Search Engines

(and how to use them)

1. Search Engine Databases

a. Indexing

b. When to use

2. Common Search Features

a. Boolean Operators (and, or, not, nested)

b. Implied Boolean Operators

c. Phrase Searching

d. Proximity Searching

e. Truncation

f. Wildcards

g. Field Searching

h. Language Searching

i. Case Sensitivity

j. Modification of Search Results

k. Limiting by date

3. Common Output Features

a. Results Ranking

b. Annotations or Summaries

c. Results per page

d. Sorting Results

e. Meta-tag Support

4. The 10 Steps to a Basic Search

· Identify important concepts of your search.

· Choose keywords.

· Find synonyms, related terms, etc.

· Determine search features.

· Choose a search engine.

· Read search instructions

· Create a search expression

· Evaluate the results

· Modify your search, if needed

· Try the same search on a different search engine

5. Search Engine Databases

· All the Web

· AltaVista

· Google

· Hotbot

· Lycos