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Internet Search Strategies

This document provides an overview of Search Strategies and Search Resources for the World Wide Web. It is intended to be used as an on-line document, with live links to a variety of local and off-site references and resources. For reference use, a printed version is available, but it is not the preferred means of using this reference.

Contents are: 

Search Lesson #1: Nothing more than six-months-old about the Internet is reliable.

This document will provide new users of the Internet and the World Wide Web with some basic guidelines for searching the WWW and using the data thus discovered. Most of the information in this paper is not "here" -- it is on other sites scattered throughout the web.

Search Lesson #2: There are people on the web smarter than all of us, with more experience, and time to document what they know. Research means finding and using them (with full acknowledgement), properly. 
  
 
System Requirements:

To use the World Wide Web effectively, users need:

A "WWW Computer," consisting of: 

  • at least a 386-class computer, with 486 and Pentium processors providing much better response. For Macintosh users, at least a 68040 processor. 
  • at least 4 million bytes (megabytes) of system memory, preferably 8 or 16,
  • Windows operating system (3.1 at least--Windows95 is much easier for installation of Internet software). MacOS 7.1 required; version 7.6 is preferred for PowerMac systems.
  • several hundred megabytes of hard disk memory;
  • a modem capable of connecting at 14,400 bytes (14.4K) per minute, with 28.8K or higher much preferred; and 
  • a reliable connection to an Internet Service Provider (ISP). 
Hands-on use of a computer. "Browsing the Web" is not something done by remote control, or by sending notes to the Departmental receptionist. It will be especially helpful if you can have access to a computer early in the morning, before phone lines and the Internet get very busy.

Time to learn. The World Wide Web is a new culture to most users, with its own idioms and practices. It may take several visits to feel at home.

If you do not have access to a World Wide Web Computer, click here or turn to the footnote at the end of this paper.

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Search Strategies

Those desiring a more extensive exploration of Searching on the Internet may want to consult:

The Netscape Guide to Internet Research

a 480-page tome by Tara Calishain which can be ordered (US$29.95 plus postage) over the WWW from Netscape.

At the other end of the spectrum of Internet search guidance are the excellent short summaries developed as student guides by the Fondren Library of Rice University. These guides are succinct and up-to-date, but even here the fast pace of change on the Internet can be bewildering. For example, the Rice paper on Internet Searching Strategies identifies the Yahoo Internet Guide as "thematically" oriented, and the AltaVista Search Engine as an index. This was true until a few weeks ago, when Yahoo and Altavista announced a collaboration in which the Altavista search engine can be employed within Yahoo categories, or as a search tool when the Yahoo categories produce no hits.

Note that one of the concerns that the Rice paper presents is the question of whether the WWW is even an appropriate tool to use for a particular purpose, citing the humanities and social sciences as areas which are not [yet] well served by Internet resources. Fortunately for users from the Global Change community, the natural sciences are very well served by the Web--often being the preferred source of data and information dissemination for many years. This is especially true for global-scale monitoring activities, and many advanced computer maps and geographic information systems. 

Search Categories

It is not the intent of this paper to provide detailed guidance on the operational aspects of different search tools, but it is important to know that there are several different approaches to trying to organize the information on the Web, and to know how they might be applied. Keep in mind that these tools are so different, and the Web is so large that no two search tools will return the same result--and even the same search run a couple of days apart on the same engine will usually return slightly different results. 

Full Text Search Tools

Altavista, HotBot (HotBot, AltaVista)-- These tools use fantastically fast indices of every word on every page that their robots can find, anywhere on the Web. Especially useful if there are rare or unusual phrases or terms associated with the search. For example, "Nevis." 

Hierarchical categories

Yahoo is the best known of these hierarchical categories, which build from directories which look like Tables of Contents.

There are several tools which combine the categories of a Yahoo-like search, and keywords, more reflective of a traditional library search process.(Yahoo, Galaxy, Magellan) 

Ancillary Services

The Internet is much more than World Wide Web pages, FTP and gopher documents. Two important additional resources are the archived versions of mailing lists, and the various Usenet forums. Research tools vary in their ability to search these additional resources, and in the ability of the user to focus on just specific resources (e.g., search only "sci." usenets, or use the Liszt tool to search for mailing lists dealing only with mangroves and wetlands). 

One of the ways to factor these issues into your search process is to consult the current version of the Fondren Library resources at Rice, or to consult the librarians at Berkeley Public Library who have created an index of Web sites that's updated weekly and includes Web searching tips and information. (Remember that these issues change constantly.)

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Search Tips

  • Use several search engines. Because of the constant indexing that search engines do, and because of the way their indexes work, some engines will find content that other engines will not. Also,some engines are primarily directory based , while others are index based. It is a good idea to use both keyword (or phrase) and directory searches. 
  • Read the search tips or help files for all engines. You will learn how to perform more sophisticated searches, how to restrict or expand searches, and how to use the site more efficiently. 
  • Use synonyms. Be creative. For example, suppose you search under "shorelines," and find a few items but not what you want. What other possible phrases might be used in an article that would cover this topic? You might stry "coasts," "beaches," "Coastal Zone Management," and a number of other phrases.
  • For keyword searches, be narrow and specific in your search words. If you type in a general topic word, you are likely to receive tens or even hundreds of thousands of hits. Try to develop a search that yields 200 or fewer hits.
  • Guess. The address or URL (uniform resource locator) of a web site is often guessable. For example, Sony is found at http://www.sony.com and you can figure out how to get to Disney, Honda, and NBC the same way. Companies with long names often abbreviate them in some guessable way, as for example http://www.nytimes.com is the New York Times, and "popsci" in the middle will get you Popular Science. 
  • Use an Internet directory. There are several directories and yellow pages to the Internet. Some directories are online, such as New Rider's Internet Yellow Pages. There are at least half a dozen printed versions as well, complete with reviews and ratings of various sites. Browsing around in one of these (or even looking up listings by topic) can be very rewarding, and takes place off-line, so it's cheaper! 
  • Back up to find out where you are. When you click on a hit from a search engine, you are connected directly to the page where the search terms were matched. It is not always clear exactly where you have arrived. To find out, look at the http: address you have connected to. It may look like: http://www.some.org/LAC/birds/migrants.htm. The page you are reading is the lowest level of a series of directories beginning with the web site (www.some.org), dropping to a "LAC"(Latin America and the Caribbean) directory, then to a "birds" directory, and so on. 
  • Bookmark important and useful sites. There are whole books written on how to build and organize your bookmarks (called "Favorites" in the Internet Explorer). For most of us, it's enough to spend 10 minutes reading the manual to just learn how to ADD a bookmark, how to SELECT a bookmarked entry, and how to DELETE a bookmark. 
If you are doing research for a report or project, be sure to write down the URL and all pertinent information so that you can cite the source properly. (See Robert Harris's articles for examples of citation styles.) 

Search Lesson #3: If you print one page from a site in Internet Explorer, with "headers on," you will have the URL printed at the top of the page.

More Detailed Sources

After gaining experience with the basic tools presented by the Fondred Library, or the Berkeley Library, CPACC users are encouraged to consult the excellent series of articles by Robert Harris at Southern California College, who put together more detailed guides for students in his English literature courses. The "World Wide Web Research Tools" is a treasure trove of well-described search tools and related products, all linked to their sources.

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Summary of Search Tool Capabilities:

As summarized by the Fondren Libary, the current capabilities of a number of the Web search tools are displayed below:
 

Subject Index 

Organization 

Scope 

Updates 
Argus Clearinghouse Subject guides are organized by broad categories. Subject guides include web, gopher, and telnet. Only guides that are currently maintained and regularly updated.
Magellan Search by keyword or browse by broad subject categories. Web, gopher, FTP, and usenet sites are included. Sites with the green light are "family-friendly". Updated infrequently.
Point Includes mostly web sites. Point weighs appearance rather heavily, so text-based resources suffer under their rating system. Likewise, scholarly resources may not rate as high as personal or even commercial sites with better graphics. Updated infrequently.
WWW Virtual Library Sites are classified by Library of Congress subject headings. Includes mainly web resources. New sites are added irregularly but existing sites are checked for currency.
Yahoo Sites are classified by over twenty broad subject categories, each with subcategories for greater specificity. Mainly indexes web pages and chooses not to include certain topics, namely extremist groups and pornography. Yahoo updates URLs regularly and weeds out sites that have moved, stagnated, or otherwise degenerated.
 

Search Engine 

Capabilities 

Scope 

Updates 
Alta Vista The default for searching is OR. You can combine terms with +, eliminate a term with -, truncate a word with *, and search for two words together using ; between the two with no spaces (blue;moon). Indexes the full-text of the web and usenet and claims to be the most comprehensive. Duplicates are removed, but downed links are not.
Excite Excite searches by concept. This simply means that you may type in a phrase or sentence rather than a group of words. It does ignore prepositions, articles, other short words. If you search, "How blue is the moon?," and then, "How often is once in a blue moon?," you will get a list of sites containing the words blue and moon. Use + to combine terms, - to eliminate them. Full-text of web pages. Added daily, weeded infrequently.
HotBot The default for searching is OR. A pop-up menu allows you to search using and, or, not , adj. Once you've entered your search terms, it saves your search so you may choose to narrow or broaden your search. Affords searching by media type (Java, Shockwave, VRML, etc.). Indexes the full-text of web pages. Like the others, it claims to be the largest. Added daily, may or may not be weeded (too soon to tell)
InfoSeek Ultra The default for searching is OR. You can restrict your searches to title or URL as well as search the full-text. To combine terms, use +. To eliminate terms, use -. To search for a phrase, use quotation marks around it. Searches the full-text of the web. Downed links and abandoned sites are not weeded out.
Lycos The default for combining terms is OR. You must go to the advanced search form to use any other search features. Searches the title and URL of web pages. New sites added daily, but invalid sites are not removed.
WebCrawler The default search uses AND. You may search using AND, OR, NOT, or NEAR. Use quotation marks to search for a phrase. Indexes the title and URL of web pages. Old sites are not regularly weeded out.
 

MetaSearch Engine 

Capabilities 

Scope 

Updates 
Internet Sleuth Lets you select a maximum search time and number of hits. Mainly supports simple searches. Searches up to ten of the following: A2Z, Aliweb, Alta Vista, Excite, Galaxy, Inktomi, Lycos, Open Text, Point, Webcrawler, and Yahoo. Provides links to other search engines individually. Duplicates not removed.
MetaCrawler You can search for a phrase by placing parentheses around your terms or combine terms with AND. MetaCrawler only provides ten hits from each database. Searches Open Text, Lycos, WebCrawler, InfoSeek, Excite, Inktomi, Alta Vista, Yahoo, and Galaxy. Eliminates outdated links (404 Not Found) and duplicates.
Savvy Search This engine lets you limit searches to WWW Resources, software, people, reference, commercial, academic, technical reports, images, news, and entertainment choosing the appropriate databases. A pop-up menu lets you broaden or narrow your search as well as choose the number of results from each search index. You can also enter your search in over 20 languages. Searches Aliweb, Alta Vista, DejaNews, Excite, Galaxy, Infoseek, Lycos, Magellan, Open Text, Point, WebCrawler, WhoWhere, Yahoo, among many others. Eliminates duplicates and outdated links.
Use It You can submit simple keyword searches from a selection of over fifty Internet search indexes and select a maximum search time. Includes many European indexes and has a strong business and computer focus. Does not eliminate duplicates or outdated links.
 

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Information Reliability

People seem to get real excited about the possiblity that people might put information on the Internet that's not true.

Not a surprise. 

Evaluating the reliability of information on the Internet is just like life. The issues cited by Robert Harris which you need to think about include: 

  • Author's Credentials. 
  • Evidence of Quality Control. 
  • Audience and Purpose. 
  • Timeliness. 
  • Reasonableness. 
  • Presence or Absence of Negative Indicators. 
  • Objectivity. 
  • World View. 
  • Documentation or Bibliography. 

Evaluation in a Nutshell

You're safest with a named source. Someone willing to put his or her name, credentials, affiliation, and contact address on an article is more likely to be reliable than someone making an anonymous posting to Usenet or the web.

Require more credibility for stronger claims. The more that is being claimed by a source, the more credibility (and evidence) you should require. 

See if other sources support this source. Corroboration or confirmability is an important test of truth. And even in areas of judgment or opinion, if an argument is sound, there will probably be a number of people who adhere to it or who are in some general agreement with parts of it. 

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Offline Searching

"Look Ma, No Hands..."

For Internet users with high hourly connect fees, searching the net can seem to be prohibitively expensive, but a new generation of "off-line" search tools may help to ease the pain. These new "robots" are just starting to show up, so a search may be in order to ensure that you have the latest information!

Here are three tools, which help in managing newsgroups, gathering current news and events, and monitoring known sites. The first two are free--at least for the time-being--the third costs US$30.00. 

Free Agent 1.1
A newsgroup manager, this program gathers new postings from a specified list of newsgroups, which are then quickly downloaded en masse to your computer when you call for them. Then you can review and respond at your leisure, off-line. Distributed by Forte, check the web site at http://www.forteinc.com/. 
PointCast
PointCast is the first of several new newsgatherers, which gather articles from established news outlets, such as Reuters and the New York Times, based on a list of themes or keywords which you enter in your personal profile at http://www.pointcast.com/.The service is free, but comes with some ads. 
Webex
Reputed to have a somewhat confusing interface, this $29.95 program from Traveling Software downloads new revisions to a list of web sites that you need to monitor. It can be ordered from http://www.travsoft.com/. 
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Modems
All modems are not created equal. In addition to basic speed measures, try to get a modem which is known to operate reliably under conditions of poor signal quality or power fluctuations. The "Courier V.Everything" modem by USRobotics has been highly praised by all reviewers, but it is expensive (US$259--internal--and $299 external--at discount mail order houses). The USRobotics SportsterWinmodem 28.8/33.6 may be a cheaper alternative. The author has had very good luck in the Caribbean with a little "LinkCom" 33.6 modem, and very bad luck with three different Global Village modems.

A note of caution about very high speed modems: There are a new class of "x2," doublespeed, or "56K" modems just reaching the market as this paper is being written in the spring of 1997. These modems are not worth buying for overseas users, because there are competing and incompatible standards, and to take advantage of their speed, both the user and the Internet Service Provider have to be using the same brand of 56K modem.

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HERE!
By the way--clicking is THE most important skill for searching the net. 
Congratulations--you are mastering it well. If you do not [yet] have access to a sufficiently fast WWW computer or Internet connection, study the works of Dr. Bob Rankin, who has documented how to use rudimentary e-mail services to tap most of the wonders--graphical and otherwise--of the WWW. Rankin is top notch, and after reading the extensive article included here, you may want to buy others of his works.This document is also available on the WWW at <http://members.aol. com/bombagirl/freeware/email4u.txt>, where it is kept up to date.

Other services which provide some level of e-mail-only support for information retrieval from Web sites are a special server maintained by CIESIN (the Consortium for International Earth Sciences Information Networks) <http://www.ciesin.org/>, and the server of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)<http://www.unesco.org/ioc/>.

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