Search Engines

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Search Engines
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What is a Search Engine?

• Software programs that search the Internet for a
  topic, catalogs the results, and displays the
  sites found.
• Also called Spiders or Web crawlers
• Save time in researching by displaying
  descriptions to be read before visiting sites
  found.

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Types of Engines

• Subject-and-Keyword build their own catalogs by
  gathering and organizing it from other sites
  prior to being asked for a specific search string.

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Types of Engines

• Multi-threaded engines are slower search
  engines because they dont maintain their own
  catalog. They search specific strings only when
  asked.

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Catalogs

• Hierarchical Goes faster because a person is
  able to narrow their search by categories prior
  to asking a search engine to find a specific
  search string.
• Subject looks for the word but may bring up
  other topics

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Text String

• Words or phrases used to narrow a search area

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Searches

• Simple Search uses only one or two keywords
  (broadest kind)
• Complex Search uses Boolean operators (AND, OR,
  NOT, etc.) and grouping operators (double quotes,
  parentheses) (contains several words and also
  operators to modify the text string)

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Error Messages

• Site may be busy or temporarily down
• Either server or site may no longer exist
• Server unavailable at this time
• Server not found
• Unable to find a file

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What to Do

• Check for typographical mistakes
• Check for proper capitalization of proper nouns
• Check the spelling of keywords
• Try spelling variations of keywords
• Try a different search site