SEARCHING THE WEB

WEB SEARCH TOOLS

Search Engines
– software system that is designed to carry out web searches (internet searches)
– websites used for retrieval of data, files or documents from data bases

Metasearch Engines (search aggregator)

– an online information retrieval tool that uses the data of a web search engine to produce its
own results
– take input from a user and immediately query search engines for results, data then is
gathered, ranked and presented to users

Web Subject Directories

– offers a collection of links to internet resources submitted by site creators or evaluators and
organized into subjects categories
– Maintained by human editors which resources they list are usually annotated

Library Portal
– user-centered, web-based that serves as a gateway to library information, services and
resources

UNIFORM RESOURCE LOCATOR (WEB ADDRESS)

– is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a
mechanism for retrieving it.

POPULAR DOMAINS

TOP LEVEL DOMAIN:

.edu - educational institution
.org - non-profit organization
.gov - government site
.com - commercial site
.net - network
.info - information

SAMPLE COUNTRY CODE TOP LEVEL DOMAIN:

.ph - Philippines
.eu - European Union
.uk - United Kingdom
.au - Australia

SEARCH SKILLS AND TOOLS:

○ Boolean Logic
○ Plus
○ Minus
○ Ampersand
○ Hashtag
○ Asterisk
○ Searching sites
○ Finding docus
SEARCH SKILLS AND TOOLS PHASE SEARCHING
– enclosed in quotation marks to mean that the search engine should find the exact word or
phrase enclosed within quotes.
– this will show list of all web pages with phrase containing video conferencing
– Example: “Video Conferencing”

PLUS (+)
– specific word should be found in the web page
– this will show the list of wed pages searched should contain all the four words
specified
– Example: + Internet + Web + Chat +

MINUS (-)
– the specific world should not be in the web pages.
– this will show list of all web pages with the phrase “Diving Spots” but no word containing
Philippines in the web pages located
– Example: + “Diving Spots” – Philippines

AMPERSAND (@)
– is used to find social tags.
– Example: @SteveJobs

HASHTAG (
– is used to find popular hashtags
– Example:

ASTERISK (*)
– Used as wild card to replace unknown portion of words that you are not sure.
– show list of all web pages with words starting with Encrypt. This may include web
pages which may contain the word encryption, encrypt, encryptor and the like
– Example: Encrypt*

FINDING DOCUMENTS
– using the filetype refines the search for documents on the web
•o filetype:pdf
•o filetype:doc
•o filetype:xls
Ex. ICT in the Philippines pdf
SEARCHING SITE
– the sites find webpage from a website
– Ex.: National Geographic information in Australia
– Search: Australia site: NationalGeographic.com

EVALUATING SITES (APCCOA)

– Authority
– Purpose
– Coverage
– Currency
– Objectivity
– Accuracy

AUTHORITY
– person, institution or agency responsible for a site has the qualifications and
knowledge to do so.
○ Contact information. Should be clearly provided: e-mail address, snail mail address,
phone number, and fax number.
○ Authorship. It should be clear who developed the site
○ Credentials. the author should state qualifications, credentials, or personal
background that gives them authority to present information. Check to see if the site
 supported by an organization or a commercial body

PURPOSE
– it should be clear, is it meant to inform, persuade, state an opinion, entertain, or parody
something or someone
○ Is the information geared to a specific audience (students, scholars, general reader)?
○ Is the site organized and focused?
○ Are the outside links appropriate for the site?
○ Does the site evaluate the links?
○ Does the content support the purpose of the site?

COVERAGE
– how comprehensive the website is

● Are the topics explored in depth?

● Compare the value of the site’s information compared to other similar sites?
● Do the links go to outside sites rather than its own?
● Does the site claim to be selective or comprehensive?
● Does the site provide information with no relevant outside links?

CURRENCY
– how current the information presented is, and how often the site is updated or maintained

○ first written (when was it created)

○ placed on the web (are links current)
○ last revised/updated

OBJECTIVITY
– present information with a minimum of bias

○ Does the information try to sway the audience?

○ Does site advertising conflict with the content?
○ Is the site trying to explain, inform, persuade, or sell something?
○ Is the information presented with a particular bias?

ACCURACY
– credibility of the website

○ References: do statistics and other factual information receive proper references as to

their origin?
○ Reliability: Is the author affiliated with a known, respectable institution?
○ Is the information comparable to other sites on the same topic?
○ Does the text follow basic rules of grammar, spelling and composition?
○ Is a bibliography or reference list included?