Searching Intelligently

Bill G. Kelm - Spring 2007

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How to do better research using How to do better research using your favorite search engine.your favorite search engine.


Today’s Goals – To Learn

• How is the web indexed?– Google in particular.

• Which tool to use searching the web?– Search engines, directories, hidden

web, listservs and online discussion groups.

• Drawbacks and advantages of the web.• Browser tips and research power tools.• Horizontal searching.


How Search Engines Work

1. Discovery and Database

2. User Search

3. Presentation and Ranking

Source: http://www.webreference.com/content/search/


Google Background• “Google's mission is to organize the world's

information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

• Google's founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed Google in a Stanford University dorm room and it is currently the world's largest search engine.

Source: http://www.google.com/corporate/


Google’s Discovery and Database

• Google has programs called spiders (a.k.a. Google bots) constantly searching the web for new or updated web pages

• When a spider finds a new or updated page, it reads that entire page, reports back to Google, and then visits all of the other pages to which that new page links


Google’s Cache• When the spider reports back to Google, it

doesn’t just tell Google the new or updated page’s URL.

• The spider also sends Google a complete copy of the entire Web page – HTML, text, images, etc.

• Google then adds that page and all of its content to Google’s cache.


How Google Works• When you search for multiple keywords,

Google first searches for all of your keywords as a phrase.

• So, if your keywords are baseball spring training, any pages on which those words appear as a phrase receive a score of X.


Google – Adjacency • Google then measures the adjacency between

your keywords and gives those pages a score of Y.

• A page with “baseball spring training” next to each other gets a higher score than one with “baseball” and then “spring training”

farther down the page


Google - Weights

• Then, Google measures the number of times your keywords appear on the page (the keywords’ “weights”) and gives those pages a score of Z.


Presentation & Ranking• Google takes

– The phrase hits (the Xs), – The adjacency hits (the Ys), – The weights hits (the Zs), and – About 100 other secret variables

• Throws out everything but the top 2,000• Multiplies each remaining page’s individual

score by it’s “PageRank”• And, finally, displays the top 1,000 in order.


Google – PageRank?• There is a premise in higher education that

the importance of a research article can be judged by the number of citations to it from subsequent articles in the same field.

• Google applies this premise to the Web: the importance of a Web page can be judged by the number of hyperlinks pointing to it from other pages.


Google Advanced & Tricks

• Calculator

• Define

• ~, +, -

• Advanced Searching

• Finding Information on the Internet a Tutorial


My Favorite Quote:

• “Focus on users and their tasks, not the technology.” – Jeff Johnson


When Searching the Web:

• “Focus on your query, not the technology.”


Four tools:

1. Search Engines

2. Directories

3. Invisible Web (Deep Web)

4. Listservs and Online Discussion Groups


Which Tool to Use?

• “It all Depends.”


When to use a Search Engine:

• You are looking for the “Society of American Registered Architects.”

• You have a specific phrase or unique keyword


Which Search Engines are Used?

Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2156431


Rating Search Engines

• Search Engine Watch

• Search Engine Showdown


Problems With Search Engines:

• Speed response eliminates some documents

• Bias toward text• User expectation and skills• Costs of crawling• Metasearch engine: jux2


When to Use a Directory:

• “I’m looking for sites on American Architecture.”

• Broad category• Early in your research• Opposing viewpoints


Sample Directories

• Google Directory• Internet Scout Project• Internet Resources Columns

• Targeted Directories: Classics Resources


Problems With Directories:

• SmallEditorial policies

• Timeliness• Charging for listing


Hidden/Invisible Web

• Searchable databases

• Excluded pages


When to use the Invisible Web:

• “I’m looking for a list of architects in Baltimore.”

• “I need a specific statistic on the death rate of women with heart disease in 2002.”

• “I’m looking for information on a plane crash in Salem, OR in 1979.”


How to Find the Hidden Web

• Google:– Databases + your topic

• Searching general web directories– Librarians Index– Infomine


When to use a Listserv?

• “If I’m looking for an opinion on a particular topic.”


How to Find a Listserv:

• Tile.net

• Google: “topic” and listserv

• Google Groups


Browser Tips & Tools• Bookmarks (personal toolbars) – Del.icio.us• History• ConQuery (search plugins)

– Journal Title List– Creative Commons– Open WorldCat via Google

• Bookmarklets• Tabs, Tabs, Tabs


Horizontal Searching

• Use the web in conjunction with library catalogs and databases

• Search the Web for titles of articles• Locate more bibliographies that can be

incorporated into new searches for books, journal articles, etc.

• Search for authors from books and articles


Horizontal Searching:Search a Library Database


Horizontal Searching:Search title of article on the

Web


Horizontal Searching:Follow citations from Web site


Horizontal Searching:Search Book Title

in the Library Catalog


Horizontal Searching:Follow subject headings from article


Horizontal Searching:Follow cited references / and search


Horizontal Searching:Organization Web sites

and Official Reports


Horizontal Searching:Contact actual researchers on the

topic


Wrap Up:• Know how the web is indexed and collected.• Choose the correct tool for your question.• Realize more than one tool may be needed.• Carefully evaluate whatever you find on the

Web.• Think horizontally in searching: library

databases, Web, bibliography, Web, library catalog, Web, reference book, Web…


Bibliography

• Cohen Laura (2001) 10 tips for teaching how to surf the Web. American Libraries, 32, 44-46.

• Sherman, C., Price, G. (2001). The Invisible Web: Uncovering Information Sources Search Engines Can't See. Medford, N.J.: Information Today, Inc.

• Dale Vidmar’s: Horizontal Searching

• Linda Goff’s: Googling to the Max

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Searching Intelligently

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