Information Literacy:
Search Strategies
| Choose
the Best Search for Your Information Need |
Reverse
Phone & Address Directory
Find People by Phone Number and Lookup
their Name and Street Address. Lookup Street Addresses to Find
People and Lookup their Name and Telephone Number. Find People by
Name and Lookup their Phone Number and Street Address. Lookup Area
Codes and Find Zip Codes for every City and State. Find a Company
Name and Search by Business Type.
| Information
need |
Search
strategy |
| I
need a few good hits fast. |
Google
- largest index1 results ranked
by general popularity with "blind
spots."2 with cached
copy when site unavailable.
Yahoo!Search - new
search engine design, improved quality |
| I
need to compare results quickly before I investigate
them further. |
ZapMeta
metasearch Quick View previews each page within your
results; turn on "Result Snapshots" (set
preferences) to preview thumbnails of sites. |
| I
have a broad academic subject and need pointers to
quality sites. |
Librarians'
Index to the Internet - "thinking person's
Yahoo"3 with weekly
updates.
Infomine
- librarian-selected directory with flexible search options. |
| I
want to search on confusable (e.g. bush v. Bush) or
ignored words (e.g. there v. There - a company) in
a phrase (e.g., "Vitamin A" or
"to be or not to be"). |
Alta
Vista Advanced - use capital letter
Google - use quotes
around phrase, or +word
Teaching Google?
Use Soople to display
and explain features.
|
| I
can't spell something (e.g. "Ku Klux Klan"
or "Klu Klux Klan"). |
Use
a dictionary
for the correct spelling.
If an alternative spelling will generate better
results Google asks you,
"Did you mean: (more common spelling)?" |
| I
need a template to focus my search. |
AlltheWeb
Advanced or AltaVista
Advanced (full Boolean) template prompts you to include
or exclude words and phrases, domain, format, date, etc. |
| I
need to organize and refine my results. |
Combined
major engine results (metasearch) clustered by topics.
Select keywords to pinpoint your search further.
- Vivisimo
- automatic clustering, hierarchical folders
- Surf
Wax - identify promising results using preview
summary ("SiteSnap"); see context of key words
on the page ("ContextZooming"), add
"Focus Words" to narrow next search.
- Ez2Find
- gathers results from top engines (results include some
invisible web information)
- Dogpile
- "fetch" and clustered results (Vivisimo)
attracts younger students.
- Altavista
- displays the most common words from your results which
you can add to your query for more focused results.
|
| I
need to see relationships among ideas. |
KartOO
- intuitive interface visually "maps"
relationships and refines ideas
Web
Brain - visual view of related subjects. Click on
term to search dmoz database,
a directory compiled by volunteer editors
|
| I
need a subject hub prepared by an expert. |
Teoma
- excellent relevancy of results due to ranking by
subject-expert popularity (links from authority pages),
suggests expert hub-sites
Virtual LRC - searches high-quality educational
directories
Pinakes
- a subject launchpad to major academic gateways.
WWW Virtual Library
- worldwide volunteers maintain oldest academic
subject-organized catalog of links to full-text, databases,
and gateways.
BUBL LINK / 5:15
- directory of 5-15 academic sites (European focus) also
organized by Dewey
number and subject
terms.
About.com -
screened and trained volunteers create general-interest
subject guides. |
| I
need balanced information from verified sources for a
school research project to take home. |
For
certain types of research, useful books and magazines may
only be available in print. Ask your local librarian. |
| I
need biographical information. |
Infoplease
Biography - search 30,000 people (encyclopedia, almanac,
dictionary), or browse categories.
Biography.com
- search 25,000 popular figures
Lives - alphabetical
directory of dead people only |
| I
need US government information. |
First
Gov - search official site for U.S. government, state
and local, or drill down topics in a directory. |
| I
need the current buzz or breaking news. |
NewsNow
- UK, fast and wide net, refreshes every 5 min.
Daypop - receives daily
feeds from 1000 news sources, online magazines, and 19,000
weblogs (subjective, personal) - can use +, -, ""
Newsblaster
- get a sense of day's major stories and images -
automatically collects, categorizes, and summarizes news
events, reflecting the media from a particular country.
Hotbot (Inktomi) -
freshest database4 |
| I
need more complete news coverage. |
Yahoo
News - unique depth and breadth
+continuously updated, categorized news (7-30 days
archive)
+editor-selected "Full Coverage"
provides background
+"Op-Ed," "News Photos,"
"Video" (political) and "Local."
Google News - 4500
news sources, automatically grouped, includes articles'
leading sentences, 30 day archive.
World News Network - world
news organized by region, topic, industry. Country or
regional hot-spots in "Special Reports." |
| I
need to get a overview of the media in a region or
industry. |
Headline
Spot - directory of established media by subject,
industry or area (large cities, states, countries, regions). |
| I
need fuller news coverage to develop background to
understand an issue. |
Behind
the Headlines - key resources related to the latest
headlines; resources are carefully selected, indexed and
described by specialists in 60+ British educational and
research organizations.
US
News Briefings - editor-compiled overview, with links to
stories, key biographies, relevant documents and Web sites. |
| I
need accurate, objective information on hot topics
(current and controversial). |
Social
Issues - K-12 topics from public library Homework
Center.
BIOTIN
- solid topic information, Catholic perspective
Hot
Topics Supersites - sites which have resources on many
controversial topics of current interest selected by
public-university librarian.
Public
Agenda Online - background and analysis of social issues
with public opinion studies |
| I
want to get opinions on current issues. |
Yahoo
Op/Ed - today,
by country
Opinion-Pages
- searches international editorials, opinions, commentaries
and columnists.
PollingReport -
aggregates national surveys of the American public
Google
Usenet Advanced Search - searches newsgroups.
Blogdex - "most
contagious information currently spreading in the weblog
community." |
| I
need to see news from other countries' perspectives. |
All
the Web News advanced - search 7 days coverage, 3000+,
multilingual
Search
Engine Colossus - links to search engines and
directories worldwide
Abyz News
Links - links to international newspapers, news media,
internet services, magazines, and press agencies.
World Press
Review - succinct overviews of issues from international
perspectives, views of U.S. from abroad. |
| I
need simple reference information (basic facts,
current statistics, name identification). |
Search
Reference - choose fact sites, then metasearch.
CIA
World Factbook by country or search
data.
InfoNation
- compare data for (up to 5) UN countries.
Wikipedia -
volunteer-created encyclopedia. |
| I
need statistical data depth. |
Statistical
Information help page |
| I
need invisible web resources (access to databases not
commonly indexed by search engines). |
Turbo10
- configurable search of deep net resources.
Invisible
Web - small, high-quality directory list.
Resource Discovery Network
- keyword search
Direct
Search - links and search (boolean, date, fields)
Depth
of Search: Choosing Invisible Web Databases - small list
geared to K-12
|
| I
need primary sources. |
Online
only:
Library
and Archival Exhibitions on the Web
UNESCO
Primary Sources Online
Print and online:
Repositories
of Primary Sources - by country, region
Ready,
'Net, Go - metaindex to worldwide archives |
| I
need information found in presentations, spreadsheets
and other formats [pdf] [doc] [xls] [ppt] [rtf] [ps]. |
Google
Advanced - searches for Adobe Acrobat, Word documents,
Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Rich Text
Format and Postscript documents.
Search Adobe PDF
Online - see summary before downloading. |
| I
need images and sounds (photos, art,
designs, logos, videos, music, noises), media types
(Java, mp3) or file extensions [.gif]. |
AlltheWeb
images,
video, audio
Singingfish
Advanced Audio Video - large index
Lycos MultiMedia
- cross-search pictures, audio, mp3, video
AltaVista- select format, size, etc - images,
audio, video
Google
Image Search - indexes 425+ mill., advanced
narrows by size or type.
ClassroomClipart -
browse categories suitable for K-12.
Fine arts: ADAM, FAMSF,
SILS,
Richman's list of picture/art
sites.
American
Memory US historical maps, motion pictures, photos and
prints, sound recordings.
FindSounds -
locates sound effects and sample sounds. |
| I
heard part of a radio program and want to hear all of
it. |
PublicRadioFan
- if you know the station or program, click through
"tree" links. Design a worldwide public
radio programs list, check what's playing now.
HP Speechbot
- keyword audio search, results include audio link and
transcript of words in context, sort by date |
| I
need free or inexpensive software. |
CNET
- meta search engine for shareware. |
| I
need a map. |
National
Geo. MapMachine:
world physical, political print.
Cornell
Digital Earth - world maps: choose layers of geological,
geographical, and geophysical data (GIS), then download
image (.ps, .jpg)
TIGER Map Service - U.S. Census information maps
Maptech
MapServer - U.S. topographical, aerial and satellite,
nautical maps - flexible searching, options for
printing/e-mailing
MapQuest - U.S.
driving directions. |
| I
need a quotation. |
The
Quotations Page Quoteland
Quotations
Archive, Search
Creative Quotations, Bartlett
(1901). |
| I
want to get advice from experts. |
Ask
A+ Locator - browse, or search by keyword or subject, a
database of high-quality "AskA" services.
AllExperts
- volunteer experts (read self-profile to assess expertise)
SourceNet
Experts - database of experts for journalists
Sources
and Experts - directory maintained by news researcher |
| I
need a virtual librarian. |
24/7
- live reference from public library system.
Ask a Librarian
- e-mail and live help from Library of Congress.
Ask on NoodleBoard
if you subscribe to NoodleBib. |
| I
want notice of new sites as they're
announced. |
Scout
Report review or weekly e-mail notification of new
sites, often not yet listed elsewhere. |
| I
need to periodically rerun a good
search I've already
composed. |
GoogleAlert-
reruns your search periodically on its large index and sends
alerts via e-mail.
HotSheet,
AmphetaDesk,
FeedDemon
(beta) - desktop and RSS
Headliner web page software to create custom pages with
your own choice of news sources. |
| I
need sites just for kids. |
KidsClick!
- click through librarian selected and organized subject
tree, or search 600+ high-quality sites. See Dewey
classification of sites.
Yahooligans! -
results from directory, clustered by category, and kid-safe
popular sites.
Ithaki - metasearch
engine (Dmoz Kids, Yahooligans, FactMonster, ArtKidsRule,
AolKids, AppuKids, Discovery School) |
1
Notess, Greg R. "Search
Engine Statistics: Relative Size Showdown." Search Engine
Showdown 31 December 2002. <http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/stats/size.shtml>
2
According to
Steve Johnson in "Digging
for Googleholes." Slate 16 July 2003. <http://slate.msn.com/id/2085668/>,
blind spots are a function of user demographics which affect link
popularity consensus:
Search Engine Submission
Get more visitors to your website. Just add meta
tags to your website and submit to search engines. There are
thousands of search engines on the web and 100's of companies who
would charge you to post your link there. However the best practice
is to get listed on the major engines first, most of them are free.
The link to the submission
pages of few top engines are given below. They might take few
weeks to months to get your site listed.
Add Meta Tags:
Meta tags improve your site's appearance in search
result listings. Include a carefully worded title tag and a
description meta tag to improve your result presentation. For
example, begin your Web page like so:
<html>
<head>
<TITLE>Windows & Unix Web Hosting Solution - ASPwebServer.com</TITLE>
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="Windown 2000 Server & Unix hosting">
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="web,host,hosting,site,website">
</head>
<body>
Search engines use the title element and the
description meta tag from your Web page to create a search result
listing for your site.
Meta tags alone do not magically place your site atop
search results everywhere, but they help your link stand out.
Optimize Your Content
When you register your site with a search engine, it sends a spider
to dig through your pages and find relevant material for the
engine's listings. Spiders tend to ignore certain types of content
and formatting, so you should optimize your pages for crawling.
For example, most spiders examine only the text.
If you make heavy use of images or other content that cannot be
indexed, search engines are less likely to present your site in
result listings. Images (including images of text, such as fancy
section headings or drop-capital letters) and audio and video files
(including Shockwave and Flash) usually won't appear when search
engine users pose keyword queries. To make your site more accessible
to spiders:
- Avoid using frames. Many spiders won't touch
content in HTML frames. Search results leading to frame-set
pages can stop potential visitors dead in their tracks.
- Express important points in text.
- Place key content toward the top of each
document. Some spiders index only part of your Web page,
starting from the top.
- Use alt
attributes in img, area, applet, and input tags to provide
textual descriptions of images and objects. For example, a
spider doesn't have much to go on here:
<img src="burningman1.jpg"
alt="">
By providing a descriptive alt attribute, you
help search engine users retrieve your page and picture when
appropriate:
<img src="burningman1.jpg"
alt="photo: Dante's Inferno at Burning Man 1997">
Submission
Pages of Popular Search Engines.
Alexa
Submission page: http://www.alexa.com/support/get_archive.html
Home page: http://www.alexa.com/
AltaVista
Submission page: http://addurl.altavista.com/addurl/new
Home page: http://www.altavista.com/
Open Directory Project
Submission page: http://dmoz.org/add.html
Home page: http://www.dmoz.org/
AlltheWeb
Submission page: http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php
Home page: http://www.alltheweb.com/
Google
Submission page: http://www.google.com/addurl.html
Home page: http://www.google.com/
HotBot
Submission page: http://www.hotbot.com/addurl.asp
Home page: http://www.hotbot.com/
Lycos
Submission page: http://searchservices.lycos.com/searchservices/lite_step1.asp
Home page: http://www.lycos.com/
National Directory
Submission page: http://www.nationaldirectory.com/addurl/
Home page: http://www.NationalDirectory.com/
WhatUseek
Submission page: http://www.whatUseek.com/addurl.shtml
Home page: http://www.whatuseek.com/
Yahoo
Submission page: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/
Home page: http://www.yahoo.com/
|
