Tips for using Search Engines
Knowledge is no more hidden; it is only hidden if you don’t seek for
it.
A
search engine is a program that searches
documents for specified keywords and
returns a list of the documents where the
keywords were found. Although search
engine is really a general class of programs, the
term is often used to specifically describe systems
like Google, Alta Vista and Excite that enable
users to search for documents on the World Wide
Web and USENET newsgroups.
Typically, a search engine works by sending out a
“spider” to fetch as many documents as possible.
Another program, called an indexer, then reads
these documents and creates an index based on the
words contained in each document. Each search
engine uses a proprietary algorithm to create its
indices such that, ideally, only meaningful results
are returned for each query.
If you have a general subject in mind (like "coins"),
type the word or words in the Search box and click
the Search button. Results are usually listed in
order of relevancy based on keywords and other
factors.
Advanced Search Features
If you know exactly what you want, you can get
better results by entering very specific information
into the Search box. Despite differences in each
search engine's tools, there are tools that many
search engines have in common.
Searching for an Exact Phrase
To require that an entire phrase be found in a
search,enter quotes (" ") around the terms. For
example, "giants baseball" returns listings where
the words "giants" and "baseball" appear together
and in that order, either in the title, the URL of
the Web site, the description, the keywords, or the
document. If no sites are found that contain both
terms, sites that contain either term will be
displayed.
Handout- tips for using search engines. Prepared by Edem K. Bankas
Searching For Required Words
You can type the plus sign (+) or the word
AND before a word to require that it be
found in all of the search results. For
example, giants +baseball (include a space
between the first word and the + symbol) or
giants AND baseball returns all listings that
contain "baseball" and "giants" but not
necessarily together.
Searching For Excluded Words
Use the minus sign (-) before a word or the
word NOT to require that it not be found in
the search results. For example, giants -
baseball (include a space between the first
word and the - symbol) or giants NOT
baseball lists sites containing "giants" but not
"baseball." Some engines like AND NOT
(two words) or ANDNOT (one word) better
than just NOT.
Searching For Multiple Words
Use the word OR to require that one or the
other term be found in the search results. For
example, giants OR baseball (include a space
on each side of the OR) lists sites containing
"giants" or "baseball." You can combine
AND, OR, AND NOT by using parentheses.
For example, to find documents that contain
the word giants but not either the word
baseball or football type giants NOT
(baseball OR football). You could also type
this giants -(baseball OR football). Note:
You cannot begin a search with a "-" term.
You must put some other search term first.
Using Wildcards
You can use the asterisk (*) character to
indicate a wildcard search. This is useful when
you are trying to match a term that may or
may not be plural or might use one of several
verb tenses. For example chemi* will find
results containing words that begin with
1
 'chemi' (e.g. chemical, chemistry,
chemist). You must have at least four non-
wildcard characters in a word before you
introduce a wildcard. This is not necessary
for plurals because a search on cat will
also return results containing the word
cats, and a search on cats will return
results containing the word cat.
sites containing words beginning with 'gene'
and ending with 'logy,' separated by a single
letter (e.g. genealogy and geneology) which is
useful for commonly misspelled words. You
can also use multiple wildcards within a single
word.

Some search engines support two

wildcards. The asterisk (*) is used to
replace multiple characters and the
percent (%) symbol is used to replace
only one character. For example
psych*ist will find all results which
contain words that begin and end with
'psych' and 'ist' (e.g. psychologist,
psychiatrist), and gene%logy will return

Major Search Engines

Search Engine URL

AOL Search http://search.aol.com/aolcom/webhome

All The Web http://www.alltheweb.com/

Ask.com http://www.askjeeves.com/

Excite http://www.excite.com/

Google http://www.google.com/

HotBot http://www.hotbot.com/

LookSmart http://www.looksmart.com/

Lycos http://www.lycos.com/

MSN Search http://search.msn.com/

Netscape Search http://search.netscape.com/

Search.com http://www.search.com/

Snap http://www.snap.com/

WebCrawler http://www.webcrawler.com/

Yahoo! Search http://search.yahoo.com/

Reference: http://www.about-the-web.com/shtml/search.shtml#ses_vs_dirs

Handout- tips for using search engines. Prepared by Edem K. Bankas 2