Tips for More Effective Web Searches
By Lucy Lynch (llynch@darkwing.uoregon.edu)
As the amount of material stored on web servers grows, the ability to perform
efficient and timely searches becomes increasingly important. Most users are
already familiar with the major web search engines like Alta Vista, Excite,
and HotBot and general indexes like Yahoo. Some have even learned to use the
arcane boolean syntax that most search engines employ. But few people have explored
some of the more specialized features of standard services like Alta Vista or
the more exotic "niche" services.
Almost every service recognizes basic boolean search criteria like AND, OR,
and NOT and many allow the use of " " (for a specific phrase), + (must include),
and - (exclude). Each service has its own special features, so be sure to read
the online help or explore the advanced search options. Alta Vista users
(http://www.altavista.com) can
significantly improve the quality of their web queries by spending a little
time reading through the online help (http://www.altavista.com/av/content/help.htm)
and by learning to use special keywords to limit searches by host, URL, or even
content type (applets, images, etc.). For explicit examples of limited searches,
see Examples
of Limited Searches in AltaVista.
Even when using a highly refined query, the major search engines will often
return far more information than the average user is willing to sort through.
This is when you may want to turn to the niche market services.
How to Find a Special Search Service: If you're looking for niche
market service, a good starting point might be the All-in-One Search Page ( http://www.searchallinone.com ),
which provides a sort of index of indexes. You'll also want to try Martindalešs
"The Reference Desk" (http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu/~martindale/Ref.html),
which includes links to special tools like calculators and dictionaries. A
few examples of niche services:
- FindLaw http://www.findlaw.com/
This site combines both a topical index and a range of targeted search services
which allow the user to narrow a search to legal sites, mailing lists, or
government documents.
- Northern Light http://www.northernlight.com/
This service is a hybrid, combining a classic web search with a for-pay
search of over 4500 periodicals. One of the more interesting features is the
use of custom folders,š which presort all of the links found into rough categories.
- Fast FTP Search http://ftpsearch.lycos.com/
One of the under-utilized capabilities of the web is the ability to transfer
program files from remote locations. This service helps you locate files and
provides the links to download files to your desktop.
- The Awesome Library http://www.awesomelibrary.org/
This site is a particularly good example of a growing trend: search engines
that have been configured for use by children. Most searches will return a
short list of links, but you can be confident that the content will be łkid-safe.˛
The site also includes an index of other kid-safe search engines: http://www.awesomelibrary.org/searchek.html
- Deja News http://www.dejanews.com/
If youšve ever needed to use USENET news for a quick answer to a subject-specific
question, youšll love Deja News. A simple query here will search through several
years' worth of messages and you may find that someone else has already asked
your question.
- Google http://www.google.com/ This
service, originally developed at Stanford, tries to take the work out of formatting
queries by making some assumptions about your key words. Google will give
preference to a series of words found as a phrase, and assumes that every
word is required. Note that Google orders hits hierarchically by the number
of sites that link to each hit.
- The MetaCrawler http://www.metacrawler.com/
One of several meta search services, all of which query several popular services
on your behalf and return a list extracted from the top 10 links from each
service. This one is quick and dirtyyoušll get a short list of good matches,
but youšll miss the depth of material available.
