Success Matters – Week 4

Searching the WebEvaluating Web Resources

Searching the Web

• What is a search engine?

• What’s the difference between a “major” search engine and a “meta” search engine?

Major Search Engines

• Alta Vista - large database, capable of complex search techniques & specialized searches

• Excite - attempts to find concepts related to search terms with "Search for more documents like this one"

• Google - results ranked by "importance" measured by which sites and how many sites link to the page.

• HotBot - complex searches, sophisticated limitation abilities

Meta Search Engines

• WebCrawler – Searches top search engines including Google, Yahoo!, MSN search, and more.

• Cnet Search.com - Searches 11 engines or choose search by subject category.

• DogPile - Simple and Boolean searches 25 search engines, you choose order.

Searching

• What is the purpose of the “+” sign?

• What is the purpose of quotation marks?

Searching

• What is a boolean operator?

• AND, AND NOT, OR

Question?

• How would you prepare a search on the Web for a project on The History of Tobogganing in Canada?

Suggestions?

• History + toboggan + Canada

• History AND toboggan AND Canada

• Tobaggan AND Canada

• History AND toboggan

URLs

• Learning about Web addresses or URLs (universe resource locators) will assist in determining the authenticity of the source.

URL’s Broken Down

File Structure

• File structure hierarchy

apa.org

monitor/oct00/

workplace.html

Home organization

File folders

Actual document

Dot ?

• .org – charitable organization• .ca – country • .on.ca – province, country• .edu – American postsecondary school• .com – commercial business• .net – suffix

Watch out for

• Vanity publishing • A specific document that has information of

value but hasn't been through the peer review process or hasn't been published by academic sources

• Requires the reader's critical analysis.

More

• Public Relations or Advertising

• Sites designed to promote a specific company, point of view, or self-publishing.

• Find the Right School

And more…

• Blogs

• Some blogs are written by authorities, others are venues to promote a certain point of view.

• Eg. Stephen Downes – www.downes.ca• http://www.crooksandliars.com