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PRELIMINARY
SEARCHING HINTS
1.
Choose a search engine that best matches the kind of search
you are doing and the kind of results you desire.
2.
Things to Consider: Are you looking for a specific Web site?
Are you seeking information that might be found on a Usenet?
Are you in need of Academic articles that may only be
obtained with a gopher?
3.
Aiming in the Right Direction: Are you looking for a specific
hard-to-find document
on an esoteric subject, or trying to find information on a
general topic? Do
you need to search the entire Web to find what you're looking
for, or is what you are seeking likely
to be found on a number of sites, or only the most popular
sites?
4.
In making these decisions, determine if the information you
are
trying to find is likely to be in a page's title or first
paragraph, or buried
deeper within the document or site.
5.
If searching for a hard-to-find item, consider using the search
engine's advanced features, if available. Consulting the search
engine's help documents will help clarify its search procedure.
SEARCH
TERMS AND SYNTAX
1.
Use synonyms, alternate spellings and alternate forms (e.g.
drive,
driving, drives) for your search terms.
2.
Using unique terms in your search will likely narrow the scope
of search engine results.
3.
Avoid using common terms (e.g. computer, government)
which
may lead to a preponderance of irrelevant search results.
4.
Determine how your search engine uses capitals and plurals,
and
enter capitalized or plural forms of your search words if
appropriate.
5.
Use a phrase or a proper name if possible to narrow your search
and therefore retrieve more relevant results (unless you want
a large
number of results).
6.
Use multiple operators (e.g. AND, NOT) if a search engine
allows them.
7.
Use quote signs (e.g. "stainless steel dishwashers")
if a search engine
allows them to further narrow the search.
8.
If you receive too many results, refine and improve your search.
(After perusing the results, you may become aware of how to
use
NOT - e.g. Dallas AND football AND NOT Jones)
8.
Pay attention to proper spacing and punctuation in your search
syntax (i.e. no space when using + means +term not +
term)
WHICH
SEARCH ENGINE OR DIRECTORY?
Do you want to....
browse
a subject area?
USE Yahoo
search
Usenet?
USE Yahoo, AltaVista, InfoSeek or HotBot (or best
of all, Google Groups)
include
older gopher files in your search?
USE Webcrawler or InfoSeek
search
as much as the Web as possible?
USE AltaVista or InfoSeek
search
every word on a site or in a document?
USE AltaVista, InfoSeek or HotBot
locate
an obscure or hard-to-find document?
USE AltaVista, InfoSeek UltraSeek
locate
a fairly popular site or easy-to-find document?
USE Webcrawler or Yahoo!
retrieve
a large number of results?
USE AltaVista or InfoSeek.
retrieve
few but relevant results?
USE Webcrawler or Infoseek (for relevance)
search
only titles, urls or keywords?
USE Webcrawler, Yahoo! OR Alta Vista
specify
in what part of a site your search terms will occur
(including titles, urls and summaries)?
USE AltaVista (adv) or InfoSeek
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