Going Beyond Google: Tips for Searching the Internet Search Strategies for Better Results Tip: Reason: Example: Use the Advanced Search feature See your options of how to limit, narrow, or focus your search Most search engines have a domain limit (.com, .edu, .org, etc.), language limit (English) and more Search by exact phrase instead of individual words Get more precise results Most search engines recognize "......"  (double quotes) for phrases "copyright law" Use Boolean operators to connect words/phrases together AND requires all words  (+) [fewer] OR includes any words       [more] NOT excludes words     (--) [fewer] Some search engines recognize these, some do not.   Some include an automatic AND for you. "copyright law" AND "fair use" Brainstorm as many synonyms as possible for your topic If one keyword fails, or provides results you do not expect, you have other ideas ready alternative energy, solar energy, wind energy, etc. Use unique keywords whenever possible Common words can bring up far too many results.  Unique words may target better information. Use the [more sophisticated] language of your discipline instead of lay terms. Try more than one search engine for your topic Get a variety of results, be more comprehensive in your search Search commercial search engines, plus specialized directories for a more robust look at what is on the Web. Commercial Search Engines ¨       Convenient, free, multi-purpose ¨       Contain thousands, millions, billions of web sites - great for finding a needle in a haystack, but not always so great for finding a particular piece of hay¨   Search only the free or surface Web (exclude licensed information and the Invisible Web)¨       Not the best use for finding comprehensive or scholarly information on a topic Name and URL: Description: Pros: Cons: Google www.google.com ¨       One of the most popular and largest search engines out there (launched in 1999) ¨       Relevance based on sites' linkages and authority ¨       Includes sponsored links on every results page ¨       Uses an automatic Boolean AND between terms ¨       Easy to use, with one search box ¨       Has an Advanced search for more options and control ¨       Includes several different databases: images, froogle, groups, news, maps, etc.¨        Searches various file types: PDFs, flash, .ppt, etc. ¨       Archive of Web pages as they looked when they were indexed ¨       Only searches the first 110KB of a file (not always the entire file) ¨       Phrase searching can be inaccurate AlltheWeb www.alltheweb.com ¨       A large, fast search engine ¨       Indexed by Yahoo ¨       Ranks results according to their relevance by analyzing the web page text, title and description accuracy as well as its source, associated links, and other unique document characteristics ¨       Easy to use, with one search box ¨       Has an Advanced search for more options and control ¨       Includes several different databases, listed on the main screen: news, pictures, video, audio ¨       Claims to be the most current, but has a time lag like the rest [Can be as current as 1 day old, but the average is 1 month old] Search Engine Showdown www.searchengineshowdown.com ¨       A web site for finding out more about various search engines ¨       Includes reviews and comparative search features of many services ¨       Does not give information about every search engine out there Specialized and Scholarly Search Engines ¨       Specialized, lesser-known databases of Web sites ¨       Typically subject directories, plus include a search feature, so you can browse a particular subject category or do a keyword search¨   Tend to include more authoritative information, but have many fewer Web sites than commercial search engines Name and URL: Description: Pros: Cons: Librarians Index to the Internet www.lii.org ¨       Web sites are carefully selected, described, and organized by a team of librarians ¨       Database of over 20,000 entries, organized into 14 main topics and over 300 subtopics ¨       All information chosen by librarians, using a set of selection criteria (see About Us) ¨       Web sites are added, removed, and updated frequently ¨       Has a Help section for search tips Internet Public Library www.ipl.org ¨       Developed and maintained by a consortium of universities with library/information science programs ¨       Search the entire database or browse by Subject Collection; results are broken down by category ¨       Covers many subject areas, and features several special collections: Ready Reference, Reading Room, TeenSpace, etc. InfoMine: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections http://infomine.ucr.edu ¨       A librarian-built virtual library of Web sites appropriate for research; sites are annotated and indexed ¨       Contains over 100,000 links (26,000 librarian created links and 75,000 plus robot/crawler created links) ¨       Covers many subject areas ¨       Has an Advanced Search to place limits ¨        Search Tips provide examples of how to do Basic and Advanced searches¨  Can search the entire database, or subject areas separately ¨       Most appropriate for research at the university level Virtual Learning Resources Center www.virtuallrc.com ¨       Academic web sites, selected by teachers and library professionals, that provide current, valid information for school projects ¨       Both an index of ~10,000 web pages maintained by people, and a meta-search engine that includes information from research portals and university and library Internet subject guides ¨       Can search the entire database, or browse by subject category ¨       Results are not as well organized or described as other subject directories listed here Academic Index www.academicindex.net ¨       A meta-search tool that includes results from mega-information databases that index only research-quality reference and information sources ¨   Information is selected by professional librarians, educators, and educational and library consortia ¨       Includes WorldCat (Beta), a database of books held in libraries worldwide  also links to the library catalogs of local libraries that own the books you search for ¨       Features ÔMore Reference ToolsÕ to do a meta-search of selected sites and categories of information ¨       No help or advanced search options ¨       Some results have in-depth descriptions/ annotations, others do not Many others: ¨       National Science Digital Library      http://nsdl.org/search ¨       Open Directory Project      www.dmoz.org/ ¨       BUBL      http://bubl.ac.uk/link/search.html ¨       Internet Scout Report      http://scout.wisc.edu/Reports/ScoutReport/Current/ ¨       EdIndex      www.pitt.edu/~poole/edmenu.html Search Engines for Articles ¨       Contain articles (some full text, some citation/abstracts only) from magazines, journals and other publications Name and URL: Description: Pros: Cons: Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com ¨       A source for finding scholarly literature from a variety of publications¨       Google employees deem the content ÒscholarlyÓ¨  Includes various types of documents: articles, reports, technical papers, books, etc. ¨       Database is growing all the time, adding more content ¨       Content has been vetted by humans ¨        Advanced search feature allows searching by anywhere, title, author ¨       Limit by date, specific publication, subject area ¨       A Beta service (not yet fully developed) ¨       You will get mostly citations and abstracts or ÒpreviewsÓ and will need to track down the full text or pay a fee to buy it FindArticles http://findarticles.com ¨       Searches millions of articles from both free and ÒpremiumÓ sources¨     Not necessarily scholarly sources, but includes many subjects areas ¨       Advanced Search feature allows searching by title, body, author; narrow by date of publication ¨       Shows related results ¨       Many advertisements  distracting¨      Premium articles only show abstracts.  Full text requires a subscription, free trial, or fee Created by P. Durisin Barbera Library Consultant, Waring School November 8, 2007