Lesson+4

I'm certain that many of you are fairly web savvy students, capable of finding information on any given topic. However, being and efficient web searcher is a useful, and practical skill. Before you can effectively search the Internet for information, you need to have a basic understanding of how the Internet, and Search engines operate. A search engine is an index of other web sites. One of the faults of the Internet is that it is quite unorganized. Search engines attempt to provide some order to the Internet by organizing sites and allowing the sites that it indexes to be searched. Search engines find sites by sending out tiny electronic **spiders** that crawl around the Internet and collect information about web sites. They then return to their home search engine, and input the information about the site into an index where that information can be accessed by a user. Search engines generally collect two types of information: **meta tags**, and **keywords**. >> For example, the Nike web site meta tag contains the following keywords: //sports, sporting goods, sports equipment, sports apparel// ||  ||  || //Google is a very popular search engine.// || //Yahoo! is a very popular web directory// ||
 * Web Searching Basics**
 * What is a search engine?**
 * How do search engines find sites?**
 * ** Meta tags are special html tags that provide information about web pages, information such as who created the page, when it was last updated, what is the page about, and which keywords represent the pages content.
 * Keywords are important terms related to the web site, or to the content of the web site.
 * Keywords are important terms related to the web site, or to the content of the web site.
 * What is the difference between a search engine and a web site directory like Yahoo?**
 * *** Web directories are different from search engines in that they don't look for sites. People who build sites submit their sites to the directory, and people that work for the directory then categorize the web site where it sees fit. || [[image:http://us.geo1.yimg.com/pic.geocities.com/us/i/geo/ao/us_cat.gif width="151" height="39" align="top" caption="[ Yahoo! ]" link="http://www.yahoo.com/"]] [|options]

Using the + sign** Finding information on the Internet is easy. Finding the information that you want on the Internet is a completely different story! By following some very simple rules when using search engines you can eliminate thousands of useless unrelated search results. The strategy is called "Search Math." Search math is a method of combining terms in order to eliminate unwanted results. To see how search math works, go to [|www.google.com], search each term and then record the results. Then search the combined terms using a + sign. " || archaeology || archaeology + Mesopotamia || archaeology + Mesopotamia + pottery ||
 * Refining Your Search Using Search Math
 * || [[image:http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/info10/module20/images/google1.gif width="183" height="104" align="center"]] || [[image:http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/info10/module20/images/google2.gif width="184" height="116" align="center"]] || [[image:http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/info10/module20/images/google3.gif width="183" height="106" align="center"]] ||
 * search the following terms:
 * Record the number of results ||  ||   ||   ||
 * In the example above, Google searches its database for the term **"archeology"** it then combines the term with **"Mesopotamia"**, eliminating documents which don't contain both terms. || In the example above, Google searches its database for the term **"archeology"** it then combines the term with **"Mesopotamia"** and **"pottery"**, eliminating documents which don't contain all three terms. ||  ||
 * In the example above, Google searches its database for the term **"archeology"** it then combines the term with **"Mesopotamia"**, eliminating documents which don't contain both terms. || In the example above, Google searches its database for the term **"archeology"** it then combines the term with **"Mesopotamia"** and **"pottery"**, eliminating documents which don't contain all three terms. ||  ||

You can also use search math to subtract terms from your search, for example, if you want information on one term, but not on another. go to [|www.google.com], search each term and then record the results. Then search the combined terms using a - sign.
 * Using the - sign**
 * |||| //When using the minus sign, you must type the minus and then the keyword with no space. If you type a space after the minus sign, the search engine may interpret the minus sign as a dash, and as such, may **increase** your chances of finding pages containing the word you were trying to eliminate!// ||
 * bad use of minus || good use of minus ||
 * pets - dogs || pets -dogs ||  ||
 * pets - dogs || pets -dogs ||  ||

" || pets || pets -dogs || pets -dogs -cats ||
 * || [[image:http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/info10/module20/images/google4.gif width="188" height="102"]] || [[image:http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/info10/module20/images/google5.gif width="186" height="104"]] || [[image:http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/info10/module20/images/google6.gif width="198" height="101"]] ||
 * search the following terms:
 * Record the number of results ||  ||   ||   ||


 * In the example above, Google searches its database for the term "pets" it then combines the term with dogs, eliminating documents which contain the subtracted term. || In the example above, Google searches its database for the term "pets" it then combines the term with dogs, and with the term "cats" eliminating documents which contain both subtracted terms. ||  ||
 * Using the " "**
 * Using the " "**

The final and perhaps most useful search strategy is using quotations around your terms. Quotations tell the search engine to search for the phrase that you entered exactly as it appears in documents. " || chess || "chess grandmasters" || "American chess grandmasters" ||
 * || [[image:http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/info10/module20/images/google7.gif width="189" height="100"]] || [[image:http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/info10/module20/images/google8.gif width="185" height="104"]] || [[image:http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/info10/module20/images/google9.gif width="187" height="104"]] ||
 * search the following terms:
 * Record the number of results ||  ||   ||   ||

Finally, you can combine terms and strategies in order to further refine your site:
 * **"Lord of the Rings" -"The Two Towers"**
 * **"Harry Potter" -books - movies**


 * Remember, web searching is an imperfect science. There is no guarantee that sticking a minus sign in will always eliminate that term. Also note that different search engines search and use these terms in slightly different ways. But, for the most part, they should do what they are supposed to, and they will likely get you a lot closer to the results that you ar actually looking for!. ||

Search Engine Project