The document provides guidance on how to effectively search the web through search engines and other tools. It discusses how search engines work and best practices for using keywords and Boolean operators to refine searches. Additionally, it describes different types of search tools including web portals, subject directories, metasearch engines, and the invisible web; noting the advantages and appropriate uses of each.

1. HOW TO BECOME AN EFFECTIVE WEB SEARCHER M.A.R.M. Kumara

2. Searching is not Surfing You can maximize the potential of search engines by learning how they work, and how to use them quickly and effectively. you don't end up overwhelmed with too many search results, underwhelmed with too few, or simply unable to locate the material that you need. As with most skills, practice makes perfect!

3. What is the URL ? Uniform Resource Locator The web “ address ” that connects you with a website Goes in the address bar at the top of the screen Gives you information about the website http://www.webtrend.com/seminars.html http://-- hypertext transfer protocol : the language computers use to “ talk ” to one another www. — world wide web: the body of information connected by the cables and computers of the Internet webtrend — domain name: the structured, alphabetic-based, unique name for a computer on a network . com — top level domain: gives an idea of where the document is stored / seminars — file name: a folder within a website . html — hypertext markup language: the computer language used to format documents

4. . edu — higher education . k-12 — elementary and secondary schools . com — commercial . gov — government agency . mil — military . org — general noncommercial organization . net — computer network . int — International Top Level Domains (TLDs)

5. Boolean Basics AND - to connect the terms you want to see. OR - to exclude terms you don ’ t want. AND NOT - to include similar terms. "Boolean" searching (named after George Boole, the 19th-century mathematician who founded the field of symbolic logic) is a powerful technique that can narrow your search to a reasonable number of results, and increase the chance of those results being useful. Boolean searches are simple to learn and tremendously effective.

6. Boolean Basics AND OR AND NOT "London" AND "Big Ben" AND "Buckingham Palace" AND "Trafalgar Square" would return only documents that contained all four keywords or phrases. AND is the most frequently used Boolean command. The query "London" OR "Big Ben" OR "Buckingham Palace" OR "Trafalgar Square" would return all documents that contained even one of these four keywords or phrases. Use OR to string together synonyms; be careful about mixing it with AND The query "London" AND "Big Ben" AND NOT "Buckingham Palace" would return documents that include London and Big Ben, but not those that also include Buckingham Palace.

7. use quotation marks “ ”

8. Nobel price winners 1987 You will get what is the Nobel Prize Winners of prices price winners in 1987 1,987 price winners…. and the list goes on “ Nobel price winners 1987” only pages that include these search terms exactly how you typed them in-order. If you type You will get If you type

9. Punctuation and Capitalization Most search engines are insensitive to case: you can type your queries in uppercase, lowercase, or a mix of cases. If you use lowercase, most engines will match on both upper and lower case; so for general searches, lowercase is the safest form to use.

10. USE WEB PORTALS Web Portals are: Large multi-service web sites. Designed to be comprehensive one-stop destination. Like a tiny Internet in itself. Well-funded. Staffed by full-time employees. Portals feature: search catalogs and engines, news, weather, shopping, online communities web email.

11. Most Popular Portals On The Web

12. Search Engine Databases that contain millions and millions of pages. Automated software ("robots" or "spiders") scan the Internet and collect information. The search engine interface allows you to search for certain words or phrases found on Web pages. In a search engine, you are searching for information within that search engine only, not the entire WWW.

13. EXAMPLES Alta Vista.com Excite.com Infoseek.com Google Lycos.com Hotbot.com Ask.com Advantages: Search engines contain millions of web pages. You retrieve results that match the word(s) that you are looking for. Can be useful for searching for unique or specific topics. Advance Search operation. Search Engine

14. Web Subject Directories A collection of web sites gathered by the creators of the directory or submitted by publishers of web sites. People evaluate and classify the web sites that are placed in the directory. There may be short summaries that describe the web sites in the directory. There may be a higher degree of accuracy using web directories for researching broad subjects or topics.

15. Metasearch Engines Similar to search engines but are used to search more than one search engine at a time. Some Metasearch engines will also show you a small number of the "best" web sites from each search engine based on criteria established by the metasearch engine. e.g: www.dogpile.com

16. Invisible Web Web sites that are hidden from use by the general public. Also known as the Deep Web. Includes specialized databases and directories. Can be useful for specific topics or unique terms. e.g.: www.completeplanet.com

17. WHICH ONE TO RELY ON ? IS IT Contain Hyperlink Contained Web Page? Include Author Profile? Mention Last Updated Date? With A Appropriate Sub Domain? Not Persuade You To Buy A Product?

18. QUESTIONS ? THANK YOU