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Searching is a primary skill for using the Internet
effectively - not just for teachers, but also for students. It is important
to remember, however, that the internet is not always the best source
of information. Use all the resources you
have available, including the library, other teachers, and other experts
in the community.
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The Basics -
- Choose a search engine
- http://www.google.com
- http://www.teoma.com
- http://www.altavista.com
- http://www.yahoo.com
- http://www.about.com
- Type in terms in which you're interested.
- Slog through the 1,352,641 hits you receive.
There's got to be a better way!
There
is...
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|| The Basics || Activity
1 || Activity 2 || Activity 3
|| Activity 4 ||
Not all searching pages are search engines.
- Search Engines - use spiders to scan
the Web looking for information on Web pages. They store that information
in huge databases. It is these databases you are actually searching.
It is impossible for any one search engine to have the entire Web catalogued.
A Web site that contains the information you need might exist out there,
but if it has only been available for a week, and your search engine's
database is one week and one day old, then you will not be able to find
it.
- Directories - Actual real live people
put pages in specific hierarchical categories. You have a choice of
serching through the directory or browsing for your topic by category.
The problem here is you might not know enough information to find your
topic by browsing.
Activity 1
 Go
to the various links listed under the basics and decide if it is a search
engine or a directory.
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Activity 2-
Use some of the strategies below with one of the the
search engines from Activity 1 to search for a lesson on your grade level
about Texas Birds.
Good Strategies For Searching
- Use Nouns as query keywords.
- Ex. Planet or Planets
- Start with large concepts first, i.e. dogs
- not poodle
- Use + , - or AND & NOT (check
help to find out which strategie to use)
- "+" or AND looks for both terms
on the same page
- "-" or NOT excludes a term from
the web page
- Use 6-8 keywords in a query.
- Ex. new, planets, discovery, solar, system
- Combine words into phrases when possible using
" ".
- Truncate words to pick up singular, plural
or other variation.
- Use the pipe ( | ) between terms to narrow
your search.
- Ex. Dance|Tango (within all the dance pages,
those that relate to Tango
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Activity 3-
There are many free utilities that will help you
search. These are programs you download and install on your computer and
they will save particular searches for you and search many different
places according to your specifications. There are a number of places
to download utilities. Make sure if you download something, you have up
to date virus protection.
- Follow the links below and check out these software
resources.
- Navigate and download the free utility for your
type of computer (Windows or Mac).
- Windows users go to NoNags
and download Copernic or WebFerret.
- Macs users download Sherlock II at NoNags.
- Install the program.
- Now try the same search for a lesson on your
grade level about Texas Birds.
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Activity 4-
It's important to be familiar with other specific types of search tools
and have them bookmarked.
- Print out the worksheet.
- Go to the different types of search pages below and fill in your own
chart.
- Go to the Search Engine Comparison Table
- Check out those links.
- See how your experience compares to the description on the table.
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