Finding a Needle in a Haystack: Effective Web Searches

Bronfman Jewish Education Centre Professional Day

October 22, 2002, 9h10-10h30

by Craig A. Cunningham

You'll find these notes at http://craigcunningham.com/bronfman

Agenda

• Who am I and why are we here?
• Some general searching tips
• Common Search Tools
• Some Sample Search Questions

Some General Searching tips

Two principles of effective searching:

• Know how to choose the right tool for the search

• Don't search for a concept: search for the most unusually words that are likely to appear in a page about that concept

• • Narrow the search by:

• Picking a more specific keyword
• Adding a keyword
• Using the AND operator (advanced mode only)
• Finding a new search angle (different key concept)

• Using NOT

• Widen the search by:

• Using fewer terms
• Shorten keywords (cat will find cattle, too)

• Using OR (advanced mode only)

• Other:

• Use quotations to group and make case sensitive (works only in some search tools; usually allowed in "advanced" searches)

• Use parentheses

• Nine Tips for Fast Web Searching (from World Wide Web Searching for Dummies, 2^nd edition, by Brad Hill (Foster City, CA: IDG Books; 1997)

• Turn your graphics off
• Use multiple browser windows
• Use your Back button
• Use the Go or History list to leapfrog
• Make fast search decisions
• Knock twice (try again if no answer)
• Build a bookmark list
• Ask directions in newsgroups
• Avoid Web prime time

Some common search tools:

• Yahoo (directory with search engine; great for "drilling down" through categories; lists established web sites only; also produces "hits" from AltaVista)

• AltaVista (allows specialized searches for images, audio, and advanced searches)

• Google (probably the best all-purpose engine; powerful "advanced" mode)

• Icquick (a metasearch engine: searches multiple search engines at once)

• Guidebeam (a "concept" clustering" search engine, that returns lists of "clustered concepts" related to your search topic)

• Surfwax (metasearches; also includes "focus" capability to provide synonyms for search terms)

• Invisible Web (helps you to find "non-searchable" stuff like contents of databases, dynamically-updated pages, etc.)

Some sample search questions:

• Where can I find a good picture (still; or live video) of the Western Wall?
• Where can I find current events in easy Hebrew?
• Where can I find teacher resources for Chanuka?
• Where can I find the rules for a dreidel game?
• Where can I find a Wav file of the Chanuka Song by Adam Sandler?
• What is Bill Gates' wife's maiden name?
• What is the name of the museum in Chicago that has a dinosaur named "Sue"?
• Where can I find the complete text of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)?
• Find a company that will deliver a live rat to your house.
• What is the address of the McDonald's restaurant in Hyde Park (a neighborhood in Chicago Illinois)
• How much is the fine for parking a motorhome on a residential street in Chicago?

answers (don't peek!)

Additional Resources

Effective Searching on the Internet, http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/libdocs/nis18.html

Getting Started: Selecting a Tool for Your Search, http://library.albany.edu/internet/started.html

How to Choose a Search Engine or Directory, http://library.albany.edu/internet/choose.html

11 Steps to Effective Searching, http://www.nuigalway.ie/soc/research/11steps.html

Effective Searching, http://home.ncia.com/~slarsson/search.html

To purchase Curriculum Webs: A Practical Guide to Weaving the Web into Teaching and Learning (2003; Allyn & Bacon), click here.

Contact Craig Cunningham:

Email: c-cunningham@uchicago.edu

Phone: 1-773-702-4885

Home page: http://craigcunningham.com