Understanding & Working with WWW Search Tools

It is easy to feel lost in the ever-increasing multitude of Internet resources. WWW search engines and directories can be helpful in identifying useful Internet resources on specific topics. Following are points to consider in using WWW search tools.

Purpose & Type of Search Tool

• What is the purpose of the search tool?
• Is it designed primarily as a directory, listing resources in hierarchial categories?
• Is it a search engine, with a Web site of its own, designed primarily to allow searching through its list of Internet resources for matching or related items?
• Is it a search engine attached to another Web site, for the purpose of searching for items within that site only?
• What type of search tool is it? Does it focus on a particular topic or group? Does it allow simultaneous searching through a number of search engines?

Access

• How quickly and easily can you make a connection so you can use it?
• Is it free or is there a fee to use it?

Structure

• Does the search engine include a directory of its own?
• Does the directory include a search engine of its own?

Searching & Displaying Results

• For what types of items does it search (e.g., urls, Usenet newsgroup messages, email addresses, images, sounds)?
• For what parts of Web pages does the tool search (e.g., url, title, links, full text)?
• What search options are available (e.g., exact word or phrase, Boolean, adjacency, truncation, stopwords)?
• Where and how well are search options explained or laid out? How user-friendly is it?
• What sort of results does the tool provide (e.g., url, title, description, review, ranking, cross-references)?
• How are the results presented (e.g., ranked list, choice of displays or layouts)?
• Can you modify the results of a search and if so, how (e.g., search for similar results or topics, go to related newsgroup messages)?
• How quickly does it provide results?
• What type of help is provided and how useful is it (e.g., search examples, FAQs)?

Evaluating Results

• How relevant are the results to your original query?
• How precisely did the results match the query, whether or not they were relevant?
• Were there leads to other useful information?

Search Strategy Tips

• For a more precise search, try going down through menus in a directory, or use the directory's search engine.
• Begin with a simple search through a general search engine & think critically about the engine, its features & the search results.
• For more comprehensive results, cast a wide net, by using the same search words, plus synonyms or related terms in several different search engines.
• For greater precision & comprehensiveness, try using complex searches or advanced search options, in a number of different search engines.
• Check online help or Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Created by Esther Grassian, rev 11/25/96. © 1996 Regents of the University of California
Permission is granted for unlimited non-commercial use of this guide.