St. Mary's University
Blume Library

Searching for Information by Subject on the World Wide Web

Table of Contents

  • Basic Steps
    		•
  • Citation Sources
    		•
  • Search Tips
    		•
  • Search Engine Tutorial
    		•
  • Search Engine Descriptions
    		•
  • Multiple Search Engines
    		•
  • Readings on Search Engines
    		•
  • Comparisons of Search Engines
    		•

    Steps:

    1. Define what you are seeking.

    2. Learn about and choose an appropriate database(s) or search engine.

    3. Learn about tips in searching the chosen database.

    4. Examine the results and determine relevancy.

    5. Once you find relevant information, save the information and where you located it. See Documenting Electronic Information.

    Note: Some addresses or sites may not be accessible at all times due to factors such as Internet traffic, mechanical breakdowns, or relocation or removal of information.

    Learning about appropriate databases (search engines)

    If you are trying to find information about a specific topic on the World Wide Web (WWW), search engines are the tools that can help you find that information. Search engines are databases that search World Wide Web sites by various access points--some search words in titles, in headings, in documents and some will rank results by relevancy according various criteria, such as how frequently and how prominently the term(s) searched appear in WWW documents.

    With most of the search engines, you type your search term(s) in the box or on the line provided, highlight "search" or "submit search," and the engine will search for all occurrences of the search term(s) and retrieve a list of sites that contain the term(s). Some of the services will include an extract or annotation of that portion of the Web site that contains the search term(s). The use of upper and lower case letters and certain punctuation marks can influence the results you retrieve with many of the search engines.

    Search Tips

    Everyone has their favorite search engine(s). I like to start with a multiple or meta-search engine, because it searches several search engines simultaneously. I also prefer engines that provide relevancy ranking, because the items that should be about the topic searched, should appear near the top of the list.

    I frequently start with Metacrawler (http://www.go2net.com/search.html/) because it simultaneously searches popular search engines: Altavista, Excite, InfoSeek, OpenText, Yahoo!, WebCrawler. It also provides relevancy ranking, so that the items that pertain most closely to what I'm seeking often appear near the top of the list.

    With many of the search engines, capitalization and punctuation are important.

    HOTAn excellent site that describes the search process on the Web, and various feature and tips about searching the Web is the Finding Information tutorial (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html) from the University of California, Berkeley.

    Selected WWW Search Engine sites

    Multiple Search Engines

    The following databases search multiple search engines. The advantage of using meta-search engines such as these is that one can search a number of databases at once. The disadvantage is that these sites may be slower in retrieving results. Also not all databases searched may use the same search protocols, and therefore one may not retrieve as the same hits as if one had searched each database separately.

    More information about search engines and search tips

    Comparison studies of search engines

    The following articles compare features such as the database design, precision or relevancy of items retrieved, order of items retrieved, retrieval time, and interface design of various search engines:

    updated June 10, 1998 by Diane M. Duesterhoeft (dduesterhoeft@stmarytx.edu).
    The URL for this page is http://library.stmarytx.edu/acadlib/subject/misc/searengi.htm