Using Search Engines and Web Directories

A presentation by Christopher Essex, ABD
Instructional Consulting Office
Indiana University

The worldwide web is almost unbelievably vast and growing every day. The Web consists of approximately 2.5 billion documents, with a rate of growth of 7.3 million pages per day [1]. To find anything on the web would be nearly impossible without the availability of search engines and web directories. Search engines are computers with huge online databases of information about web pages. Search engines allow you to type in a term and see what pages mention it. Web directories provide a hierarchical, categorized list of website content. Most search engine sites also provide web directories. I assume you're familiar with the search engine and web directory at http://www.yahoo.com, but have you used any other sites? Try these out:

	http://www.altavista.com
	http://www.lycos.com
	http://www.hotbot.com
	http://www.alltheweb.com

The major Internet Service Providers also have search engines:

	http://search.aol.com/
	http://search.msn.com/

http://www.askjeeves.com allows you to phrase your query as a question, just as you would if you asked a reference librarian.

There's also a new search engine in town that has been getting rave reviews, due to its leading-edge search engine technology:

http://www.google.com

Give it a try!

Check out http://www.ixquick.com --my colleagues and I have used this metasearch engine (like Sherlock (a program for the Mac) below, it searches multiple search engines at the same time). Other metasearch engines are http://www.dogpile.com and http://www.mamma.com.

Wisenut (http://www.wisenut.com) has a neat feature: 'Sneak-A-Peek' allows you to preview webpages without leaving your search response page. (At least with some browsers).

There's a search engine just for kids at:
http://www.yahooligans.com

Some search engines specialize in the sites of one or two specific countries:
http://uk.yahoo.com
http://www.webwombat.com.au

If you have a Mac, System 8.6 or newer, I hope you're using Sherlock 2, which allows you to search multiple search engines at the same time. Read about it at:
http://www.apple.com/sherlock/

There are even search engines devoted to searching for online media of various sorts:
http://images.google.com
http://www.ditto.com

And USENET newsgroup postings all the way back to 1981 are also archived and searchable at Google:
http://groups.google.com

InvisibleWeb is a portal to databases that normally do not show up in search engine searches:
http://www.invisibleweb.com

What about webpages that don't come up anymore? You might resuscitate them by using http://www.google.com's Cached feature Or you can view the web as it used to be by visiting the Wayback Machine at: http://www.archive.org. They have special collections, such as pages from the1996 election or pages from 9/11.

Curious about what other people are searching for? Check out: http://searchenginewatch.com/facts/searches.html

Also, if you're interested in learning more about how search engines work, check out:
http://websearch.about.com
http://searchengineshowdown.com
http://www.searchenginewatch.com
http://www.searchengines.com (great overall resource for search engines)

Think:

Try out these search engines and think about your experiences using them, both good and bad. Which were the most helpful for your needs? Think about how your students could use them, and suggest ways to integrate use of search engines into your curriculum.

5-Minute Activity:

Use any of the search engines above to look up the terms "geology" and "education." Bookmark two good sites that you find.

Search Strategies:

Here are two excellent guides related to Internet search strategies:
http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/bones.html
http://www.rice.edu/Fondren/Netguides/strategies.html

Highlights:
Basic Search Tips: http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/lesson7.html
Boolean Searches: http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/lesson8.html

Dealing with Broken Links,/Inappropriate Sites

Try: http://www.usgs.gov/education/learnweb/caves/reas.htm

http://www.google.com (Search for "project underground" then add "geology")

Criteria for Web Page Evaluation:

At this point, we will discuss criteria for website evaluation. You can view the Powepoint presentation on this page.

30-Minute Activity:

Use some of the keywords below and find 3 to 5 sites that you feel are educational and interesting. Submit your favorites on this page.
Keywords: Geologic time, sedimentary rocks, limestones, depositional environments, depositional processes, carbonate sedimentation, invertebrate paleontology, paleoecology, Paleozoic sedimentary section, carbonate rocks, stratigraphy, caves, karst, diagenesis, sinkholes, cavern formations.

WebQuests

What are WebQuests?
"A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation." [2]

Check out these secondary science WebQuests:

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/matrix/9-12-Sci.htm

Now, onto the Student-Created Websites page.