Search Tutorial

EXERCISE 1

Infoseek: Boolean AND search

Query: I'm interested in finding out about the effects of television on children.

Search (a):    effects  televsion  children

Note: This search is incorrect! OR logic is the default logic at Infoseek. Infoseek found any website that contains the word effect, any website that contains the word television, and any websites that contain the word children.  Notice the large number of "hits."

Search (b):    effects AND television AND children

Note: This search is correct! AND logic now applies.  Infoseek found websites that contain ALL of the search words--effects, television, and children.  Notice how many fewer websites were found this time.

EXERCISE 2. 

Infoseek:  Implied Boolean AND search (+)

Query: What is being done by Congress to reform campaigns?

Search (a):    campaign   reform    Congress

Note: This search is incorrect! OR logic is the default logic at Infoseek. Infoseek looks for any website that contains the word campaign, any website that contains the word reform, and any website that contains the word Congress.

Search (b):    +campaign   +reform    +Congress

Note: This search is correct! AND logic now applies with the use of the + symbol in front of each search term. This means that all terms will be present in all your results.

EXERCISE 3:

Infoseek:  Boolean OR search

Query: How much of a problem are drugs on university campuses?

Search:    college    university    campus    +drugs

Notes on the search:

  • OR logic will apply to the terms college, university, and campus
  • AND logic will apply to the term drugs

EXERCISE 4

Infoseek:  Phrase search

Query: I'm interested in finding information concentration camps.

Search (a):    concentration  camps

Note: This search is incorrect! OR logic is the default logic at Infoseek. We have also failed to place the phrase within double quotations. Infoseek looks for any website that contains the word concentration and any website that contains the word camps.

Search (b):    "concentration camps"

Note: This search is correct!  We have placed the phrase within double quotations. Infoseek will find websites that contain the entire phrase.

LYCOS

Exercise: Simple keyword search

Query: I'm interested in learning about the migration of various birds.

Search:

  1. Type these words:    birds     migration

Note how the space between the search terms is interpreted as the Boolean AND.

INFOSEEK

Exercise: Multiple concept search

Query: I'm interested in knowing how the glut of Ph.D. graduates is affecting the job market.

Search (a):    Ph.D.    glut    job market

Note: This search is incorrect! OR logic is the default logic at Infoseek. We have also failed to place the phrase within double quotations.

Search (b):    +Ph.D.    +glut    +"job market"

Note: This search is correct! AND logic now applies with the use of the + symbol in front of each search term. We have also placed the phrase within double quotations. Most major search engines now on the Web will accept this type of search.

Exercise: Field Search

Query: I'd like to see information on slavery.

Search (a):    slavery

Note: This is a poor search to do in a large, full-text database.

Search (b):    title:slavery

Note: This is a much better search. This search will look for slavery in the HTML title field.

Search (c):    url:slavery

Note: This is also a very good search. This search will look for slavery in the URL of the file, e.g., in a subdirectory named slavery, or in a filename such as slavery.html.

Search (d):    title:slavery    url:slavery

Note: This is an even better search. This search looks for slavery in either the title, in the URL, or both using OR logic.

Search (e):    +title:slavery    +url:slavery

Note: This is a very restrictive search, but it could be quite useful for focusing your results. This search looks for slavery in both the title and in the URL, using AND logic.

Exercise: Field search

Query: Can I see reviews of the novels of Joyce Carol Oates?

Search:    +title:"Joyce Carol Oates"     +novels

Exercise: Narrowing Existing Results

Now that you understand basic search syntax, let's look at a nice feature on Infoseek that allows you to search within a results set.

Query: I'm looking for information about peace in Bosnia.

Search (a):    +peace       +Bosnia

Now, let's say you have looked at your results and have decided that you are actually interested in a subtopic of this query.

Query: I'm interested in the Dayton peace agreement for Bosnia.

Search:
To the search above:

+peace     +Bosnia

  1. Go back to your search results page at the Infoseek site and locate the search form containing your search terms
  2. Choose the option to Search within results
  3. Type: +title:Dayton [Note the + sign!]

This option adds a new term to your existing results using AND logic. Using this option, you do not have to retype your original search in order to add to it.

Note: Other engines also offer this type of feature, including Excite, HotBot and Lycos

Exercise: Search for more documents feature

This feature allows you to search for Web documents related in topic to a given document in your results list.

Query: I'm interested in learning about the Civil War.

Search:

  1. Type:      "Civil War"
  2. Retrieve the first screen of results
  3. Choose an item in your list of hits that is of interest to you. Click on Find Similar Pages to retrieve related results. An interesting exercise is to choose a document relating to Civil War photographs. Note that you will retrieve many more sites containing photographs from the Civil War.
  4. You may choose Find Similar Pages on subsequent screens if further narrowing is helpful

Note: Excite and Google offer equivalent options.

ASK JEEVES

Exercise: Plain English query

Query: Where can I learn to use a mouse?

Search: Where can I learn to use a mouse?

Examine the results. Note how well Ask Jeeves picked up on the concept of mouse as an animal and mouse as a computer tool. The question format of the Ask Jeeves results lets you quickly identify which sites relate to which concept.