Week 9- Using search engines

Lecture -
In the lecture we discussed what are search engines and their pro's and con's. A search engine is a web-based application that crawls the internet and using the textural information contained on them, meaning the website usually has indexed according to the keywords. The two main search engines are google and yahoo.
The issues and problems with search engines have are that too many results pop up.

Workshop -

We were also asked to go to www.monash.com/spidap and note four strategies that will help in structuring a good search.
Four strategies are:

1. Keep the search precise.
2. Use + - in the search to limit unnecessary information.
3. Using “ ” will help in narrowing what you want.
4. Putting certain words in characters will limit the search as words such as NOT will tell the search engine you do not want something.

Complete the online internet quiz found at:
http://www.siteseen.co.uk/questions/generalknowledgehard/

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The best way to search on a search engine is to only put in key words and leave out common words to try and be specific.

Readings

Robert Harris: "Web Search Strategies"
This article contained information on different research strategies. The information within this website the same as the lecture, as it describes firstly the different categories of information on the internet and then goes on to give advice on researching.
The Spider's Apprentice
This website contains different links to pages containing information on different aspects of internet searching and research. It also provides a history of searching and the internet.
Search Engine Watch
Within this website there is links to different websites containing information on internet searches. This website also contains abstracts for all the different pages it has links too. These abstracts help the researching process as it quickens a search for particular information on this topic.
The History of the Internet: (Chap 4 - Search Engines)
This article provides information on the history of search engines as well as where the technology has progressed to today. It also provides information on how to conduct a successful search as well as the different search engines available.