LIBR 1101

Week 4

Intro to Searching

Turn on your speakers/Plug in your headphones please. There is audio in this presentation.

LIBR 1101

Week 4

Intro to Searching

Intro to Searching

• Begin with the web– Familiar– Some useful tactics to learn– Same concepts as searching in the library

Intro to Searching

• Overview– Search Engines– Search Techniques– Search Strategy– Assignment– Search Tips

What are search engines?

Search Engines

• What is a search engine?– Collection of web page files– Assembled automatically by a machine

Search Engines

• How do they work?– Crawl the web with “spider” or “bots”– Travels from link to link– Collects information on publicly available pages– Creates an index of all these sites– Matches the search terms you enter to the index– Presents the search with the results list, or “hits”

Search Engines

SEARCH ENGINES DON’T SEARCH THE ENTIRE WEB!

Search Engines

• Pros– Large chunk of publicly available web– Best way to search for specific info on the web

• Cons– Too much info!!– Too many irrelevant hits

Search Techniques

• Example: Google

Search Techniques

Search Techniques

Search Techniques

• Boolean Logic– AND

• NARROWS the search• Only retrieves hits that contain every word entered

Search Techniques

• Boolean Logic– Created by a British mathematician (George Boole)– Designed to produce better search results by creating

precise queries– Libraries and search engines use several principles of

Boolean logic

Search Techniques

Search Techniques

• Boolean Logic– AND

• NARROWS the search• Only retrieves hits that contain EVERY word entered

– OR• BROADENS the search• Retrieves hits that contain ANY of the words entered

Search Techniques

Search Techniques

• Boolean Logic– AND

• NARROWS the search• Only retrieves hits that contain EVERY word entered

– OR• BROADENS the search• Retrieves hits that contain ANY of the words entered

– NOT• NARROWS the search• Limits a search to results that DON’T contain certain terms

Search Techniques

• Nesting– Placing terms in parentheses tells the search

engine to search these first– Example: (politics OR government) AND ethics

• Exact Search– Placing terms in quotes will search for the term

exactly as typed– Example: “global warming”

Search Strategy

Search Strategy

• REMEMBER!!– These techniques can be used in the library as well

as on the web!

Search Strategy

• Creating a search strategy– Analyze the assignment– Determine the topic– Break the topic into concepts– Brainstorm terms for each concept• Synonyms• Broader terms• Narrower terms

Assignment

• Search Strategy WorksheetSTEP 1 : Think About and Define Your TopicIn one or two sentences summarize your search topic in your own words. If possible, state yourtopic in the form of a question you want to answer.

Assignment

• Tips!– Start thinking of the final assignment!– You can use a topic that you are researching for

another class– You can use the same topic you used for last

week’s assignment

Assignment

• Search Strategy WorksheetSTEP 2 : Identify the Main ConceptsFrom the question(s) or statement(s) above, pick out the main ideas or concepts. In your search statement, you will combine these terms using the AND connector to indicate that all concepts must be included in your search results.

First Concept AND Second Concept AND Third Concept

Assignment

• Search Strategy WorksheetSTEP 3 : Develop a List of Search TermsFor each concept in your topic, list other words that could be used in writing about that concept, e.g. synonyms, related terms, broader or narrower terms. In your search statement, you will combine these synonyms/related terms using the OR connector to indicate that any of these terms is acceptable for that concept.

First Concept OR OR OR AND Second Concept OR OR OR AND Third Concept OR OR OR

Assignment

• Broader Terms– Encompasses the idea behind the original term– Example: “Sports” is a broader term for “Football”

• Narrower Terms– A smaller part of a bigger idea– Example: “Poetry” is a narrower term for

“Literature”

Assignment

• Search Strategy WorksheetSTEP 4 : Combine Search TermsCreate a few possible search statements by combining terms using the AND and OR connectors. If there are any terms you want to exclude use the NOT connector to indicate this. Use parentheses around the ORs if your statement uses both types of connectors e.g. (demographic OR population) AND Canada.

Web Searching Tips

• Other tips– Use “Advanced Search” for better results– Place the most important terms first– Place a “-” in front of words you want to ignore– Place a “+” in front of words you want to include– Use the “Google Quick Reference Guide” to

maximize your Google Searches

Search Engines

General• www.google.com• www.bing.com• www.yahoo.com• www.ask.com

Search Engines

Academic• Google Scholar – http://scholar.google.com• Internet Public Library - http://www.ipl.org/• Infotopia - http://www.infotopia.info/

Search Engines

Subject Specific• Science - http://www.scirus.com/• Health- http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/• Humanities - http://vos.ucsb.edu/• Government - http://www.usa.gov/