PPT guide to online search strategies

1. Searching Online
2014

2. How big IS the Internet?
• According Pingdom, a web monitoring company, that
documents the number of accessible websites, as of
December 2011 there were around 555 million, with 300
million of those sites added in 2011 (Pingdom, 2012).
This is the “era of information abundance”—the web does
not serve as a scholarly resource but instead a resource
to be carefully navigated. So, learning to search
properly is EVEN MORE IMPORTANT!!

3. IPV6
• Internet Protocol Version
6 launched in June
2012
• In 1993, there were 43
billion internet addresses
available (IPV4)
• With mobile devices,
that is not enough
• IPV6 has 340 trillion
trillion trillion addresses
or 3.4 x 10 38
Image from:http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Subjects/00016-LAST-internet.htm

5. Definitions

6. Domain, URL
• Domain: a specified sphere of activity or knowledge
• URL (Universal Resource Locater): website address (when
the Internet was new, they were all numbers

7. Domain Names are expanding….you
all know about .com, .net, .org,
.k12xx.us, .gov, and .edu but…have
you heard of…• accountants
• agency
• bargains
• blackfriday
• ca
• church
• club
• futbol
• .luxury
• me
• Ninja
• nyc
• pictures
• tv
• vacations
• website
• Xxx (this one is expensive)

8. .edu and .gov
are still the most reliable sources
• ~ (tilde) in the website name indicates it is a personal page
and it may not be dependable, even on .edu sites
• http://e360.yale.edu/feature/mysteries_of_killer_whales_uncovered_in_
the_antarctic/2490/
• http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/orciorca.htm
• http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/lessons/whale.ev.html
• http://www.cs.ucf.edu/~MidLink/whale.html

9. Search Engine
• search en·gine
• Noun Computing
• noun: search engine; plural noun: search engines; noun:
search engine; plural noun: search engines
• a program that searches for and identifies items in a
database that correspond to keywords or characters
specified by the user, used especially for finding
particular sites on the World Wide Web.

10. Search Engines
• DuckDuckGo (No tracking)
• BASE (Academic Search
Engine)
• Ixquick (Private Search
Engine)
• Sweet Search (Designed for
Students)
• Search.gov (U.S. Government
sites)
• Clusty (Clusters the results)
Search Engine Watch: a
website that tracks
information about search
engines
SEO That: Compares
Search engine results
(SEO stands for search
engine optimization)
Internet Archive: Archives
old sites as well as old
videos, etc. in the

11. Database
• da·ta·base
• ˈdatəˌbās,ˈdā-/
• noun
• noun: database; plural noun: databases
• a structured set of data held in a computer, especially
one that is accessible in various ways.

12. Databases
(some are free, some are not)
• GALILEO: collection of databases available in Georgia,
funded through taxes
• Encyclopedia Mythica: information about mythology from
various parts of the world
• Find a Grave: cemetery records—useful in genealogical
research
• Grand Comics Database: database covering comics
throughout the world
• IMDB (Internet Movie Database): information about movies
and actors

13. Directory
• di·rec·to·ry
• diˈrektərē/
• noun
• A directory is, in general, an approach to organizing
information, the most familiar example being a telephone
directory.

14. Directories
• Internet Public Library: collection of websites gathered by
librarians
• 2Clicks: collection of websites gathered by Mrs. Youse
specific to CCHS
• Mr. Nussbaum: collection of websites gathered by a
teacher with websites for social studies and science
• All My Favs: a collection of different kinds of websites
• Infotopia: websites are selected by librarians, teachers,
and other educators (calls itself an academic search
engine)

15. Search for ANSWERS, not
questions!
Ex. Student search: How fast does the space shuttle fly?
Better: “space shuttle travels at a speed of about”
Photo from: http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/photos/space-shuttle-travel-
gallery/

16. Key Words
(aka search terms)
• key·word
• ˈkēˌwərd/
• noun
• plural noun: keywords
• a word or concept of great significance.
• "homes and jobs are the keywords in the campaign"
• a word that acts as the key to a cipher or code.
• an informative word used in an information retrieval system to indicate the
content of a document.
• a significant word

17. Broaden or Narrow a Search
• Broaden: change the parameters so the result is greater
websites
• Narrow: change the parameters so the result is fewer
websites

18. Boolean Search
• A type of search allowing users to combine keywords
with operators such as AND, NOT, and OR to produce
more relevant results
• BOOLEAN OPERATORS:
• AND
• OR
• NOT

19. Truncation
• Truncation is a searching technique used in which a
word ending is replaced by a symbol. Different
databases or search engines may use different symbols
(sometimes called wildcards). Using an asterisk (*) or
question mark (?) at the end of a root word retrieves
results containing any form of the root word.
• Ex. Teen*

20. The Five W’s of
Web Site
Evaluation
Created by Kathy Schrock
From Kathy Schrock’s
The Five W’s of Web Site Evaluation
http://www.schrockguide.net/uploads/3/9/2/2/392267/5ws.pdf

21. WHO
(Authority)
• Who wrote the pages and are they an expert?
• Is a biography of the author included?
• How can I find out more information about the author?
• What organization is the person affiliated with?

22. What
• What does the author say is the purpose of the site?
• What else might the author have in mind for the site?
• What makes the site easy to use?
• What information is included?
• Does this information differ from other sites?
• Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

23. When
• When was the site created?
• When was the site last updated?
• http://www.cnn.com/

24. Where
• Where does the information come from?
• Where can I look to find out more about the sponsor
of the site?
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• (This site martinlutherking.org, was created by a white
supremacist group sponsored by former KKK leader Don
Black. I include it because it comes up often in
searches by students. It is easy to find information
online that is biased but looks like it may not be—just
because it’s a .org does not mean it’s information you
want to use.)

25. Why
• Why is this information useful for my purpose?
• Why should I use this information?
• Why is this page better than another?
• http://buydehydratedwater.com

26. RADCAB
• Another way to think of evaluation of information
• R=Relevancy (Is this information relevant to my search?)
• A=Appropriateness (Is this information suitable to my age and
my assignments?)
• D=Detail (Is this enough information or do I need more?)
• C=Currency (When was this information published? Is it out of
date?)
• A=Authority (Who is the author? Do they know what they are
talking about?)
• B=Bias (Why was this written—information, entertainment,

27. Google
• Remember—Google is a CONSUMER
product, meant to appeal to the widest
possible audience
• Default search= EVERYTHING
• Advanced search= You now have to put
in a search term and then click on the
cog in the upper right hand corner to get
to advanced search
Image from: http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-royalty-free-stock-images-audience-silhouettes-
image7279299

28. Advanced Search
Shows up AFTER you enter a
search term
• All these words
• Exact word or phrase
• Any of these words
• None of these words
• Numbers ranging from
• Language
• Region
• Site or domain
• Last update
• Terms appearing
• Reading level
• Filetype
• Usage rights

29. How Search Works
Matt Cutts from Google on How Search Works
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNHR6IQJGZs
How Search Engines Work (Thanks to Karen Liebert)
• http://www.learnthenet.com/animated-internet/how-search-
engines-work/index.php

30. The Top Panel
(This appears after you input your
initial search)

31. Refine by date or location

32. Reading Level

33. Click on “Search Tools” for any of
the choices to further refine your
search

34. Click on any of the choices to further
refine your search—this is how you can
locate closed captioned videos

35. Librarian Secret Weapon
Scenario: “My friend read this book and he said
it was really good and I want to read it…but I
don’t remember the title. Or the author. But it
was about computer games. And it was RED.”
Search: Google Images>”video games” book cover>
sort by color red>VOILA! Was it Ready Player
One by Ernest Cline? “Yes!”

36. My friend read a book about video games I want
to read….but I can’t remember the title….but it’s
red!

37. To search by image color: choose image search, “search
tools”, “color”.

38. If you need a diagram, choose “any type”, “line drawing”

39. “Free” online—Did you know?
• Twitter made $3.55 per user in the first quarter of 2014
• Facebook made $7.24 per user in the first quarter of
2014
• Google made $45.00 per user in the first quarter of
2014

40. Sources
• Definitions from Google Define function
• FactMonster. (2014). Retrieved from
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0193167.html
• Internet World Stats. (2014). Internet users in the world distribution
by world regions – 2013 Q4. Retrieved from
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
• Meeker, M. (2014). KPCB Internet trends 2014. Kleiner Perkins
Caufield. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/kleinerperkins/internet-
trends-2014-05-28-14-pdf
• Pingdom. (2012, January 17). Internet 2011 in numbers. Retrieved
from http://royal.pingdom.com/2012/01/17/internet-2011-in-numbers/

41. Sources
• Schrock, K. (2009). The five W’s of web site evaluation.
Retrieved from
http://www.schrockguide.net/uploads/3/9/2/2/392267/5ws.pdf