Space Needle

Super Sleuths Space Needle

Sherlockians, this is your most challenging case. This will determine if you are a Super Sleuth or just a sleuth. You must find a "needle in cyberspace". You must look carefully and document your answers. Using the major search engines on the Web, find the best way to look for a "needle." Remember to click the back button on the browser to return to this page.

Fill out the chart, noting the number of hits you receive in each search engine for the word "needle" and the phrase "space needle." Then, answer the questions at the bottom of the page. When you are finished you will send a message to me with your answers.

Please enter your email address here.

Please enter your name here:

Please enter your room number here:

SEARCH ENGINE	SEARCH FOR: "NEEDLE"	SEARCH FOR: "SPACE NEEDLE"
Excite
HotBot
InfoSeek
WebCrawler
Yahoo

1. Which search engine would be the best if you were looking for something very obscure?

2. Did searching for "space needle" always result in more or fewer hits than searching for "needle"? Why?

3. Which search engine seemed to display results quickest?

4. Try another search. This time, look for sites that contain all of these words: "needle," "sleeping" and "beauty." (Hint: on many search engines you can specify that certain words MUST be included, by adding a "+" in front of the word: for example: +needle+sleeping+beauty.) What were your results? Which produced the most hits, which the fewest?

Return to top

You really are a Super Sleuth! Keep Going. Click below.

The White House

Library of Congress

African American History

Additional Activities

Search for a topic of your choice using four search engines of your choice. Give the results of your search. Which produced the most hits? Which the fewest?

How can you revise your search to make it more effective? Do it. What are the results?

Use a directory and search engine for a topic of your choice. Compare and contrast the directory search to a search engine. Give your findings. Which do you prefer? Why?

Return to top

Back Home