Internet Search Tips 

Have you ever had trouble finding what you want on the Internet? You know it is out there, but how do you get to it? In this newsletter I will talk about engines and techniques you can use to help improve your chances for finding what you want.

Engines:

Search engines are services offered to help you find things on the web. There are at least four major ways of surfing the net - directories, engines, meta tags, and whole language approach. Let's take a look at all four kinds.

Directories are for searching for broad subjects like Art or Education. Directories categorize web sites by subject areas. Directories are like the yellow pages of the phone book. It divides subjects into major areas.

• Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com)
• Yahooligans (http://www.yaholigans.com)

• Alta Vista (http://altavista.digital.com)
• HotBot (http://www.hotbot.com)
• Infoseek (http://www.infoseek.com)

• MatchSite Search (http://www.matchsite.com/index.html)
• Metacrawler (http://www.go2net.com/index_power.html)
• SavvySearch (http://www.savvysearch.com/)

Whole Language approach search engines are also meta-search engines, but they allow you to ask a question. This makes searching easier for beginners, but it also limits what you can find.

• Ask Jeeves (http://www.aj.com)
• Ask Jeeves for Kids (http://www.ajkids.com)

Here a few suggestions to help you improve your searching:

1.  Using an upper case letter can make a big difference. Type in war and search. Then type in War and search. Look at the difference in the results. Use Infoseek. It shows you the number of sites found.

2.  Use AND, NOT, or OR to refine or expand your search. These are called Boolean indicators. Try typing in civil war using all three and see the difference in the three.

• AND will give you sites that have both words
• NOT will give you sites that have one word, but not the other
• OR will give you sites that have either one of the words or both.

4.  Make a list of related terms that might help you to find different ways to refine your search. If you are looking up animals, what type of animals? Domesticated or wild? If you are looking up cars, what type of car? Classic, new, or antique?

One young man was looking for a '57 Chevrolet Impala. He typed Impala and found several sites on the animal in Africa. He refined his search to "classic car" AND Impala. He found it. Refining searches can help save a lot of time.

I know the Internet is massive. There are no guarantees on finding things. The best you can do is to practices using different engines and different techniques. You might try the different search engines and techniques listed here, but this is not all that exist. I would suggest you find a search engine you like and learn all you can about it. Many of the engines give you suggestions on how to improve your chances of finding what you want on the web.

I asked a high school technology coordinator what I could teach the students to help them on the Internet. His response was, "Teach them good vocabulary." Always think of another way you can state your search.

I hope this helps you. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at the school. One last thing as we get close to summer, please remember the Internet is not a toy for your child. It is a tool. When use correctly, it will enhance your child's life. Please get involved in their lives. Look over their shoulders and learn new things together.

Happy surfing,

Deborah Schweitzer