to know if the information you've picked up in the Recent News bulletins alters what you're reading on the chart.
If you want to read more about Search Engines take a look at these articles:
- How a Search Engine Works.
- The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value.
- The Invisible Web.
- This white paper (also posted on the BrightPlanet site) The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value is part of a marketing program for a search tool called Complete Planet that claims to accomplish more for the web searcher than anything even the most powerful meta engine can do. Its use of the fishing metaphore makes the paper a nice fit for this web resource.
Before leaving the topic of the Invisible Web, here's a PDF file from UC Berleley Library with an exercise to help you improve your search skills.
Meta Engines
The Library at UC Berkeley also offers some online help for understanding what Meta-Search Engines are and why, how and when they should be used. Knowing when to move from a simple search engine like Google to a Meta-Engine is an important part of search strategy.
Directories
The tutorial on the Cyberlibrarians' Rest Stop does a good job of isolating the idea of how directories can be used as a search tool on the web. The trick to accessing information and being able to recognize useful links to follow and ignore periferal material is to assess how the information was organized in the first place. Directories like the Digital Librarian and Yahoo employ people in the process of organizing the material for linking.
There's a lot to be learned in the details and it can prove to be the best time saver at your disposal. Every information search tool, a paper index, a basic dictionary or enclyclopedia, or an online database or search engine has its own " Context Relevant Help " materials. It's rarely called context relevant help so you'll need to look around for things like search tips, word lists, compiler information, or whatever the source may label it. Watch for things like a schematic drawing that helps you to decipher an information entry written in a format that may be unfamiliar to you. Usually a source will include some kind of direction meant to assist the newcomer in a better understanding of the features and options used to organize and retrieve information.
For example, electronic databases usually offer details specific to their own source. It's not a good idea to transfer a search rule from one database or search engine to another without checking to see if and how it applies to the tool you are currently using. Some databases work best using Boolean Search techniques while others are organized around natural language searching. If a search engine uses Syntax Searching then quotation marks around a word may signal the search tool not to perform its default action of stemming but in another database the use of quotation marks might indicate something quite different.
It's usually worth the few minutes it takes to consider how a search tool works and some of the techniques that will improve your searching. Consider Proximity Searching and how, with a little practice when you're in a tool that employs proximity searching, it might save you time and frustration.
Proximity Searching
The word proximity, within the context of searching for information, means just what you think it means. You have a better chance catching a fish if you get your bait and hook in the general proximity of a fish. Targeting the general area around your best guess has to improve your chances of landing what you're going after.
As always check the search tips for the search tool you are using since proximity searching can be controled by words, symbols or not even available if it wasn't included in the basic search design of the selected tool. The more you know about the design of the search tool you are using then the more closely you can target your search. For example, if the proximity operators are nested then use the broadest ones first.
Verity Query Language operators, of which proximity operators are one type, are tools that help you to use logic to narrow and limit your search. The three most common Proximity search words are NEAR, SENTENCE, and PARAGRAPH
- lobster "trap" would mean that sentences that have lobster trap would be returned in your search as well as a sentence that reads "It was a sinister trap to wait until his date was paying for dinner before he ordered lobster".
- "heel tapper" schooner may help to avoid search results that have more to do with dancing than with sea vessels
- "colonial" fishing vessels could add or eliminate a good number of interesting but not relevant hits from your search
Enough about search tools and how to use them for now, although you are expected to seek our and practice new methods and strategies for searching throughout this tutorial. Let's move on to consider what we should be searching. Using a range of sources is important and information sources aren't all on the World Wide Web. Click here to move on to the Range of Sources file in this tutorial.