Searching the Web

http://www.lib.pdx.edu/~beasley/searching.html

 

Concepts and Searching
Basics 		Search Engines: Subject Directories;
Robots and Spiders; Meta-Search
Engines 		Subject Guides *Evaluating Information
on the Internet 		Searching Tutorials

 

Web Concepts and Searching Basics
First Things First
  Anatomy Lessons--What are the Search Engines searching?
The elements of a web page     <http://www.lib.pdx.edu/~beasley/anatomy.htm>
What You Can Learn from the Uniform Resource Locator?
  Understanding and decoding URLs       <http://www.library.jhu.edu/elp/useit/evaluate/url.html>
  Types of Internet Domains      <http://library.usask.ca/hsl/presentations/ptnet/domains.html>

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Search Engines

A selected group of search engines included here as examples of their type. For more complete listings of search engines, see the Search Engines and Search Strategy Resource Pages section later in this document. 

 
Directory Based
  Yahoo     <http://www.yahoo.com>
Spiders and Robots
  Altavista      <http://www.altavista.com>
Altavista Help Page for Advanced Searching    <http://www.altavista.com/help/adv_search/syntax>
  Google     <http://www.google.com>
Sorts hits by popularity of pages, listing most frequently requested pages first.
Meta Searches
 

AskJeeves    <http://www.askjeeves.com/>
Sorts results into folders
  Dogpile    <http://www.dogpile.com>
Who can resist the name?

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Subject Guides

Subject Resource Guides are another approach to searching. When you use a resource guide, you are relying on the work that someone else has already done in finding, organizing, describing and linking to quality web resources on a topic. This approach can save you a lot of time and it is a strategy when you want to get a sense of what's out there in a general subject area. Argus Clearinghouse <http://www.clearinghouse.net/> "The Internet's Premier Research Library: a Selective Collection of Topical Guides"
INFOMINE: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections
<http://lib-www.ucr.edu/>
Librarians' Index to the Internet <http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/InternetIndex/>
Mining Company
<http://www.miningco.com>

ERIC Clearinghouses
<http://www.eric.ed.gov

Of particular interest: Assessment and Evaluation; Educational Administration; Information and Technology; Reading, English and Communication; Social Studies/Social Science Education; Urban Education

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Evaluating information on the Internet

!!!!!! The best thing about the web is that it is a marvelous communication medium through which anybody can publish anything. The worst thing about the web is that it is a marvelous communications medium through which anybody can publish anything.

How do you evaluate what you have found on the web? These sites provide good discussions of the problem and checklists and criteria for evaluating resources.

 How to Evaluate Web Pages: --Questions to ask --Strategies for getting the answers
<http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html>

Evaluating Web Resources
<http://www2.widener.edu/Wolfgram-
Memorial-Library/webevaluation/webeval.htm>

 

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Search Engines and Search Strategy
Resource Pages
These pages present overviews and comparisons of the capabilities of various web search engines and discuss searching strategy. Finding Information on the Internet: a TUTORIAL <http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/
Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html> A comprehensive guide to web searching. This tutorial coverages the structure of the web, the basics of database searching, evaluating your question and tools and tips for searching the web.
Berkeley InfoPeople Subject Directories and Search Engines Chart <http://www.infopeople.org/search/chart.html> A very nice, brief chart outlining the important search features and syntax for the major subject directories and search engines on the net.
Search Engine Watch
<http://searchenginewatch.com>

 

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Page developed and maintained by:
Sarah Beasley.

 

Last revised (seb):