Searching the Internet - tips | search engines | activity | examples
by John Elfrank-Dana, Dept. of Social Studies, Murry Bergtraum High School

Below are listed educational search engines that are appropriate for the kind of work you will be doing in class.  Each one functions a little differently, but you can be more effective when keeping these rules in mind:

Search Tips

1. Keep your search query as specific as possible.  For example, when looking for information on President Lincoln be sure to put "President Lincoln" in the keyword box, not just "Lincoln" or "Abraham Lincoln."  These last two examples will bring up the Lincoln High Schools and/or Motels.  The term President qualifies the name "Lincoln."

2. Use operators. There are two that are most useful, the "+" and the "-" signs. 

The "+" tells the search engine to add a word to the search. 
For example: "President Lincoln +Gettysburg Address" will get you links for President Lincoln's famous speech up front.  This way you won't have to wade through a bunch of general sites on Lincoln.

The "-" tells the search engine to leave out links (hits) with a certain word or words. 
For example: "President Lincoln -Civil War" will get your links that do not contain "Civil War" in their description.

Search Engines

About
Ask Jeeves
Google
 Searchopolis
 Yahooligans

For more powerful search engines:

All The Web
Alta Vista

Note that these are adult search engines and need to be viewed keeping in mind that the reading level of some of the content may be over your head.  Also, keep in mind that it may bring up adult material not suitable for your project.  Be sure to read the description of the site before clicking on its link.

Activity:

1. Think of a topic you will cover in your class.  
2. Choose one of the search engines above.
3. Type in the topic as a key word and submit your search request.
4. Note the type of responses you got (how many?, how general?)
5. Qualify the topic with a term like we did in tips above. Use the + sign to add a qualifier term.  Note your results.
6. Qualify the topic again except use the - sign.  Note the results.

 

Share your findings here:

The results will be posted on this web site for the benefit of others.  If you want to remain anonymous, don't fill in the name field. 

Name:
Student ID (required)
Findings: including topic, qualifiers used,
first three hits found.


 

View Examples of Student Searches (coming soon)

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Date page last edited: 01/27/2005