Today's lecture covered the importance of knowing how to use different search engines as a useful and quick tool in searching for information from the (www). The main problems associated with the (www) are the amount of hits your topic will receive and of which, most are irrelevant and not fit-for use. Understanding the different links will help to minimise the amount of unwanted information you receive from your search. There are two types of search tools; there are search engines and directories such as Google and Yahoo. Directories are smaller than search engines and the information you find has been sorted prior to posting, therefore it may be a more reliable hit. key word searches and phrase searches also help to specify exactly what you are looking for. I didn't realise that there was such a huge range of search engines because at school we only used Google and Yahoo. The search engines are all a little different, they have different links and the information that you retrieve varies in style and form. Such search engines include, lycos.com, hotbot.com, kartoo.com and ask.com just to name a few. One thing Justine mentioned which I found very interesting is that often when we find a valuable site, we forget to record the URL which makes it difficult to find the site again. Justine said to use a keyword search and type in a word that is very unusual and specific to what is in the source you retrieved and it should eventually find the site you had looked at.
Workshop Summary
Task 1- Look through the Monash University's interactive tutorial on search engines and directories at: http://www.monash.com/spidap.html and list four strategies that will help to structure a good search.
Four Strategies-
1- Minimize your search by being specific; determine what is it that you are looking for and don't be too broad with your topic and try to narrow it down. Use the tabs and links, key word searches, and phrase searches to cut down the amount of hits you receive.
2- Using the advanced search tool on a search engine can also be useful as it can allow you to use more than one word at a time and cut out words which could cause the search to wonder off into another category unrelated to what you are looking for.
3- Subject directories can be very easy and convenient to use by typing in the authors name, year of publication, the title or subject, this is in reference to journal articles, online books and so on.
4- Important thing to consider, if you are looking for a specific topic then search engines are probably the more convenient option because they offer a number of links and search methods. If you are searching for a topic and simply wanting to find various information on something or someone then try a web directory first.
Task 2- Complete the online quiz found at: http://www.siteseen.co.uk/questions/generalkowledgehard/
As shown in the screen shot above I was only able to complete up to question 15 because after numerous attempts I could not find the answer to the question. In order to find the answers for the other questions I chose to use Google and Yahoo. All of the answers were contained throughout these search engines, so there was no need to look anywhere-else. Typing in the key words related to my search led me to a number of different hits, of which, most had the answer within the link content. There was one specific question which had a date and name of an event. I found that a faster method to find the correct answer was to enter both the name and the date which narrowed the number of hits down by a large proportion. I also tried using the advance search tool, yet I didnt find it vary useful and didn't really have any use for it. This module has broadened my knowledge on a number of different search engines and places on the net from where I can locate information. Knowing how to use the various links and tools has enabled me to find what I am looking for in a shorter amount of time, which is great and convenient. I have also become aware that being able to determine a sites value and content is important, not only to ensure the information you are using is correct but also to save you time and effort from looking through useless sites.
Summary of the Readings
There were four readings for this week, they all discussed the different types of search engines and the number of methods and tools that are available to use to help you with your search. The first reading on Web search strategies discussed that there are many types of search engines such as global, regional, reference and targeted search engines. Search engines consist of an index of Web sites that are created and sorted electronically through a spider or bot programme. Directories, however have been sorted and hand picked by humans into specific categories. The second reading Spiders Apprentice gave a basic guide on the best strategies to structure a good search. The third reading Search Engine Watch was a number of extra search engine tutorials, giving you links to a range of different sources educating you on how to search things effectively. The final reading discussed some history and again an overview about search engines and directories. The very first search engine was developed by McGill University in 1990 which enabled computer users to retrieve computer files. Overall the readings were quite interesting and easy to understand just a lot of information to absorb at one time.
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