INFORMATION RETRIEVAL

What you will learn about

• The Internet
• Difference between the Internet and the web
• Web browsers
• Search engines
• Information retrieval search strategies
• Evaluation of information
 Information Retrieval Definition
(IR)
• The Librarianship Studies and Information
Technology (2020) website defines IR as refers
to the process, methods, and procedures of
searching, locating, and retrieving recorded
data and information from a file or database.
 The Internet
• A world-wide network of computers that
allows people to share information
electronically
• Can be accessed anywhere where there is
Internet connection
 Connecting to the Internet
• ISP eg in Zimbabwe Telone, Powertel etc
• Your computer connects to the Service
Provider then to the Internet
• There are mainly three ways of connecting to
the Internet: Dial Up – use of telephone,
Wireless connection, High Speed (use of
modem and cable to connect to the Internet)
Coverage
 Web browsers
Allows you to see pages from servers anywhere
around the world.
•Internet Explorer
•Mozilla Firefox
•Google Chrome
 The Internet and Web Browsers
• The Internet is the physical connection of
millions of computer networks
• The Web uses the Internet for its existence
• The Web is a collection of interconnected
documents and other resources linked by
hyperlinks and uniform resource locators
(URLs)
 Finding information
Tools to find information on the web:
• Search engines
• Metasearch engines
• Subject guides
 Search Engines
• Allow you to look for Web pages containing
some words or phrases
• Built by computer “spider” robot programs
• NOT organized by subject categories
• Contain full-text articles
• Often retrieve huge amounts of information
• Not evaluated – contain good and bad sites
Examples : Google, Alta vista
 Using Search Engines
• To use a search engine, you:
– Choose a search engine (Google, MSN, Lycos,
Alta-Vista, Yahoo, etc).
– Type in one or more words describing your topic.
• The search engine checks its database of Web
pages that contain the words typed.
• The results are sent to your computer.
• Clicking on the link takes you to that page
 Metasearch engines
• Search multiple search engines at once
• User has limited control in how searches are
conducted
• Quick, but not thorough
• Most of them omit GOOGLE
Example: Dogpile
 Subject Directories
• Built by humans!
• Organized by subject
• NEVER contain full-text of the web pages
• Often carefully evaluated and annotated
Example YAHOO
 Effective search techniques
• Presearch Analysis
• Boolean Searching
• Phrase Searching/Keyword Searching
 Presearch Analysis
• List unique words, distinctive names,
abbreviations, or acronyms that are
associated with your topic
• Combine any keywords that can be used in
phrases
• Use Boolean Operators to combine keywords
 Boolean Searching
• Using “and” combines
– Curriculum and education

Curriculum AND Education

 OR
• Using “or” Statistics or Mathematics
• Includes or broadens any page with at least
one of the terms

Statistics OR Mathematics
 NOT
Using “not” Mathematics not Statistics
Excludes or restricts

Statistics AND Mathematics

 Phrase searching
• Include more than one word in quotation
marks “.” to search as a phrase
• Example: “educational psychology”
 Keyword searching
• Identify an information need and look for key
words
• Find synonyms or alternate words that can be
used in place of the identified key word for
instance farming or agriculture
Evaluation of Internet Information
1. Author – Who is the author?
2. Sources – Where does the information come from?
3. Server – Who provides the server for the page?
4. Objectivity – Is the information objective or one-
sided?
5. Coverage – How thoroughly did the author cover a
certain topic? Did he focus only on one aspect or
more?
6. Purpose – What is the purpose of the page?
7. Accuracy – Is the information accurate?
8. Currency – Is the page up-to-date?