Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can ... especially if you are trying to find something on the Internet!
I have heard people say that searching the internet is more art than science. After spending years on the internet and trying to perfect my own searching strategies, I agree! The most important thing you can do to become a better searcher is practice. Each search engine is a bit different from the next. The purpose of this mini-tutorial is to help you try out different searching techniques and search engines. We will discuss...
I have provided a page of notes for the browsing and searching sections below. Click on each and print if you care to follow along. Don't forget to hit the "Back" button to return to the tutorial.
Most of the time spent looking for information on the internet is done in two different ways, browsing and searching. Think about these skills as you would when you use your public or school library. Each technique is valuable, it just depends on what kind of information you are looking for.
Browsing
Let's say you are interested in finding out about tropical rainforests. In the library you would head towards the science and nature sections and start looking around for books that match your subject. To narrow your choices, you would head for sub-categories until you find specific information on tropical rainforests. Then you would probably pull out the books, read the title, and look inside to see if it is something that you want.
You can do the same thing on the internet. To do this you would use what is called a "web directory" and browse through various "subject trees" to find what you are looking for. Starting with a broad category you can narrow your way through until you find information that matches your topic. Sometimes you will have to use different terminology than you are used to. For example, if you are looking for tropical rainforests, you might get stuck browsing if you only are looking for the word "biomes" instead of "ecosystems".
Try it! See if you can find specific websites that contain information about rainforests from these web directories.
(Kid - Safe Directories)
HINT: Here is the path I used when I was at the Yahoo site:
Home > Science > Ecology > Ecosystems > Forests > Rain Forests.
You might have found a different route, and that is okay! One of the things you learn about directories is that there are many paths to the same place.
You see how this could be an effective method for looking up information? Browsing is a super strategy when you are looking for general information. It is also a good method to help discover just what is out there on your topic. Browsing tends to be a bit easier when you know a few things about your topic to start with, otherwise you would have a difficult time knowing which categories to look into. Remember, when you browse you are using higher-order thinking skills!
Searching
When you go to your library and walk directly to the computer
or card catalog you have a specific search in mind, don't you?
You have to decide to look for your resources by topic, author
or keyword. You punch those words into the computer or look them
up in the card catalog, and you get a listing of all the books
in the library which match that search.
By using what is called a "search engine" you can do the same thing on the internet. Search engines are activated by the specific words you type enter into the search. The engine, then searches its databases of hundreds of millions of websites, and then displays a list of all the websites it found that contain those keywords that you entered.
Try it!Using my same subject above, rainforests, and type it into these search engines.
(Kid - Safe Search Engines)
What happened? Did you get a millions of hits? Were you able to find some good sites? What did you like about these search engines? You probably got a lot of trash (poor sites) too. Are you noticing that you get different results from different search engines, just like you did with web directories?
Many people like to search with "meta-search engines" because they search many different search engines at the same time.
Try it!Use the same keyword search, rainforests, with the following meta-search engines.
(Kid - Safe Metacrawler)
Your results depend on how the search engine you chose performed the following operations:
Where can you find the above information? At most of the sites there is a "help" button or some place where you can get information about how the search engine operates. Look around the main page and you should be able to see where you might get answers to the above questions. There is an excellent site called Search Engine Watch that has up-to-date information about the questions above. It is a fantastic resource!
Knowing how to narrow your search by using advanced searching techniques will make you a more effective searcher. Being able to do this will save you time!There are three key techniques that you can use to help you become a more effective searcher.
Brainstorming Keywords
If we stick with our subject of rainforests, what other words might we want to add to our list? Try to remember some of the words or phrases you saw while using the web directories. Also, you might want to include some more specific information about rainforests, for example - what do you really want to know about them?
Perhaps you want your students to get involved in a project that helps save the rainforests. From this query I can locate several key words and phrases.
I want my students to get involved in a project that helps save the rainforests.
At this point I might want to find other words, or more specific words that are similar to the ones I have above.
- students = children, elementary, middle school, -------------
- project = activity, lesson, unit, ------------
- help = promote, support, assist, ------------
- save = protect, preserve, conserve, ------------
- rainforests = rain forest, jungle, tropics, -------------
Phrase Searches
Let's go back to the natural query string: I want my students to get involved in a project that helps save the rainforest.
Are there any phrases that jump out at you? I see "save the rainforest" or "help save the rainforest". Locating key phrases in your search query is important because when you enter a search the engine can look for those words placed together exactly as you phrase them. Most search engines will search for phrases if you put quotation marks ("") before and after the phrase.
Boolean Search Tactics
By using boolean search strategies you can REALLY narrow your keyword search. Most search engines allow for boolean searches. Some actually have an "advanced search" section where they supply a variety of pull down menus to help you through the boolean logic.
There are three basic boolean indicators, AND (+), NOT (-), OR that are used most often. Many search engines will allow you to use +, - for AND and NOT.
- AND = tells the search engine that this AND that must appear within the website. You're saying, "I want all of these words to appear."
- NOT = means this NOT that. You're saying, "I want this, but that must be excluded from my search."
- OR = tells the engine to look for a choice of words, this OR that. Your saying, "I want to find this or that, either will be fine."
Try it!All right, now use your advanced search strategies (all of the above:) to see if you can find any websites where a teachers can get their students involved in a project to help save the rainforest. Use any of the keyword search engines from above.
HINT: Do you want to know what I used? At AltaVista I used the query:
student AND project AND "help save the rainforest"
I got some great results. I also typed in a natural question query at AltaVista - Where can I find educational projects to help save the rainforest? I loved the fact that Altavista offered teacher related sites right away. I browsed through some of those and they were terrific, too. I used the same search string at several other sites, but I liked what Alta Vista gave me best.
Learning specialized search strategies, I believe, is the most important thing you can do to become a savvy searcher. It definitely takes a little time and practice, but ultimately - is the most productive way to search.
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a lot of training out there on this type of search strategy. However, as a teacher, I know you already have this skill bred into your bones. This is the part of you that says, "Why do I have to do all this??? Isn't there something out there already that I can just adapt? I DON'T WANT TO REINVENT THE WHEEL!"
Lucky for us, thousands of pioneer teachers and other folks have made this trek before us, and the internet is literally filled with the fruits of their labor. We just have to harvest them for ourselves. So, how do you start? There two key techniques you can utilize:
When you get to a site that looks good, always stick around longer and look for "bookmarks" or "hot links" or "resources" because these will point you to other places, too. They idea is to cut down on the time you have to make an original search. Whatever you are looking to integrate, there might be someone who already did it! And, they have posted it so others can make use of it - so go for it!
Try it!All right, go ahead and use the education-related sites above and the organization sites to see if you can find anything good information on rainforests.
I took my own advice from the last section and am not going to reinvent the wheel here. There are plenty of excellent sites that are prepared to help you choose the best search engine for your needs. This is an important skill because it can save you time. Use this section as a reference to your future searches.
Whew! You've learned a lot. Now you need to assess yourself and see if you have learned anything. I know you have. Listed below are several tests. The first and second are ones that I created. The rest are other scavenger hunt type worksheets that I found on the web. You can use these with your students, too. I did a search for "scavenger hunt" at Educators World and came back with over 14 pages of internet scavenger hunts.
I just couldn't let you go without listing a bunch of resources which I think are tremendous. I think this page is long enough and I truly do not want to overwhelm. Take a look at these when you have time :)
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