1. Web
Searching
Techniques
CMPS101: Introduction to
Computers
2. What is a Search
Engine?
A search engine is a special program on a website that looks
for other websites that contain words that you designate.
Some Search Engines search the entire Internet, while
others search only the website where it is located.
*This is Google’s Search Engine interface
CMPS101: Introduction to
Computers
3. A Search Engine’s main purpose is to find specific words within a website.
Example:
I heard on the news that a new animal was discovered in
Japan and I want to learn more. It’s called the Eel Shark.
If I type Eel Shark into a worldwide search engine, my
results will include pages that only have the words ‘eel’ and
and the word ‘shark’ in them.
Any pages that have either of these words alone, will be
omitted.
CMPS101: Introduction to
Computers
4. While its easy to just type in the words you want to find, most Search Engines have
more advanced functionality built in, so you can find better results.
Poor example of search criteria:
CMPS101: Introduction to
Computers
5. Using Quotes
If you type two or more words, a Search Engine will not treat them as a phrase,
but will search for each word independent of each other.
Example:
✖
In this case, the Search Engine will search for websites that contain
the words Northwest, Indian, and College anywhere on the page, in
any order.
(You may get results that talk about any any college in the northwest that mentions
indians)
Example:
✔
In this case, the Search Engine will search for websites that contain
the phrase “Northwest Indian College”. Basically, it treats this
CMPS101: Introduction to phrase as one word.
Computers
6. Using the ‘+’ Operator
Usually, if you type two or more words, the search engine will include results
that have all of these words. Some words, however, are ignored, such as
‘who’,’what’,’where’, ‘I’, ‘and’, etc.
If you want to include these words in your search, you need to tell the Search
Engine that they’re important.
To do this, you include a + immediately before the word like this:
*Notice, there is no space between the + and the who.
All Advanced Searching tools work like this. If you leave a space,
the Search Engine will search for the +, like it was a word.
Though 99% of the time, you don’t need to use this, the next tip is very useful.
CMPS101: Introduction to
Computers
7. Using the ‘-’ Operator
If you find that you’re results include too many websites that aren’t related to
your search, you can exclude certain words if they are unrelated. This way you
can narrow your search quite effectively.
If you want to exclude these words in your search, you need to tell the Search
Engine that they’re not important.
To do this, you include a ‘-’ immediately before the word like this:
This will give you results related to NWIC, but will exclude webpages than mention the
library.
Usually, you won’t know to exclude a word until you’ve done an initial search.
CMPS101: Introduction to
Computers
8. Types of Websites
Aside from the common .com, .org, .net, and .edu., Websites come in many
different flavors. Each country actually has their own special website suffix
(ending). Here are some examples.
Country Commercial Website Academic Website
USA .com .edu
Canada .ca .ca
UK .co.uk .ac.uk
New Zealand .co.nz .ac.nz
Spain .es .es
Germany .de .de
Australia .com.au .edu.au
Japan .co.jp .ac.jp
CMPS101: Introduction to
Computers
9. What’s in a name?
When you go to an internet address, this address is called a URL or Universal
Resource Locator.
Basically, its an address that tells your computer to go and look at another
computer’s files on the internet
All URLs break down like this:
edu • Domain - the type of website
nwic • Domain name - the name of the website
online • Sub-domains - a specific area of the website
/Moodle19/… • Folders on the computer your are browsing
View.php?... • Page identifier
When you look at a webpage, all the text, picture arrangement and other things you
see are written in a code HTML (meaning HyperText Markup Language). Your Web
browser can interpret this code and display the webpage on screen.
CMPS101: Introduction to
Computers
10. Using the ‘site:’ Operator
When looking for academic sources, the best place to find these is on academic
web pages, but how do you search an Academic Web Page?
If you want to search within a specific website, you just tell the search engine
where to search.
To do this, you include a site: immediately before the site you want to search,
then any words as usual, like this:
This will give you results from NWIC’s web pages that include the
word library.
This will give you results from any academic web pages that
CMPS101: Introduction to include the word library.
Computers
11. Bringing it all together
A very effective way of Web Searching is to combine all of the previously
mentioned steps into one search.
Here’s an example.
1. The Search Engine only looks into web pages at NWIC’s website
2. The Search Engine looks for any pages that include the word Library.
3. Within the results for criteria #1, the Search engine excludes any pages
that include the word ‘virtual’
You can use these operators in any order you wish, so feel free to experiment and
change them as you go, if they don’t give you the results that you need.
CMPS101: Introduction to
Computers
12. End of Presentation.
If you want to know more about Advanced Google Searching not
covered in this presentation, please visit
http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/static.py?page=guide.cs&guide=1221265&answer=136861
Don’t hesitate to contact your
instructor if you have any questions.
CMPS101: Introduction to
Computers
