Introduction Internet Background Information Basic Research Strategies Online Content Evalutation Online Search Strategies Online Reference Tools & "Pearls" Directories+ Search Engines Meta-Searchers Learning & Keeping Up Bibliography

ONLINE SEARCH STRATEGIES... Search Query Tips... When searching the Internet using a search engine, the most common problem is getting too many irrelevant results, or "hits". There are so many millions of articles indexed that common words can appear in many contexts and not all of them are related to what you tried to find. One good strategy is to scan down the results list before using any of the links. The top ranked items may not be the most relevant to what you wanted. Often you'll find something more pertinent further down the list. Always try a simple query with specific key words first, since this usually works. To improve the selectivity of your queries, when you're getting too many irrelevant or uninteresting hits, link three or four keywords, or use several phrases. Sometimes an EXACT PHRASE works better than several different words. Put quotation marks around the phrase and most search tools will search for sites in which the entire phrase is intact. Explore each search engine's site to get detailed instructions on how you can use them most efficiently. Each site includes specific information on how to narrow and better define your criteria. Look for HELP files or SEARCH TIPS, etc. Search Conventions Although individual sites might have different rules, three general conventions usually apply. Put quotation marks around phrases to request an exact match. Use a + to include an item or a - to exclude it. Use asterisks to search with wildcards (truncation) (*bert yields dilbert and albert) ( bert* yields berth and bertha ). In addition, some search engines use the basic BOOLEAN search operators: AND, OR, NOT,NEAR. The words AND and NOT are the English equivalents of the + and - listed above. The AND operator narrows a search by finding only items which include BOTH terms, ie., Cat AND Dog The OR operator expands a search by finding all items which include either term, ie., Cat OR Dog or any combination. The NOT operator causes the retrieval of items that contain Cat but NOT Dog. Some engines assume an AND between your keywords and generate a list only of those sites that use all the words. Other indexes, like Alta Vista, assume an OR and spew out sites that use any of the words--an approach that produces a very long and often irrelevant results list. To find out what approach the search engine you are using takes, check the "help" files. Some search engines allow PROXIMITY operators to help you indicate how close words should be to each other, such as adjacent, near, followed by. Others have symbols that indicate these relationships. Check the help files! If these techniques fail to limit your search to an acceptable length, exclude certain words using the - or the word NOT. ( banks NOT river ) Search Tips from SearchInsider, June 1997. Other Searching Tips from PC World, Dec. 96 article "Searching is My Business: A Gumshoe's Guide to the Web - Hot Tips" by Dylan Tweney.