Evaluating Digital Information: The Teacher’s Guide



Teacher’s Guide

Power Searcher

|[pic] |Contents: |

| | |

| |The Search Box Strategy |

| | |

| |What is a Query? |

| | |

| |What is the Invisible Web? |

| | |

| |Independent Study |

| | |

| |Core Concepts |

| |Student Worksheets |

| |Answer Keys |

| | |

| |Complete MicroModule Contents: |

| | |

| |Appendix A: Search Box Strategy |

| |Appendix B: What is a Query? |

| |Appendix C: What is the Invisible Web?|

|Challenge 1: The Search Box Strategy |Successful searchers apply strategies with |

| |disciplined focus. Using a search strategy is the|

| |difference between browsing the Internet and |

| |searching the Internet. One systematic approach |

| |is called the Search Box Strategy. When you enter|

| |something in the search box, see what you get, |

| |and continue the process until you find what you |

| |are after, you are using the basic Search Box |

| |Strategy. |

The Search Box Strategy: (See Appendix A for a print out of the complete module.)

This module addresses the following IMSA Core Concepts for Searching:

• Learners translate a natural language question into a search query

o Select initial keywords

• Understand literal matching (SE)

• Understand stop words (SE)

• Understand multiple meanings

• Understand the advantages of infrequently used terms (SE)

o Select initial word order

• Learners develop and apply academic vocabulary building strategies to effectively conduct a digital information search

o Acquire understanding of new words in context

o Apply new vocabulary in search query

• Learners effectively act on informed decisions to revise their search queries based on search results/feedback

o Select alternate keywords

• Understands/applies 1 in 5 rule

• Understands/finds patterns/clues in results

• Understands search engine ranking

• Understand literal matching (SE)

• Understand stop words (SE)

Your Name & ID:

The Search Box Strategy

Your Challenge: Author Search! You need a strategy and a persistent, focused, approach to become a power searcher.

Select one of the authors from this list. Place an X in front of your choice:

_ Gary Paulsen _ Ursula Le Guin

_ Judy Blume _ Gary Soto

Locate and record this information:

|The URL and Title of your author's 'official' webpage. | |

|The URL and Title of a page about your author sponsored by a | |

|university. (Name the University) | |

|The URL and Title of a webpage that will help you write your | |

|favorite author. | |

Unpacking Your Search: Explain the strategies you used to do this search. Include the name of the search engine you used.

| |

Your Name & ID:

The Search Box Strategy

Your Training Mission: Author Search! You need a strategy and a persistent, focused, approach to become a power searcher.

Complete the Search Box Strategy Module and print a copy of your post-test for your Instructor.

Select one of the authors from this list. Place an X in front of your choice:

_ Gary Paulsen _ Ursula Le Guin

_ Judy Blume _ Gary Soto

Locate and record this information:

|The URL and Title of your author's 'official' webpage. | |

|The URL and Title of a page about your author sponsored by a | |

|university. (Name the University) | |

|The URL and Title of a webpage that will help you write your | |

|favorite author. | |

Unpacking Your Search: Explain the strategies you used to do this search. Include the name of the search engine you used.

| |

Hand in your worksheets and post-test to your instructor.

The Search Box Strategy |Author Search | Answer Key

Notes about the author search. There are many ways to find the information required by this worksheet. This answer key provides is a guide, but not the definitive map for all correct answers. If a student applies methods other than those taught in the MicroModule, find out what they are and help the student assess the efficiency of there information retrieval strategy.

Gary Paulsen Official Webpage: Query: Gary Paulsen official web page Title: Gary Paulsen URL: features/garypaulsen/

University Sponsored Author Sites: Query: Gary Paulsen site:edu

Author Studies, Virginia Center for children’s Books: , Internet School Media Center James Madison University

Learning about Gary Paulsen Rutgers University

scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/paulsen.html

The Alan Review: Gary Paulsen: A Writer of His Time His Time Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

Author Contact Method: search official website for contact information. Teacher’s Information, How to write Gary: :

Judy Bloom Official Webpage: Query: Judy Bloom official web page Title: Judy Bloom’s Home Base URL:

University Sponsored Author Sites: This is a more difficult search than it first appears. Unlike Paulsen, Bloom is not celebrated in the university community. The query: site:edu "Judy Bloom" does not yield a single university sponsored website dedicated solely to the work of Judy Bloom. There are links to sites about banned books, college course syllabi, conferences where Judy Bloom appears, but no websites about Judy Bloom as an author’. An alternate method is to use the Links on Bloom’s site. Your students will find an article by Mount Holyoake professor, and children’s author, Corrine Demas. There is a link to Demas’s home page, but this isn’t university site.

Author Contact Method: search official website for contact information. Judy Bloom’s Guest Book

Gary Soto Official Webpage: Query: Gary Soto official web page Title: The Official Gary Soto Website URL:

University Sponsored Author Sites: Query: “Gary Soto” site:edu

Gary Soto: A Teacher’s Resource File

Internet School Media Center James Madison University. (Note this site can be found by scanning the snippets return by the Soto official web page search.)

Gary Soto: (Biographical information and the poem: “How things work”. Truncating the URL for this site leads us to the Center for Contemporary Programs in Writing at the University of Pennsylvania.

Gary Soto of the United States: University of Oklahoma

Author Contact Method: There is no specific author contact on the official website. However the Catalog pages gives the following address: Soto & Friends, 43 The Crescent, Berkeley, CA 94708. A letter addressed to Soto and sent to this address would be a reasonable solution to the problem.

Ursula Le Guin Official Webpage: Query: Ursula Le Guin official web page Title: No title on home page. Instead an interesting Map of Earthsea.:

University Sponsored Author Sites: Query: Ursula Le Guin site:edu

The Alan Review: Ursula Le Guin's Magical World of Earthsea, Virginia Polytechnic Institute

The World of Earthsea, . The ~ (tilde) in the URL indicates this is a personal page on a university server. Is this a page ‘sponsored’ by the University? Truncating this URL leads to: The Boston University Scientific Computing and Visualization Group.

Author Profile: Truncating the URL leads to the California State University, Fullerton faculty websites page.

Author Contact Method: search official website for contact information. Click enter on the Earthsea Map. Click Mail in navigation panel. : Author address: Ursula K. Le Guin, P.O. Box 10541, Portland OR 97296-0541, U.S.A. Note: There are multiple warnings that UKL does not respond to email. Send a letter!

|Challenge 2: What is a Query? |To query describes the entire search process. An |

| |individual query is exactly what you ask your search |

|[pic] |engine to go looking for. It is the distilled essence|

| |of your questions; formed in a way that best |

| |retrieves the information you are seeking. |

| |A query is made up of the keywords that describe your|

| |topic and the arrangement of those keywords using |

| |operators that focus the retrieval process. From a |

| |question like: 'How do you track satellites?' You |

| |extract the keywords (track and satellite). You may |

| |want to add additional keywords like orbiter and |

| |telemetry. Now you have the building blocks to |

| |construct a successful query. |

What is a Query: (See Appendix B for the complete module.)

This module addresses the following IMSA Core Concepts for Searching:

What am I looking for?

Learners create effective and efficient search queries

• Translate a natural language question into a search query

• Develop and apply vocabulary building strategies to effectively conduct a digital information search

• Revise their search queries based on search results/feedback

Your Name & ID:

What is a Query?

Your Challenge: Author Booklist To query describes the entire search process. An individual query is exactly what you ask your search engine to go looking for. It is the distilled essence of your questions; formed in a way that best retrieves the information you are seeking. Queries combined with a strategy will help you find what you seek. In this challenge you will be searching for books published by an author.

Select one of the authors from this list. Place an X in front of your choice:

_ John Steinbeck

_ Maya Angelou

_ John McPhee

_ Eudora Welty

Create a booklist: List 3 book titles written by the author. For each title include the publication date and publisher

|Title |Publication Date |Publisher |

|1 | | |

|2 | | |

|3 | | |

Unpacking your search: Use the A9 search engine to gather information about your favorite author. Keep notes on your queries. List each query and revision you use to find the required information in the box below. Start by explaining how you found the A9 search engine.

| |

Your Name & ID:

What is a Query?

Your Training Mission: Author Booklist To query describes the entire search process. An individual query is exactly what you ask your search engine to go looking for. It is the distilled essence of your questions; formed in a way that best retrieves the information you are seeking. Queries combined with a strategy will help you find what you seek. In this challenge you will be searching for books published by an author.

Complete the Search Box Strategy Module and print a copy of your post-test for your Instructor.

Select one of the authors from this list. Place an X in front of your choice:

_ John Steinbeck

_ Maya Angelou

_ John McPhee

_ Eudora Welty

Create a booklist: List 3 book titles written by the author. For each title include the publication date and publisher

|Title |Publication Date |Publisher |

|1 | | |

|2 | | |

|3 | | |

Unpacking your search: Use the A9 search engine to gather information about your favorite author. Keep notes on your queries. List each query and revision you use to find the required information in the box below. Start by explaining how you found the A9 search engine.

| |

Hand in your worksheets and post-test to your instructor.

What is a Query | Author Booklist | Answer Key

Finding the A9: Students can find the A9 search engine by typing the keyword “A9” in the search box of any search engine. Alternately, entering in the address line of the browser will also work.

A9 is a product of . If you check the books category on the search page, and enter an author’s name, you’ll get a list of titles linked to the bookstore. This is a convenient way to get a quick list of current books written by the author.

Hidden Publishers: The more complex challenge is to find specific publisher information. does not list the publisher in plain view. This information must be dug out using a strategy. Warning: Without a strategy, students may start clicking instead of reading and thinking and become lost in the myriad links of .

Strategy 1: Publisher information is easy to retrieve if the publisher has used the “Look Inside this Book” feature of Amazon. This feature lets you see excerpts from the book. These excerpts usually contain a copyright page with the publisher information. If the book’s listing does not allow you to look inside, use strategy 2.

Strategy 2: Use the title of the book as query in a web search. Enclose the title in quotations marks and add the word publisher to the query. Then scan the snippets returned by the search for the publisher information. Students will have to match the publication dates (found using the A9 Book search) to the snippets to be sure they have the right publisher.

Typing the author’s name with just the Books category checked is an effective way to find book titles. Searching the web using the author’s name as a query will get the student many sites dedicated to the author, rather than current publication data. From the A9 Book results, students will have to distinguish between books about an author, and books written by that author.

John Steinbeck

East of Eden (Steinbeck "Essentials") by John Steinbeck (26 April, 2001) Penguin Books Ltd Note: requires student to query A9: "The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck" publisher

The Steinbeck Centennial Collection: The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, The Pearl, Cannery Row, Travels With Charley, In Search of America (Boxed Set) by John Steinbeck (01 January, 2002) Penguin Books Ltd Note: requires student to “look inside of book” and check copyright page.

The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck (01 April, 1996) Penguin Classics; Reprint edition. Note: requires student to query A9: "The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck" publisher

Maya Angelou

The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou by Maya Angelou, ((September 13, 1994) Random House. You can look inside the book, but the publisher information is not visible. Note: requires student to query A9: “The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou by Maya Angelou” publisher

Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes by Maya Angelou (21 September, 2004) Random House. Note: requires student to “look inside of book” and check copyright page

The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou (Modern Library) by Maya Angelou (21 September, 2004) Random House. Note: requires student to “look inside of book” and check copyright page

John McPhee

The Ransom of Russian Art by John McPhee (30 January, 1998) Macfarlane Walter & Ross Note: requires student to “look inside of book” and check copyright page

The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed by John McPhee (01 September, 1992) The Noonday Press. Note: requires student to “look inside of book” and check copyright page

Coming into the Country by John McPhee (01 April, 1991) The Noonday Press. Note: requires student to “look inside of book” and check copyright page.

Eudora Welty

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty

by Eudora Welty (01 February, 1982) Harcourt

Note: requires user to “look inside of book” and check copyright page.

Eudora Welty : Complete Novels: The Robber Bridegroom, Delta Wedding, The Ponder Heart, Losing Battles, The Optimist's Daughter (Library of America)

by Eudora Welty, Richard Ford, and Michael Kreyling (01 August, 1998) Penguin Putnam Inc. Note: requires student to “look inside of book” and check copyright page.

Selected Stories of Eudora Welty: A Curtain of Green and Other Stories (Modern Library) by Eudora Welty and Katherine An Porter (05 September, 1992) Random House. Note: requires student to “look inside of book” and check copyright page

|Challenge 3: |There are parts of the Internet that search engines simply |

|What is the Invisible Web? |can't see. The search engine's  robotic "crawlers" either |

| |miss or are locked out of these areas on the Internet.  |

|[pic] |Behind the barriers lie treasure troves of quality |

| |information. Collectively this information is called the |

| |Invisible Web.  There are many categories of invisible |

| |information missed by the popular search engines.  The most |

| |common are: |

| |Web pages that have been intentionally skipped by search |

| |engine crawlers |

| |Web pages that are dynamically assembled from online |

| |database content |

| |Password protected web pages |

| |Non-HTML resources like image, audio, animation, and PDF |

| |files. |

What is the Invisible Web? (See Appendix C for the complete module.)

This module addresses the following IMSA Core Concepts for Searching:

Where am I going to look?

Learners effectively and efficiently select digital collections

• Select invisible Web collections (and sub-collections)

• Select other digital collections (and sub-collections)

How will I get there?

Learners select digital search tools based on their effectiveness and efficiency

• Select features of a variety of digital tools based on the probability of effectiveness and efficiency

• Select appropriate search strategies to effectively and efficiently locate reliable digital information related to their academic learning goal(s)

• Learners apply appropriate search strategies to efficiently locate reliable digital information related to their information goal(s)

Your Name & ID:

What is the Invisible Web?

Your Challenge: Author’s Voices There are parts of the Internet that search engines simply can't see. The search engine's robotic "crawlers" either miss or are locked out of these areas on the Internet. Behind the barriers lie treasure troves of quality information. Collectively this information is called the Invisible Web.

National Public Radio (NPR) provides a website rich in Invisible resources. Use your query building skills to find this site. Next search the National Public Radio website to find a streaming audio interview with one of the following authors. (Place an X next to the author you select:

_ Ray Bradbury

_ Billy Collins

_ Toni Morrison

_ Barbara Kingsolver

Record the URL, Program Title, and Date for the Interview you selected?

|URL: |Program Title: |Interview: |

| | | |

Unpack the Process: Describe the steps you used to locate this file.

| |

If you get frustrated or stuck, move on to the training mission!

What is the Invisible Web? | Author’s Voices

Your Training Mission: Author’s Voices There are parts of the Internet that search engines simply can't see. The search engine's robotic "crawlers" either miss or are locked out of these areas on the Internet. Behind the barriers lie treasure troves of quality information. Collectively this information is called the Invisible Web.

National Public Radio provides a website rich in Invisible resources. Use your query building skills to find this site. Next search the National Public Radio website to find a streaming audio interview with one of the following authors. (Place an X next to the author you select:

_ Ray Bradbury

_ Billy Collins

_ Toni Morrison

_ Barbara Kingsolver

Record the URL, Program Title, and Date for the Interview you selected?

|URL: |Program Title: |Interview: |

| | | |

Unpack the Process: Describe the steps you used to locate this file.

| |

Visibility Check: Try to find this audio interview using the filename and other terms in a query on your favorite search engine. Could you find it, or is the interview file truly invisible to search engines?

| |

Hand in your worksheets and post-test to your instructor.

What is the Invisible Web? | Author’s Voices Answer Key

Finding NPR:

Entering the keywords NPR or National Public Radio in any search engine will get your students to .

Searching the NPR Database:

The NPR home page has a link to their Archive and a site search box in the navigation area across the top of the page. The Archive link is a dead end. This entrance to the Archive promotes browsing, rather than searching. Students will need to use the Search Box in the upper right hand corner of the page to find what they seek. .

Any query entered in the NPR search box will take you to . This is the gateway to the invisible web contents of NPR. This database of audio works best when you use quotations around an author’s name. Additionally the addition of the words “poet” or “writer” will sometimes improve results. It is also important to broaden the search using these options from the drop down menus on the search page:

• Change: That I heard… to: I heard since 1996

• Change While listening to… to I’m not sure, search all

Ray Bradbury, Still Looking to New Worlds All Things Considered, January 17, 2004



Writer Gary Paulsen, Fresh Air, March 8, 2002,

Poet Gary Soto

All Things Considered, May 30, 2000



Billy Collins Interview

NPR's All Things Considered: U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, September 4, 2001.



A talk with Maya Angleou,

The Travis Smiley Show, November 29, 2002



Dorothy Allison

All Things Considered April 10, 1998 Cavedweller



Barbara Kingsolver

Talk of the Nation December 13, 1999



Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison's 'Good' Ghosts Web Extra: Toni Morrison Reads from “Beloved”.

J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter, Morning Edition , October 27, 2000



Terry McMillen

Terry McMillan's 'Interruption of Everything' All Things Considered, July 26, 2005



Mark Haddon

Fresh Air from WHYY, June 17, 2005



Sarah Vowell: Death Takes a Holiday

Talk of the Nation, May 10, 2005



Mary Gordon

'Pearl': A Tale of Motherhood and Martyrdom

Fresh Air from WHYY, January 31, 2005



[pic]

IMSA Core Concepts for Searching Addressed by Independent Study:

Learners create effective and efficient search queries.

• Translate a natural language question into a search query

• Develop and apply vocabulary building strategies to effectively conduct a digital information search

• Revise their search queries based on search results/feedback

Learners effectively and efficiently select digital collections.

• Select visible Web collections (and sub-collections)

• Select invisible Web collections (and sub-collections)

• Select other digital collections (and sub-collections)

Learners select digital search tools based on their effectiveness and efficiency.

• Select features of a variety of digital tools based on the probability of effectiveness and efficiency

• Select appropriate search strategies to effectively and efficiently locate reliable digital information related to their academic learning goal(s)

• Learners apply appropriate search strategies to efficiently locate reliable digital information related to their information goal(s)

To promote independent study or to customize training for those students who pass the initial challenges use the Power Searcher Independent Study material found under the Toolkit tab.

Each module has a pre and post test. Many of the modules are supplemented with multimedia sound tracks and streaming video tutorials. While these topics are not addressed directly in the DIF Investigator training, these IMSA MicroModules will help deepen your students understanding of ethical use of digital information.

Links to Independent Study MicroModules

|Alphabetical List of All Modules: (Link) |Bookmarks for IE: (Link) |

|Bookmarks for NS: (Link) |Browser: Creating a Searchers Homepage: (Link) |

|Find Command: (Link) |Formats: (Link) |

|How fast is the web growing? (Link) |How Search Engines Work: (Link) |

|Hyper and Hypo Nyms: (Link) |Nyms: How lesser known nyms help you improve a search: (Link) |

|Opaque: What is the nearly invisible or opaque web? (Link) |Results Ranked: How are search results ranked? (Link) |

|Search Process: (Link) |Spelling: (Link) |

|Sitemaps: What are they and how do they work? (Link) |Subject Indexes: (Link) |

|Synonyms: (Link) |URLS: How do URLs Work? (Link) |

|Using Keywords Effectively: (Link) |Vanishing Web: (Link) |

|How Many pages are there on the WWW? (Link) | |

|[pic] |Bookmarks for IE: Just like you'd mark a section of a book for quick reference, you can use the |

| |Favorites function of Internet Explorer to record the web addresses of important Internet pages. |

| |By creating a personal favorites system you make it easy to return to a page without retyping the|

| |website address. (Link) |

|[pic] |Bookmarks for Netscape: Just like you'd mark a section of a book for quick reference, you can |

| |record the web addresses of important Internet pages.  By creating a personal bookmarking system |

| |you make it easy to return to a page without retyping the website address.  All web browsers |

| |provide this type of tool.  Netscape uses the term "Bookmarks".  (Link) |

|[pic] |Browser: Creating a Searchers Homepage: Customizing Your Browser. When you start your Internet |

| |Browser, the first page that you see is called the 'home' page.  This is your starting place.  |

| |You can specify any page (including a blank page) as your browser homepage. Why not designate |

| |your favorite search engine as your home page?  The procedure varies slightly depending on your |

| |browser / computer configuration.  (Link) |

|[pic] |Find Command: How can you efficiently locate a word or words on a web page? Have you ever opened |

| |a web page only to groan as you scroll through text that seems to go on forever? How can you find|

| |the keywords you're after?   This is an occasion for the Find command.  In the Netscape browser, |

| |under the Edit pull down menu, is an option called Find in this page.  Internet Explorer calls it|

| |Find (on this page). The keyboard shortcut Ctrl+f (hold down the control key and tap f) works in |

| |both browsers. The Find command lets you enter a word.  Each time you push the Enter/Return |

| |button on your keyboard or click the Find button, that word will be found and highlighted in the |

| |text on the web page you are reading.  This makes it very easy to find the keyword you are |

| |looking for without having to scan long passages. (Link) |

|[pic] |Formats: Searching for information in alternate file formats can enrich your results. You can |

| |search for alternate formats in a number of ways.  Many search engines now provide specialized |

| |search tools for image formats.  Many search engines and meta-search engines have advanced |

| |options that will help you locate other file types.  Additionally, highly specialized search |

| |engines that focus on multimedia formats are now available.  (Link) |

|[pic] |How fast is the web growing? When attempting to estimate the growth of resources and users on the|

| |Internet, it is good to keep in mind the words 'persistent uncertainty'.  Things are changing so |

| |quickly, that there are no exact numbers, only educated guesses.  However, by any measure, the |

| |growth of the Internet has been explosive.  The Internet is spreading faster than cable TV.  |

| |(Link) |

|[pic] |How Search Engines Work: Where are you searching? When you use a search engine you are not |

| |actually searching the live web. Instead, you are working with the search engine's database of |

| |web page information.   Search engines attempt to copy and organize all of the information |

| |available on the Internet into their own efficient database. The database may include partial or |

| |complete copies of millions (billions) of web pages.   Clicking on the hyperlink listed in the |

| |search results takes you from the search engine host, to the actual web page of interest.  (Link)|

|[pic] |Hyper and Hypo Nyms: What are Hypernyms and hyponyms? How Can These Nyms Help You Focus A Search?|

| |When striving to name a concept with great precision, it helps to understand synonyms, hypernyms |

| |and hyponyms. Knowing how to apply these nyms will sharpen your search skills and enhance your |

| |keyword formation.  The root "nym" comes from the Greek onoma, a name. We use the term nym to |

| |identify many classes of words.  In this module we will look at two specific nyms: hypernyms, and|

| |hyponyms. (Link) |

|[pic] |Nyms: How lesser known nyms help you improve a search: When striving to name a concept with great|

| |precision, it helps to know about nyms. The root word "nym" comes from the Greek word onoma, a |

| |name. We use the term nym to identify many classes of words. In his book, Find It Online, author |

| |Alan M. Schlein describes searching the Internet as, "...a blend of learned skills, common sense |

| |and a bit of clever intuition." Knowledge of nyms will sharpen your skills and enhance your |

| |intuition. Knowledge of nyms helps you understand the shades of meaning contained in your |

| |keywords. Understanding how search engines deal with keywords helps you craft queries that avoid |

| |nym confusion. Mastering nyms means better search results. (Link) |

|[pic] |Opaque: What is the nearly invisible or opaque web? The public web is open and freely available |

| |to search engines.  The invisible web also part of the Internet, but inaccessible to the robotic |

| |web-crawling technology search engines use to automatically build and update their indexes.  (For|

| |more on this topic, see the IMSA MicroModule: What Is the Invisible Web?) In this module we will |

| |consider information that bridges the public and invisible webs, the 'nearly-visible' or 'opaque'|

| |web. (Link) |

|[pic] |Results Ranked: How are search results ranked? Are the First Results Always the Best Results? |

| |When you send a query to a search engine do you assume that the first results listed will be the |

| |most relevant?  Do you persist and look beyond the first few pages of returns?   Market research |

| |indicates that 85% of casual search engine users don't go beyond the first page of results.  This|

| |makes webmasters and marketing experts very interested in placing their sites in the first 10 |

| |returns of a search engine. Understanding the mechanics of this relevancy placement will help you|

| |evaluate the quality of the results, and may make you more determined to dig beyond the top 10.  |

| |(Link) |

|[pic] |Search Process: How does an expert search? What process can I follow? It turns out there is a |

| |regular pattern that experts follow as they think their way through the process of searching for |

| |difficult information on the Internet. First they decide exactly what they want, where they are |

| |most likely to find it, how they are mostly likely to find it, and then what they will do next |

| |after each step they take. They constantly fluctuate between looking at the big picture of what |

| |they want and the little picture of analyzing what they have found. (Link) |

|[pic] |Sitemaps: What are they and how do they work? If you found yourself deep in the stacks of a major|

| |library, how would you proceed? Would you wander at random or seek out the organizational |

| |principles of the environment? Search engines often drop you into the middle of a complex |

| |website.   If you find yourself in this position, a sitemap is a useful tool.   Web designers |

| |sometimes create sitemaps that provide an overview of organizational patterns.   Sitemaps provide|

| |a visual reference to the terrain of a website.   Good sitemaps provide a visual summary that |

| |answers a disoriented searcher's essential questions: Where am I? What can I find here?   How to |

| |I get from place to place within this site?  (Link) |

|[pic] |Spelling: How you spell a keyword will impact your search results. A misspelled keyword may |

| |return very few or even zero results. On the other hand, some misspellings are so common they |

| |still return a large number of results. This happens because search engines obediently return web|

| |pages with exact matches of a misspelled word. If you get enough misspelled results you may not |

| |even realize you are missing pages with the correct spelling. There are also European and |

| |American variations in spelling that can change the results of your search. Also what about |

| |capitalization? Will the case change between European and european make a difference in your |

| |search results? (Link) |

|[pic] |Subject Indexes: What is a Subject Index? A subject index (also known as a subject directory, web|

| |directory or just a directory) is the online equivalent of an organized file cabinet. Subject |

| |Index information has been thoughtfully organized by human editors into top-level subject areas. |

| |Subdirectories of related information are created by professional editors.   The selection, |

| |classification, and evaluation of information is done by human beings who are content area |

| |experts. Contrast this with general results developed by search engine robots and you will see |

| |that Subject Indexes are an efficient way to find quality resources. (Link) |

|[pic] |Synonyms: How Can Using Synonyms Help Your Search? |

| |If your first search query doesn't retrieve what you are looking for, consider finding new |

| |keywords to describe the same concept. One way to do this is to think of synonyms for the terms |

| |in your query. Synonyms are words that have the same or nearly the same meaning. Synonyms for |

| |search would be seek, look, hunt, or quest. Each word might mean the same thing, but there are |

| |also shades of meaning that make the word more specific. You can use these shades of meaning to |

| |focus your query. (Link) |

|[pic] |URLS: How do URLs work? Nothing will help you find just the right information more quickly than |

| |well-chosen keywords. When searching the Internet, less is often more.  Words that return |

| |hundreds of thousands of hits are worthless, you want to find terms that accurately narrow search|

| |results.  Thoughtful keyword selection is your most powerful tool. The right keywords are the |

| |fastest path to the relevant information you are after. (Link) |

|[pic] |Using Keywords Effectively: Nothing will help you find just the right information more quickly |

| |than well-chosen keywords. When searching the Internet, less is often more.  Words that return |

| |hundreds of thousands of hits are worthless, you want to find terms that accurately narrow search|

| |results.  Thoughtful keyword selection is your most powerful tool. The right keywords are the |

| |fastest path to the relevant information you are after. (Link) |

|[pic] |Vanishing Web: Gone, but not forgotten! Have ever returned to a favorite site, only to discover |

| |the dreaded 404 page not found error message? Have you ever clicked through a Google result to |

| |find the page missing or altered since it was last indexed? The web is changing all of the time; |

| |pages are added or removed everyday.   Top websites are regularly overhauled.   Some sites move |

| |to new addresses or are taken down when their webmasters find other interests.   Millions of |

| |pages of information are vanishing from the web every day. (Link) |

|[pic] |How Many pages are there on the WWW? More Pages Than You Can Count? No one knows the exact number|

| |of pages freely available on the web. New, unique, publicly accessible pages (also know as the |

| |public web) are created every second. Given the enormous amount of information available on both |

| |the public web and the invisible web, it is clear that the careful researcher should investigate |

| |the hidden resources of the invisible web, and always use more than a single search engine. Since|

| |there is no central counting house or even a standard way of creating web pages, we can only make|

| |an educated guess at the number of web pages there are on the Internet. Several credible studies |

| |have tackled the problem. (Link) |

Appendix A: The Search Box Strategy

Successful searchers apply strategies with disciplined focus. Using a search strategy is the difference between browsing the Internet and searching the Internet. One systematic approach is called the Search Box Strategy. When you enter something in the search box, see what you get, and continue the process until you find what you are after, you are using the basic Search Box Strategy.

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Refining Your Strategies

Searchers who have refined the Search Box Strategy will carefully choose keywords, do a preliminary search, scan the results for clues, and persistently revise search terms until they find what they seek. You can become a power searcher by practicing this strategy.

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The Search Box Strategy is a Matching Game.

Search engines use robotic programs called spyders to crawl the Internet visiting webpages. These spyders help create an indexed database of the most important words on each page they visit. When you enter words in the search box, the search engine checks its database index for a match. The pages listed in the results contain matches for your words.

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Match Game - Step by Step

● You enter the words you think will be in the documents you seek.

● The search engine finds the webpages in its index that exactly match your words.

● You review the results to see if your words found the information you hoped for.

● If your search words didn't match, you revise your words and try again.

Persistence Pays!

If you don't get the combination right on the first try, gather clues and try again. The systematic refinement of your search terms is the essence of the Search Box Strategy!

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Convert Your Questions to Queries

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Keywords Yes! Stopwords No!

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The words in bold—called keywords or key terms—are the meaningful words in this natural language question. These are the words most likely to exactly match text in the webpages you seek. Instead of typing questions in the search box, craft queries with keywords.

Understand, to save time, search engines will automatically skip some words you enter in the search box. Words that are automatically skipped are called stopwords. Here are just a few of the most common stopwords.

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To improve speed and efficiency, all search engines exclude stopwords. Stopwords are so common, matching them would take extra time and computing power without giving better results. When you craft your queries, save time and space by removing stopwords from your queries. Instead spend your energy on brainstorming words that describe your search topic concisely.

Power Up Your Search Box Strategy

● Strip the stopwords from your queries.

● Build queries with keywords likely to exactly match the information you seek.

● Enter those keywords in the search box.

● View the results and refine your search!

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The 1 in 5 Principle - Are you feeling Lucky?

Your goal is to find a combination of keywords that are an exact match for the wording in the documents you seek. Different authors use different words to describe the same thing. According to psychologists, your chances of choosing exactly the same concept word as a web page author are 1 in 5. This means you can expect to revise your query more than once before finding just the right combination of terms.

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Make a Revision Decision

If you don't find what you are looking for, it's time to revise your keyword combinations. Most of your revision decisions involve adding or changing specific keywords. One place to look for better keywords is the results page of your first unsuccessful search. Scan the summaries (also known as snippets) to find new keywords for your next query. Look for scientific vocabulary, new combinations and solid synonyms for a better match in your next search. [pic]

Becoming a Power Searcher [pic]

Remember each time you cycle through the Search Box Strategy, systematically work to improve your query with the right keywords. The effective “query” is the right combination of keywords, operators, and other search engine instructions/features that unlocks the puzzle and gets you the information you seek.

Appendix B: What is a Query?

|[pic] |To query describes the entire search process. An individual query|

| |is exactly what you ask your search engine to go looking for. It |

| |is the distilled essence of your questions; formed in a way that |

| |best retrieves the information you are seeking. A question is not|

| |a query. Think instead of a question as the first step in forming|

| |your query and beginning the process of inquiry. Understanding |

| |this distinction allows you to create a query in the most |

| |meaningful and effective manner by directly crafting the keywords|

| |and syntax that will begin your search. To do this you must |

| |understand how to select keywords and use operators. |

| |A query is made up of the keywords that describe your topic and |

| |the arrangement of those keywords using operators that focus the |

| |retrieval process. From a question like: 'How do you track |

| |satellites?' You extract the keywords (track and satellite). You |

| |may want to add additional keywords like orbiter and telemetry. |

| |Now you have the building blocks to construct a successful query.|

The Query Process

Query also refers to the entire process of searching. This process is a series of decisions and actions. This action path can be understood as a distinct process. (See figure: The Query Process.) Once you have decided on a topic, you decide on where to search. If your topic is vague, consider browsing a subject index in order to refine your ideas and improve your query formation. If you have a narrow and specific topic, go directly to a search engine.

Once the query is formed, you enter the terms into the search box of the selected search engine or subject index. You then evaluate the results. If you find what you are after, the process ends. Otherwise, you revise your search strategy and begin again. Revision may include changing or rearranging your query terms, or selecting a new search engine.

The Query Process

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What is the difference between a question and a query?

|[pic] |When you ask a question you have the beginnings of a query. |

| |Although some search engines such as Ask Jeeves, encourage you to|

| |use a natural language question format, all search engines ignore|

| |the question mark and focus on the key terms in your request. If |

| |you ask, 'How do you track satellites?' A search engine will |

| |focus on the words track and satellites, filtering out 'how do |

| |you?' as irrelevant to the search. (See the IMSA MicroModule: |

| |Using Keywords Effectively for more on why search engines use |

| |'Stop Words'). |

A query then is the distilled essence of your questions. To form a query you extract the keywords from your question and add new terms that more precisely describe your search goal. By directly crafting combinations of keywords and syntax, you form your query in the most meaningful and effective manner.

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When should I choose a subject index over a search engine?

|[pic] |At the beginning of your 'query process' you must decide where to|

| |look for your information. Use a subject index when you have a |

| |general idea of what you are looking for, but need to develop |

| |more specific ideas. You'll be able to narrow the focus of your |

| |search quickly by browsing for concepts and keywords in the right|

| |subject categories. Once you find the right subcategories, the |

| |carefully selected information in the subject index will help you|

| |decide on what you are really looking for. Subject indexes help |

| |you go from broad categories of information to more specific |

| |ones. |

The more specific and limited your area of investigation, the more appropriate it will be to use a search engine. Search engines allow you to use queries to find highly specific information. If you already understand the unique vocabulary needed to form a good query you might be better off going directly to a search engine. Additionally, if you need timely information a search engine is more likely to produce up to the minute results. (To learn more about how to use subject indexes see the IMSA MicroModule: Subject Index.

How can I find more about keyword selection?

Nothing will help you find just the right information more quickly than using well-chosen keywords in your query. By extracting the most meaningful words from your questions you focus your query. Keywords that return millions of hits are worthless, you want to work with keywords that accurately narrow search results. The right keywords are the fastest path to the relevant information you are after.

What are operators? How do operators affect queries?

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You can use operators in your query to instruct the search engine to exclude a term. For example the query dolphins-football will exclude the word football from all documents retrieved.

You can use operators to group individual terms into an exact phrase like "George Washington professional football player".

You can search for keywords that appear in an important 'field' within the HTML code of a web page. For example title: science will return pages with the word science in the title of the page.

When you craft a query using specific keywords and operators you can often find just what you are looking for with your first search. (To learn more about the art of using operators, see the IMSA MicroModule: Operators.)

Appendix C: What Is The Invisible Web?

|[pic] |There are parts of the Internet that search engines simply can't|

| |see. The search engine's robotic "crawlers" either miss or are |

| |locked out of these areas on the Internet. Behind the barriers |

| |lie treasure troves of quality information. Collectively this |

| |information is called the Invisible Web. |

| |There are many categories of invisible information missed by the|

| |popular search engines. The most common are: |

| | |

| |● webpages that have been intentionally skipped by search engine|

| |crawlers |

| |● webpages that are dynamically assembled from online database |

| |content |

| |● password protected webpages |

| |● non-HTML resources like image, audio, animation, and PDF files|

There are many categories of invisible information missed by the popular search engines. The most common are:

● webpages that have been intentionally skipped by search engine crawlers

● webpages that are dynamically assembled from online database content

● password protected webpages

● non-HTML resources like image, audio, animation, and PDF files

Intentionally skipped: Webpages that have been missed or skipped by the crawlers are sometimes called the nearly visible or opaque web. These pages could be indexed but are skipped intentionally to save the search company time and money. Because crawling and indexing is expensive, search engines limit the number of pages they copy from each site. This can leave hundreds of pages out of the search index, but still available to the site's users. (For more on this topic see the IMSA Module: Opaque Web.)

Dynamic Material created on demand: Online databases create HTML pages to match your criteria. These pages are dynamically assembled when you query the database. Search engines do not index the contents of online databases, and they cannot index dynamically assembled pages that don't exist until the user creates them. Searching for a book on is one example of using the Invisible Web. Amazon's database will assemble a unique page to match your requests.

Password protected information: Many sites have password-protected webpages. Search engine spiders can reach the front door, but can't crawl in. On the other side of the barrier is quality information developed and categorized by professionals. Before you search these pages you must first establish an account. Some sites are free, others charge a fee. Regardless the materials beyond the password barrier can't be reached by search engines and remains invisible until you establish an account, obtain the key, and login to the website.

Non-HTML formats: Search engines were originally designed to comb through HTML text pages and create an index of keywords. Non-HTML file formats that didn't contain much text were routinely skipped. These file formats include image, audio, animation, and PDF files. Recently some of the commercial search engines have added image and PDF files to their indexes. Additionally specialized search engines are available to help you find these and other types of files. (For more on this topic see the IMSA Module: File Formats.)

Vast Resources await: The Invisible Web is a vast resource estimated to be from 2 to 500 times the size of the easily accessible information on the public web. The materials found on the Invisible Web are often more focused, current, and professionally relevant than what you can find on the public web using search engines. Knowing how to use Invisible Web resources will make you a more efficient and powerful researcher.

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(FAQs) Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Invisible Web?

There are parts of the Internet that search engines simply can't see. The search engine's robotic crawlers are locked out of these areas on the Internet. Behind the barriers lie treasure troves of quality information. Collectively this information is called the Invisible Web. Luckily, you can use search engines to find the front door of many Invisible Web Resources. Think of it as a two step process. First you locate an Invisible Web Database. Second you go directly to that database and begin investigating the contents.

Why would you want to search the Invisible Web?

The quality of resources on the Invisible Web is often better than what you will find on the public web. Professionals with specific subject matter expertise maintain many database collections. Materials on the fee-accessed parts of the Invisible Web are likely to be more current, and professionally prepared. Also the Invisible Web is thought to be from 2 to 500 times larger than the public web. If you don't want to miss what might be the very best sources of information on your topic, use the Invisible Web.

Are most Invisible Web resources free?

Yes. The majority of Invisible Web resources are free for the finding. Many web sites only require that you set up a free account to access their materials. However, premium information often costs money. Consider the value of the information, your time, and needs. Often paying for access is a good choice!

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|[pic] |What strategies should I use to search the Invisible web? |

| |Searching the Invisible Web is a two-step process. First you |

| |search for the online resources likely to hold the desired |

| |information. Next you search the site itself. You need a plan|

| |to find the most likely sources of quality information. If |

| |you develop a personal search strategy that is both flexible |

| |and focused, you will become a more efficient researcher |

Strategies to Consider: If you know a site that has the kind of information you are looking for, go directly to the source. If you were looking for the population of a US city, for example, instead of using a traditional search engine, search the database available at http:// .

• When searching for information on the Invisible Web, use a search engine to search by subject to find an Invisible Web database that might contain the information.

• Use websites that list Invisible Web collections and provide easy access to search forms.

• When visiting a site with Invisible Web resources use the site's search tools to refine your search to the specific information you are looking for.

How can I use a search engine to find Invisible Web databases?

You can use your favorite search engine to find Invisible Web resources; just add keywords like database, archive, or repository to your query. Once you find a site with database resources, go directly to it and use the site's own tools to investigate further.

Let's experiment by combining the Boolean AND command with these keywords: database, repository, archive.

Examples:

● "lesson plans" AND database

● "invisible web" AND repository

● "university library" AND archive

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How can I use advanced search syntax to find Invisible Web resources?

Most search engines provide advanced search syntax that will help you find Invisible Web resources. By field searching for Invisible Web related keywords in the URL, title, or within likely domains, you can uncover vast numbers of Invisible Web resources. If you know specialized search terms you can construct advanced queries that target your search. Most search engines provide advanced feature forms that will help you construct an advanced query. Think of this as detective work that will help make the 'invisible' accessible!

Domain Restriction & Special Operators

Advanced Search forms allow you to combine domain restriction with specialized field search terms like: inurl: and intitle,

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Do some websites have both visible and invisible content?

Yes, many websites have both Invisible Web content as well as resources indexed by search engines. Invisible Web materials might be locked behind a password barrier. Other pages might have been skipped by the search engine's crawler. Still those pages are easily available to you using the site's own search tools, or site map.

Do Invisible Web resources ever become visible?

What's invisible today may become visible tomorrow. This is especially true when it comes to resources in non-HTML formats. Search engines are changing their policies about which formats they index. Google's decision to index images and PDF files created market pressure that has spurred competitors to add other formats to their search indexes. At the moment, search engines do not index database contents. This too could change as technology advances.

Are Invisible Web resources the same for every search engine?

No, what is invisible to one search engine might be indexed by another. This is one of the reasons you should use more than one search engine when seeking information. Search engines use different types of crawlers and don't always index the same pages or websites. Policies vary on which non-html file formats to index. At present, the dynamic, on-demand information generated by online databases remains beyond the reach of all search engines.

Are there good collections of Invisible Websites available on the public Internet?

There are many websites that specialize in collecting and presenting access to Invisible Websites. The websites listed below are a good place to start your investigation of the Invisible Web. These Invisible Web Resources are also listed under the Links area of the IMSA Portal:

Chris Sherman and Gary Price. The Invisible Web Directory [Website]. :2001 [cited 22 February 2003]. Available from World Wide Web: .

A directory of some of the best resources of the Invisible Web. This site was developed by reference librarian Gary Price and Chris Sherman, Associate Editor of , as a companion to their 2001 book The Invisible Web: Uncovering Hidden Internet Resources Search Engines Can't See.

Librarians' Index to the Internet: "Invisible or Hidden Web" [Web Directory]. : The Library of California:2003 [cited 24 June 2003]. Available from World Wide Web:< (invisible+or+hidden)+Web;searchtype=keywords >

The Librarian's Index to the Internet is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 11,000 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries. The Librarian's Index to the Internet (lii. org) is a reliable and efficient guide to Internet resources. This link will take you to the most current results for the keywords: (invisible or hidden) Web.

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