Search Engines- help you find sites related to a specific topic. You enter a query or keyword search onto a search form ® submit ® search engine will return many links containing those words. Some will rank the relevancy of the links depending on how many times the words appeared in the pages.

Each Search engine builds a database of web pages by using a program called a spider which crawls down the internet pipeline and adds new web sites to the database. Some engines store all of the information on each web page it finds. The larger the database the greater number of hits or links returned.

Altavista is this type of engine, but because it brings back too many irrelevant hits, it is best used for very specific information. Other search engines categorize data and then let you search when the topic has been narrowed down somewhat producing more relevant results- Yahoo is such an engine. Among the best search engines are: Excite, HotBot, Altavista, and Infoseek. PC Magazine rates Excite as #1.

An excellent place to start is on the University of Toronto Search Page http://www.fis.utoronto.ca/internet/search.htm

See ratings of search engines at: http://searchenginewatch.com/reviewchart.htm

A listing of search engines can be found: http://juliet.stfx.ca/~x94emj/searchen.htm
 

Searching techniques - Each search engine has its own searching rules.

One good guide is found at: http://www.windweaver.com/searchguide.htm

A good guide to searching for various types of information is at http://nueva.pvt.k12.ca.us/~debbie/library/research/adviceengine.html#encyclopedia

Using quotes around a string of words helps in any instances, such as "Mona Lisa". Use AND , OR, and NOT to narrow down the topic, such as in "Prime Minister" AND Cretien. Using + infront of words makes sure the word is included. Using - in front of word excludes it.

Try a search on http://all4one.com/index.phtml where 4 engines are queried at once.
 

Top Search Engines

5 Excellent 4 Good 3 Acceptable 2 Poor 1 Unacceptable
Product Searches the Web? Searches Usenet Newsgroups? Searches Other Sources? Pros Cons Verdict
 AltaVista
Free
Yes Yes No Fast; indexes every word on millions of pages and in Usenet newsgroups. Can be difficult to narrow searches.
If it's on the Web or Usenet, you'll find it with AltaVista.
HotBot
Free
Yes No  No Unique search options let you restrict searches in a variety of ways. Limited Boolean search features.
A powerful search engine with a great looking interface.
Infoseek Guide
Free
Yes Yes Yes Searches for Web pages, Usenet groups, Web FAQs, e-mail address, and more. Uses unusual search expressions; only finds keywords.
The best place to search beyond the Web.
Open Text Index
Free
Yes No No Full set of Boolean search tools; indexes every word on millions of pages. Limited to five phrases per search.
A powerful Web search tool that's easy enough for anyone to use.
Excite
Free
Yes Yes Yes Conceptual searching finds ideas related to your original terms. Difficult to narrow searches.
Look here if you're not sure what terms to search for.
Lycos
Free
Yes No Yes Unique search options help you speed searches and work around misspellings. Finds only keywords; Boolean searches restricted to AND and OR. 
An aging site, but still full of useful information.
WebCrawler
Free
Yes No No Performs reverse searches to find who's linking to your site. Searches only by keywords; not as expansive as AltaVista or Open Text.
A venerable search site that's getting long in the tooth.
Yahoo
Free
Yes No No Well-organized categories make it easy to drill down to useful information. Finds only keywords.
Not all-inclusive, but a good place to start a search.

Boolean Basics: Learn the Search-Engine Language

Get Just What You Need

AND, OR, NOT, and NEAR. They're simple words, but use them correctly and you'll be looking at a dozen relevant sites instead of thousands of unrelated ones.

The terms--part of a century-old system called Boolean logic--act as extremely effective filters for finding just the information you need on the Web. Most of today's search engines support some form of Boolean query. Check the help section of your favorite search engine to find out whether it allows Boolean searches.

AND
The AND operator makes sure all the terms you request appear on the selected sites. If you typeJava AND JavaSoft your search will return pages about the Web's programming language, not coffee.
OR
Use OR to return pages that contain either of two terms.For example, Microsoft OR Netscape will find pages that mention either or both companies.
NOT
Use NOT to ensure that certain words won't appear in your search selections. Modems NOT internal will narrow your search to external modems.
NEAR
This term finds words located within a certain number of characters of each other. Not every service uses NEAR in the same way, and some don't offer it at all. For example, AltaVista uses it to find words within ten characters of each other, while WebCrawler lets you specify the number of characters.
Parentheses
Organize your searches even further by using parentheses. NOT Intel AND Cyrix will return pages with Cyrix in them; NOT (Intel AND Cyrix) will avoid pages with both names.

Find It Fast!

Bigger. Faster. Easier to use. The competition among Internet search engines is glowing white-hot, and that's good news for Net users. But despite each search service's attempt to become the ultimate online find-it tool, no single service is best for every need.

If, for example, you're shopping for a new PC and want to find Web sites for all the big vendors, a categorized listing service like Yahoo is the way to go. Its organized, drill-down approach to searches give you the information you need in no time. Yahoo even includes some advanced search features, though few people seem to know about them.

However, if you want to find something more obscure, Yahoo's rather limited list of sites won't suffice. Instead, check out one of the large mega-indexes such as AltaVista or Open Text Index. AltaVista, Digital Equipment's superstar, scans and catalogs every word in millions of Web pages and Usenet postings every day. You'll need to spend some time learning its search syntax to avoid being deluged by thousands of pages, but when you need to find the one place that mentions that out-of-print book or rare computer part, you'll be thankful for AltaVista's searching power. Open Text Index finds only Web pages, but its Power Search option lets you perform complex searches using simple drop-down menus. This feature is a real time-saver for anyone who'd rather not learn the ins and outs of Boolean terms.

Other services assist with even more specialized needs. Inktomi's HotBot is great for finding Web pages that include specific technologies like Shockwave, virtual-reality markup language (VRML), or JavaScript. And Infoseek Guide includes options for searching more than just the Web, including Usenet newsgroup postings, e-mail addresses, and Web FAQs.

The remaining search services, including Excite, Lycos, and WebCrawler, are good search engines but they're being eclipsed by their fast-moving competitors. Still, if you can't find what you need with one service, try another. All of these search engines return answers in seconds, so it pays to bookmark several for quick access.

Decision Maker: Choose the Best Search Engine for Your Business
1. 
What do you want to search first?
2. 
What other source do you want to check?
3. 
What is more important?
4. 
For your needs, the best service is...
Web Pages
 
Usenet Newsgroups
Other
 
Ease of Use
Features
Ease of Use
Features
 
AltaVista
AltaVista
Infoseek Guide
Infoseek Guide
 
Usenet Groups
 
Web Pages
Other
 
Ease of Use
Features
Ease of Use
Features
 
AltaVista
AltaVista
Infoseek Guide
AltaVista
 
Other
 
Web Pages
Usenet Newsgroups
 
Ease of Use
Features
Ease of Use
Features
 
Infoseek Guide
Infoseek Guide
Infoseek Guide
Infoseek Guide
 
Practice:
  1. Let's try a broad based search for science fair project ideas -

  2. Start with Yahoo ® Education ® K12 ® Science ® Projects ® Science Fair projects and ideas.
  3. If you want a small number of hits that are relevant: You are looking for a Marsh lesson plan Start with Excite ® in the search box type +marsh + lesson ® search
  4. Suppose I want to write a report on child labor. Start with MetaCrawler ® type "child labor" in search box ® search. Try the same in InferenceFind.
  5. I want to find a tutorial on writing essays: Start with Magellan ® choose Education category ® "essay tutorial" ® lessons ® Doyle's essay tutorial.

  6. Try the same with Lycos and WebCrawler
  7. I want to find a very specific topic such as Neil Bohr. Try Altavista ® "Neil Bohr" or your own name in quotes.

  8. Try some of the other searches of the Nueva Libraries Help Page.

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