Internet Searching - I

Searching on the Internet can be a long and arduous process as there is an infinite amount of information available on the web. Have you ever tried to search a specific topic, only to have a search engine pull up +1,670,573 pages in response to your search? Even better, none of the pages seem to be what you are looking for? It happens to the best of us! Through this workshop, you will learn how to effectively search the Internet for any given topic.

By the end of this activity, you will have learned:

  • what a search engine is and how it works
  • what makes search engines different (i.e. why does Yahoo.com display results differently from Google.com?)
  • how to effectively narrow a search down to what you are specifically looking for
  • how to bookmark a web page and come back to the page at a later time

Agenda/Directions:

Discussion: What is a search engine? What have been your experiences/frustrations when searching the Internet?

Introduction to two main types of searches on the Internet:

Differences between Search Directories and Search Engines

Narrowing a search using boolean comands

  • saturn example

Remarks on additional searching tips and strategies

  • use of capitalization and plurality

Case studies on searching the Internet

Link: W hich search engine is the best?