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THE RIGHT WING
NETWORK ANALYSIS
SEARCH ENGINES
LIBRARY RESOURCES
SUGGESTED READING
DATA ARCHIVE
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Tips for Using Search Engines
When you are unable to find the information you need on any of the
recommended web sites, it is always possible to do your own search using
one of the popular search engines. No two search engines index the
web in exactly the same way, so it is important to try several before
abandoning your search. The main guidelines for conducting a
successful search are: (1) begin with a simple search and then
progressively narrow your search by adding additional terms; (2) enter
your rarest and most important search terms before more common words;
(3) use phrases or proper names, enclosing them in quotes if necessary;
(4) try alternative words or phrases that refer to the same topic; (5)
use the plus (+) sign to indicate words that must appear in each page
found; (6) click the Help or Search Tips or Advanced
Search link to learn about the special features of each search
engine. Below are just a few of the many search engines available
on the web.
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Google.
A good choice to begin with. Very large database and
sophisticated search engine. Allows you limit search to
particular domains and to view pages that are related or linked to a
given page. Does
a better job than most of indexing the SEC pages. Allows you to
search newsgroups as well as the web.
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AltaVista.
Another good choice. Has one of the largest databases and most
complete set of search commands. Also translates text into a
number of languages.
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Ask.com.
One of the newer search engines. It uses what it calls
"subject-specific-popularity" to rank sites based on the
number of same-subject pages that reference it, not just general
popularity, to determine a site's level of authority.
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HotBot
(Lycos).
Another leading search engine. Very large database and extensive
search commands. Allows
you to restrict your search to specific regions, domains, or to the most recently updated web
pages. Also allows you to refine your search by searching only
within the results of a previous round of searching.
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All
the Web. Produces relatively fast searches despite
having a very large database. Advanced search allows boolean
operators and filtering by language or domain.
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Excite.
Uses what's called "concept searching" by linking your
search terms with a database of synonyms and related concepts and
then searches automatically for those terms and concepts as
well. This may be a good or a bad thing depending on the
nature of your search.
Using Meta-Search Engines
With meta-search engines you enter your search terms and the
meta-engine processes the search through a number of different search
engines simultaneously. This can save you much time and effort,
but the downside is that you are limited to only the simplest search
commands that are handled by all search engines. The meta-engine
also returns only a limited number of hits from each search site, so
you may miss some hits that are further down on the list. Below are a
few of the popular meta-search engines.
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MetaCrawler.
One of the most flexible of the meta-search engines. Search the web
and newsgroups for either words or phrases. Allows you to
determine the search engines that are used, the country of origin or
type of sites to search, the amount of time to wait for results, the
number of results returned from each search site, and the manner
in which the results are to be sorted.
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CNET
Search.com.
Allows you to search any or all of nine basic search engines as
well as a large number of specialized databases.
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DogPile.
Allows you to select among 15 different search engines and to
set the order in which they are used.
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Mamma.
Conducts parallel search of seven major search engines.
Allows boolean operators and the ability to restrict search to
specific countries.
- MegaSpider.
Allows you to search up to 37 search engines at once, the largest
number of any meta-engine but probably more than is necessary for
most purposes.
Subject Catalogs
If you do not know exactly what you are looking for, but want to get
information on a general topic, consider using a subject catalog.
These catalogs allow you to begin with a general topic such as
"Business and Economy" and then narrow your topic to
"Finance and Investment" and then further to
"Banking" and so forth. AltaVista, Excite, Go,
and Yahoo! all maintain subject catalogs.
If you want to learn more about search strategies, read "How
to Search the World Wide Web: A Tutorial for Beginners and
Non-Experts," by David P. Habib and Robert L. Balliot.
Copyright © 2007 by Val Burris
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