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Video 3 showed how to search the internet. There are three search tools for finding information on the internet. They are: search engines, internet directories, and metasearch engines.The same search can get different results depending on the tool you use and how the subject is entered. The tools access different parts of the web. Finding information may also be affected by how often the search engine is updated. The internet is like a spider. It searches to find matches to your query.
Directories are subject tree listings. They are updated by hand. They are organized and easy to browse. They are linked to other directories. Directories are limited by when they are updated and what material the directory owner chooses to put on the directory. Yahoo! is a directory. It is a pretty large one. It is organized. It is a popular one used by students. There is a version called Yahooligans that is designed specifically for kids.
Search engines return information in a ranked format. That is, by which most relates to your subject. Hotbot is a search engine. It searches the entire internet and will turn up more hits. Boolean searches are made when the search includes the words and, or or not. Searches may be case sensitive. Queries posed in all lower case will return case insensitive matches. Queries posed in all caps or initial caps will be case sensitive. Putting quotes around the topic makes the search engine search for the exact words in the order posed. Adding a plus or minus and a word further specifies the search. Another search engine is Altavista. The search engines search the internet differently and at different speeds.
It is important to think about the words in your query before you search. Avoid using single word searches. It makes the search too broad. Using "or" will result in a better quality of hits. The plus sign ensures the inclusion of the word that follows it. The minus sign removes the word that follows it. An asterisk will return all forms of the keyword. All of these tips will narrow the search and save time looking through huge lists of hits.
Metaengines are yet another search tool for finding information on the internet. It also returns hits by ranking by most occurrences. It searches the other search engines for your subject. You must use the proper spelling and syntax. The following three tips will help in using this search tool: 1)Give some thought to your query. 2)Start broad. 3)Add a word, phrase or "" to narrow the search. These will help you find maximum links.
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