Mail and Web Services

Module 5 Use search engines and directories effectively

The Internet contains a wealth of information, misinformation and utter junk. The key to
discovering high quality online information be it in text, articles, resources or images, is
knowing how and where to find it.

As you become used to surfing the Internet, you will discover the best places to find
information. The key to finding anything on the Internet is knowing how to carry out an
effective search. This document will show you how.

Software needed
A web browser, such as:
 Microsoft Internet Explorer
 Firefox
 Opera
 Safari
 Chrome

Internet search tools – the background

Search tools fall into two categories – directories and search engines.

Directories
A directory is a searchable collection of links to Internet resources, organized into
subject categories, usually by a human editor or site evaluator. They are useful for
general research, or for finding resources that may be supported by some expert
recommendation – though it is worth remembering that the expertise may be more to do
with the Internet than with the subject. Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) is probably the most
familiar directory.

Search engines
A search engine is a searchable database compiled by a spider or robot – a piece of
software that explores the Internet, compiling an index as it goes. The spider picks up
and records in its database a selection of the keywords it finds in the text of the pages it
visits.
Search engines are good at finding specific web pages or resources, and are more
likely to have up-to-the-minute references.

The following are excellent examples:

 Google
 Bing

Meta-search engines
Some meta-search engines, like Dogpile (www.dogpile.com) and Metacrawler
(www.metacrawler.com) send queries to several search engines at once, delivering the
top-ranked pages from each. Since no two search engines work in quite the same way,
using a meta-search engine can deliver a broad selection of relevant materials.

Jennifer Roxas-Magbanlac, MIT

Mail and Web Services

Natural language engines

Natural language engines, like Ask Jeeves (www.ask.co.uk), which is also a meta-
searcher, let you ask questions in everyday language – useful for a more general
search.

Under your nose

Finally, and often overlooked, is the ‘find’ tool within your browser. This helps you locate
keywords contained within the web page on your screen, which is helpful when you are
skimming a long article.

For example, in Microsoft Internet Explorer, click on ‘Edit’ then ‘Find (on This Page)…’
to access this tool.

Searching strategies and techniques

A successful Internet search should deliver perhaps eight or ten websites, all clearly
relevant to your enquiry. It is more likely that your first, simple search will deliver
thousands, if not millions of results – far more than you can ever explore. How can you
limit what is delivered, and be sure that it will be useful? The secret lies in the way you
frame the question. The more specific your enquiry, the more manageable and useful
your results will be. In this context, less is definitely more.

Jennifer Roxas-Magbanlac, MIT