Using Search Engines

Search Engines can provide easy access to a wealth of information that otherwise would be unavailable to most people.  Unfortunately, they collect and store information in different ways thus access to their information stores varies.  Each search engine generally provides site-specific instructions for retrieval of information.  However most search engines support similar searching concepts, such as using Boolean operators (AND, OR, and NOT) and PHRASE searching.

Not knowing these advanced searching concepts and techniques can limit your use of the Internet.  For example if you wanted to find web sites about dolphins (the marine mammal) near Miami Florida, you could try a Google search for Miami dolphins.  You will get about 14 million hits, nearly all of them about the football team.  But if you try a search that eliminates web pages containing the phrase Miami Dolphins you will find nearly all the remaining pages found are useful to you.

Complete the following exercise and submit your answers as follows.

1. Using the same submission steps as with the practice assignment, save this file to your computer as search.htm.  Be sure to save as Web page, HTML only, and not Web page, Complete or any other type.
2. Enter the following information here:

   Student Name: ( Wayne Pollock — Model Solution )

3. Search the Internet for answers to the questions asked below. Then enter your answers to the questions on this page.
4. Using the same file saving steps as with the practice assignment, save the edited file as search.htm.
5. Return to WebCT, and follow the directions to select, upload and submit the completed file to the correct drop-box.
6. Note that projects sent as email WILL NOT be graded.  You must use this assignment drop-box.

In this exercise you will use three different search engines to search for three different items (multi-word terms), in three different ways each.  You will search using the appropriate site-specific methods for doing OR, AND, and PHRASE types of searches.  Then you will record in the table below the number of hits you got for each item, for each search engine, and for each method, for a total of 27 results.

Before beginning this exercise please read the textbook chapters on searching and search techniques.  There are links for searching tips in the class resources too.  For AltaVista searching tips, read Seven Steps Toward Better Searching.  For Google tips you should read Four NETS for Better Searching.  (You can even use a search engine to search for something like Using Google Search or Advanced Google Searching.)

Check the appropriate search engine Websites for specific information about how that particular site deals with Boolean operators (AND, OR, and NOT) and with phrase-searching.

To begin this assignment, access the Alta-Vista search engine at www.altavista.com.

Do an OR, AND, and PHRASE type of search for each of the three items (multi word search terms) shown below.  You should refer to the Help, Search Tips, or Advanced Searching links to determine how best to accomplish these searches.

You will search for website about these items:

1. Line-item veto   
2. jalapeno beer   
3. Digital cash

 Make a note of how many hits you got with your nine different searches.

Now repeat the exercise using these other two search engines and see if you get similar results:

          search.yahoo.com           www.google.com

Submit the NUMBER of results for each term, each method of searching, and each search engine: a total of 27 results.

Search Engine	Search Term	Number of Hits
		OR search	AND search	PHRASE search
Alta-vista	Line-item veto	6,340,000,000	2,810,000	1,110,000
	Jalapeno beer	496,000,000	2,420,000	12,500
	Digital cash	4,910,000,000	172,000,000	700,000
Yahoo	Line-item veto	77,300,000	3,280,000	1,290,000
	Jalapeno beer	632,000,000	2,790,000	17,800
	Digital cash	5,830,000,000	196,000,000	579,000
Google	Line-item veto	25,900,000	479,000	222,000
	Jalapeno beer	153,000,000	489,000	3,780
	Digital cash	1,260,000,000	68,800,000	135,000

Searching Hints

An AND search means any matching pages must contain all the search words, but in any order and possibly with other words in between.  An OR search means any matching pages must contain any one or more search terms, but it doesn't have to have them all.  A PHRASE search means all the search terms, exactly as typed, with no extra or missing words allowed.  So a search for root beer would mean:

AND:  All pages must contain both of the words root and beer.  (Example: ...beer is the root of all evil in the world today...  (Matches since the page has both terms.)

OR:  All pages must contain either root or beer.  (Example: ...For some reason weeds like to take root in my garden...  (Matches since the page has at least one term.  Note the example page for AND search above also matches an OR search!)

PHRASE:  All pages must contain root beer.  (None of the previous examples will match a PHRASE search, since the page must contain the exact phrase root beer.)  Note that any page that matches a PHRASE search will also match an AND search and an OR search.