GETTING INFORMATION USING BROWSERS

1
GETTING INFORMATION USING BROWSERS
2
Web Browsers

• A piece of software that enables users to view
  information on the web
• (A piece of software that will inevitably display
  your web page in a form or color that you never
  intended.)
• Two most popular are Explorer and Firefox, but
  there are many more.

3
Searching

• Each web page has a unique global address called
  a URL Uniform Resource Locator
• http//www.uwosh.edu
• You can go a specific page by giving your browser
  the URL.
• You can use special software called a search
  engine to find information for you.

4
Techniques for Browsing

• Dont look past the first 20 to 30 hits.
• Will get what are called misses. The ratio of
  hits to misses is called noise.
• Be as specific with your key words as possible.
  Giving five to ten words is better than two.
• Enter keywords in lowercase unless they are a
  proper noun.
• Use And(), OR, And, Not(-)

5
Techniques for Browsing

• Put the most important terms first in your
  keywords
• Look at your browsers help menu
• Use to find an exact phrase
• Use an to find plurals of words
• Use both search engines and directories

6
Techniques continued

• Use specific people, names, or places.
• Try on searching the name of an organization that
  deals with the subject you are searching for.
  This is called attacking from the side.
• Use different Search Engines

7
More Techniques

• Use Meta Search Engines. These are search engines
  that combine many search engine sites. Two common
  ones are 37.com and Dog pile.
• Use clearinghouses these are a large collection
  of resources on a given topic. http//
  www.clearinghouse.net/
• Dont let not found stop you.

8
More Browser Ideas

• Use bookmarks for your favorite web site.
• Use CNTRL-F for FIND or Search
• On long pages CNTRL-END for end of page or
  CNTRL-HOME to go to the beginning of the page