Search Engines, Subject Direct ories, and Met a-Search Engines

by K imbe r ly McCoy

re you like millions of folks who are tion that spiders or robots return is used to
connected to the Internet but have no match web pages to keywords and phrases re-
idea how to locate valuable resources quested by users and provide more compre-
on-line? Hopefully, after reading this article you hensive results of available sites on the Web.
will be able to locate everything on -line your Search engines also index words or terms in
heart desires. web documents. Search engines provide a
large number of possibilities. Many search n-
What ar e Search Engines, Subject gines also allow you to retrieve data by brows-
Directories, and Meta-Search Engines ing by topic and using the keyword search ca-
pabilities. Examples of search engines include
Think of search engines, subject directories, • Lycos www.lycos.co
and meta-search engines as a method of storing • Excite Search www.excite.co
various web sites in various databases. These • Infoseek www.infoseek.co
tools search the web and store the information. • HotBot www.hotbot.com
Many people assume that all of these search • Go to www.goto.co
tools work the same, but this is not the case. • AltaVista www.altavista.co
Search engines, subject directories, and • Webcrawler www.webcrawler.com
meta-search engines are set up and work differ- • Education World www.educatio -world.com/
ently. The difficult part about using Internet
search tools is learning and understanding how Subject Direct ories
each one of them works and which one will Subject directories usually have smaller data-
work best for your particular needs. Listed are bases than search engines. Directories classify
some general characteristics of each search tool web documents or sites into a subject classifi-
cation scheme; they are usually compiled by
Sear ch Engines hand or in some type of logical order. Subject
Search engines are programs that run on a par- directories also begin with general topics an
ticular web site. They create their listings y- allow the user to narrow to a specific category.
namically and search large portions of the Inter- They usually provide limited search results o
net based on information that their “spiders” or available pages on th Web. The information
“robots” retrieve. Users who want their sites in- collected from a subject directory will generally
cluded in the search database also submit in- contain more related information dealing with
formation. (Spiders or robots are automate a particular subject matter. Information e-
search programs that go through the Web and trieved from subject directories will not be as
search web pages for keywords). The informa-
(continued on Page 2)
comprehensive as the information located from For example:
a search engine. Many of these directories include "autom*"results: automatize, automobile, auto-
browsing and searching capabilities. Examples o matic or automotive
subject directories are "educat*"results: educator, educators, education
• Yahoo www.yahoo.co or educationa
• Nerd World Subject Index www.nerdworld.co "profes*"results: profess, professor, profession,
• The Mining Company Subject Site Guides www professional or professionalism
miningco.com/
• Starting Point www.stpt.com/ • Pl us and Mi nus Si gns
• Looksmart www.looksmart.com/ The plus sign used before a keyword or
• Magellan magellan.excite.com phrase should retrieve results that include
that specific keyword or phrase. The minus
Met a-Sear ch Engines sign used before a keyword or phrase should
retrieve results that exclude that specific key-
Meta-search engines don't create their own data-
word or phrase. Examples of each are listed
base of information. They search the databases of
below
other search engines. The major advantage of us-
For Example: (+ Technology + lesson plans)
ing a meta-search engine is that it allows the user
Results: documents in the databases that have
to search several search engines simultaneously.
both of these words.
Examples of meta-search engines include
For Example: (+ Technology - Computers)
• Metacrawler www.metacrawler.com/
Results: a list of links that has the word
• Inference www.infind.com "technology" in the document but will not include
• Savvysearch www.savvysearch.com any document that has the word "computers."
• Mamma www.mamma.com For Example: (+ Technology + Computers - Inter-
• Dogpile www.dogpile.com/ net)
• Search www.search.com/ Results: sites that have "technology "and
• C4 www.c4.com/ "computers" but not "Internet"
• Profusion www.profusion.com/
***Make sure you read the tips for each
Sear chi ng T echniques & Strategi es search to o l. Not a ll search engines su pport
Now that you have a better understanding of the al l symbol s. Al taVi sta, Infoseek, and Exci te
similarities and differences of search engines use no spaces between the keywo rds nd the
subject directories, and meta-search engines, it’s pl us and mi nus s igns. HotBot, Lycos, Goto,
time to learn some searching techniques an and Webcr awl er don't specify one way or the
strategies. Several searching techniques an other .
strategies are essential for narrowing search re-
sults and will assist you with locating valuable re- • Quotati on Mar ks and Brackets
sources via the Internet. These techniques an Quotation marks and brackets assist with
strategies include wildcard, plus and minus narrowing the search results from the search
signs, quotation marks and brackets, pipe symbol, tools. When quotation marks or brackets are
Boolean operators, and nesting. used, the search engine will only retrieve
documents that have those key terms appear-
• Wi l dcard ing together.
A wildcard is a special character that can be For Example: "Technology and lesson plans" o
added to a phrase whil searching and the [Technology and lessons plans]
search engine or subject directory looks for all Results: words will be treated as anexact
possible endings. The results will provide all phrase.
possible documents in their database that
have those letters
• Pi pe Symbol (|) For Example: Technology NEAR/10 lesson plans
The pipe (|) symbol, located on most keyboards Results: documents that have the words technol-
on the right-hand side between the delete an ogy and lesson plans within 10 words of each
return key will assist with narrowing down e- other
sults within a broad category.
For Example: Technology|Computers ***Curren tly AOL Search, Alta Vista, Lycos
Results: retrieve all documents in the broad cate- and Webcr awl er suppor t thi s featur e. Read
gory of "technology" dealing with "computers" the speci fic sear ch tool ti ps for more detai l ed
i nfor mati on.
• Bool ean Oper ators
Boolean operators are used the same way the • Nesting
plus and minus signs are used. The AND Boo- Nesting allows the user to perform multiple
lean operator, is similar to the plus sign and tasks and build a complex search. The paren-
the NOT Boolean operator is similar to the mi- theses are used to group the key words and
nus sign. The OR Boolean operator tells the Boolean operators together. This is an excel-
search engine to retrieve one term or the other. lent technique for complex searching.
For Example: Technology AND lesson plans For Example: Technology AND (Internet OR World
Results: documents in the databases that have Wide Web)
both of these words Results: locate all documents that have the word
(similar to using the + symbol) "Technology" and "Internet" or "Technology" and
"World Wide Web."
For Example: Technology NOT Computers
Results: a list of links that have the word More Tips on Searching
"technology" in the document but will not include The OLRC Technology team also recommends:
any document that has the word "computers" • Reading the tips provided by each search n-
(similar to using th - symbol) gine, subject directory, or meta-search engine.
• Using synonyms if you are having trouble with
For Example: Technology OR Computers a particular keyword or phrase.
Results: a list of links that have the phrase • Deciding which search tools (engine, directory,
"technology" or "computers" in the document or meta-search engine) would work best for
you and your needs.
For Example: Technology AND NOT Computer • Using more than one search engine or subject
Results: information with the key word directory; this will expand the results of your
"technology" and not "computers" search.
• Making sure the spelling of the keyword or
For Example: Technology AND Computers NOT
phrase is correct.
Internet
• Being aware that some search tools (engine,
Results: the sites that have "technology" an
directory, or meta-search engine) have a per-
"computers" but not "Internet"
cent symbol located on the side of the annota-
(similar to using the + and - symbol)
tion. This indicates the amount of information
that is relevant to the key words or phrases.
• Near
The higher the percentage, the closer the re-
The NEAR phrase indicates to the search tools
sult is to the search criteria.
that those terms must be located within a c r-
• Remembering to bookmark your findings.
tain number of words. The results may vary
depending on the search tool. To illustrate,
some search tools may try to locate the terms
(see “Additional Information on Searching
within 2, 10 or 25 words of each other. The
on page 4)
command to use is NEAR/#
 The One-
Stop Cross
Curriculum
Addi t i onal Information on Searching
System
• Learning More about Search Engines and Subject On-line
Directories FAQs
www.cln.org/searching_faqs.html Still trying to lo-
A complete and detailed set of frequently asked questions cate reliable, use-
on using search engines and subject directories. ful and worthy lesson plans for your ABLE,
• The Amazing Internet Guide ESOL, Family Literacy, or GED students?
www.sunstorm.com/amazing/ If so, look no further. This new resource
A wonderful site that contains information on over 20 will allow you to search our database fo
search tools and provides subscription and key tech- lesson plans on specific topics, see related
niques needed for each tool. topics, and find recommended trade books
• The Search is Over for those topics. The best part is you can
www1.zdnet.com/pccomp/features/fea1096/sub2.html send in your own lesson plans to be added
Excellent web site that provides detailed instructions on into our database to be used by other edu-
all the major search directories, indexes, and meta-search cators. For more information about
engines. This site contains the pros and cons of each as Eureka go to <literacy.kent.edu/eureka>
well as which will meet your particular needs
• Search Engine Watch
www.searchenginewatch.com/
Tips about Inte net search engines and search engine
submission.
Great On-line Resources
• Cyward Internet Education: Search Engines &
Specialized Directories • Funbrain.com funbrain.com/index.html
www.cyward.com/speciali.htm Funbrain.com, designed for K- K-8 teachers and kids, is a
Information on major and minor search engines, search great way for
for adult learners to increase and strengthe
grammar, spelling, math, science, and history skills.
engines for children, and a directory of specialized search
The site contains on-
on-line games
games and quizzes dealin
engines
with each subject matter listed above. There are tw
• Finding it On-line: Web Search Strategies
levels of the quizzes, and positive feedback for correct
correct
home.sprintmail.com/~debflanagan/main.html and incorrect answers is provided as well.
An easy-to-understand tutorial on using search engines,
subject directories, and meta-search engines. • Learning Resources literacynet.org/cnnsf/
• The Spider's Apprentice-Tips on Searching the Sponsored by CNN San Francisco an Western Pacific
Web Literacy Network, Learning Resources is intended fo
www.monash.com/spidap.html#ratings adults with average reading and speaking skills. Th
Tips on searching for AltaVista, Infoseek, Excite, Web- activities include full text of each story as well as inte r-
crawler, Lycos, HotBot, and Yahoo. This site rates each active activities to test comprehension. Learners als
of these search tools and provides a page with FAQs deal- have the option to read or listen to the stories.
ing with search engines, subject directories, and met -
search engines. • Free-
Free-ed.net www.free-
www.free-ed.net/
• Life on the Internet: Subject Directories and Free.ed.net offers free "GED" education on the Inter-
Inter-
Search Engines net. Free-
Free-ed.net does not administer the GED tests.
www.screen.com/start/guide/searchengines.html However, it does provide resources to learners in order
Extra information on search techniques, subject directo- to prepare for the actual test. Some of these resources
ries, search engines, or meta-search engines. Life on the include demonstrating how the tests are set up, helpin
Internet has some great resources. with the subject matters, and getting
getting comfortable wit
the way the tests are administered.