Effective Web Searching Search Strategies

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Effective Web SearchingSearch Strategies
T.B. RajashekarNational Centre for Science
InformationIndian Institute of ScienceBangalore
- 560 012 (E-Mail raja_at_ncsi.iisc.ernet.in)
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Web Search Strategies

• Search steps
• Analyze the search topic and identify the search
  terms (both inclusion and exclusion), their
  synonyms (if any), phrases and Boolean relations
  (if any)
• Select the search tool(s) to be used (meta search
  engine, directory, general search engine,
  specialty search engine)
• Translate the search terms into search statements
  of the selected search engine
• Perform search
• Refine the search based on results
• Visit the actual site(s) and save the information
  (using File-Save option of the browser)

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Web Search Strategies

• Tips for effective web searching
• Broad or general concept searches start with
  directory-based services (want a few highly
  relevant sites for a broad topic)
• Highly specific or topics with unique terms/ many
  concepts use the search tools
• Go through the help pages of search tools
  carefully
• Gather sufficient information about the search
  topic before searching
• Spelling variations, synonyms, broader and
  narrower terms
• Use specific keywords, rare/unusual words are
  better than common ones

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Web Search Strategies...

• Tips for effective web searching
• Prefer phrase adjacency searching to Boolean
  (stuffed animal than stuffed and animal)
• Use as many synonyms as possible - search engines
  use statistical retrieval methods and produce
  better results with more query words
• Avoid use of very common words (e.g., computer)
• Enter search terms in lower case. Use upper case
  to force exact match (e.g. Light Combat
  Aircraft, LCA)
• Use More like this option, if supported by the
  search engine (e.g. Excite, Google)

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Web Search Strategies...

• Tips for effective web searching
• Repeat the search by varying search terms and
  their combinations try this on different search
  tools
• Enter most important terms first - some search
  tools are sensitive to word order
• Use the NOT operator to exclude unwanted pages
  (e.g. bio-data, resumes, courses)
• Go through at least 5 pages of search results
  before giving up the scan
• Select 2 or 3 search tools and master the search
  techniques

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Sample Web Searches

• Companies dealing with polymers
• Do not use search engines (too many irrelevant
  hits)
• Use directory sources (e.g. www.yahoo.com)
• Follow the categories
• Business and Economy
• Business-to-Business
• Chemicals
• Do a sub-search on Polymers
• Use specialty search engines (e.g.
  www.bizweb.com)

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Sample Web Searches...

• Web pages related to Light Combat Aircraft
• Keywords are unique
• Use Search Tools (e.g. www.altavista.com)
• Search for Light Combat Aircraft (phrase search
  in simple search interface)
• Use of double quotes will force the search engine
  to consider the set of keywords as a phrase
• Search can be limited to specific dates
• More refined search in advanced search interface
  Light Combat Aircraft AND India

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Sample Web Searches...

• Web sources related to simulation or modeling of
  activated sludge process
• This is a concept search - search tools are
  better
• Using Altavista, the query may be submitted as
• (simulat OR model) AND activated sludge
  process
• Note use of to cover word variations like
  simulated, simulate, models, etc.
• Note use of phrase form for activated sludge
  process

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Guides to Search Tools

• www.beaucoup.com (guide to 2,000 search engines,
  indices and directories)
• www.searchpower.com (a very comprehensive search
  engine directory - claims over 16,000 search
  engine listings!)
• www.123go.com/drw/search/search.htm (Dr.
  Websters Big Page of Search Engines )
• www.finderseeker.com (The search engine of search
  engines)
• www.virtualfreesites.com (Over 1,000 specialised
  search engines)

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Keeping Current

• AskScott (www.askscott.com) Provides a very
  comprehensive tutorial on search engines
• SearchEngineWatch (www.searchenginewatch.com) The
  site offeres information about new developments
  in search engines and provides reviews and
  tutorials.
• Botspot (www.botspot.com) Collection and guide
  to variety of bots (intelligent agents)

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Thank You!
raja_at_ncsi.iisc.ernet.in