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Web
Searching Tips
Use
the Online Resources
by Subject section of the library website.
Use
a Search Engine. There are links to some of the best Search
Engines through the Library's homepage.
Here is a chart of some of the most significant search
engines and their search protocols.
This is a supplement to the Help screens. ALWAYS
BE CERTAIN TO CHECK FOR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS--this is
statistically the primary cause of failed searches.
Search
Engine |
Phrase
Searching |
Boolean
Operators |
Truncation |
Case
Sensitivity |
Segment
/Domain Searching |
Image
Searching |
Google
General
Web Search
|
quotation
marks |
Assumed
and
OR,
+, - |
not
supported |
insensitive |
in
Advanced Search |
in
Advanced Search |
Yahoo!
Browse
by category |
quotation
marks |
AND,
OR, NOT
+,
- |
Use
* |
Upper
Case retrieves exact match |
Yes
t:
=title search;
u:=url
search |
yes
u:gif or u:jpg |
Fast
General
Web Search |
drop
down box or quotation marks |
+,
-
(parens
= or) |
not
supported |
insensitive |
Advanced
Search |
not
easy...use hotbot |
HotBot
General
and Multi-media Searching |
drop
down box |
AND,
OR, NOT
advanced
search: word filter |
advanced
search: word stemming |
None |
advanced
search: location domain |
advanced
search: pages must include |
AltaVista
General
-old standby |
quotation
marks |
AND,
OR, AND NOT, +, - |
Use
* |
Upper
Case retrieves exact match |
Yes
example:
url:edu |
yes
image:trees |
Deja
News
For
searching newsgroups |
quotation
marks |
Assumed
And
&=and;
|=or; &!=and not; ^=within 5 words |
Use
* |
insensitive |
~a
=author; ~s=subject; ~g=newsgroup; ~dc=date created |
No |
Definitions
- Segment: The ability to search by information that is located
in a particular part of the webpage. Some common segments
are: URL (such as url:gif or url:microsoft.com), title,
host, link, domain. Different search engines let you
search different segments. Check your Help screens.
- Host: The computer that the information is stored on. Host:american.library.edu
gives everything on the library webserver.
- Domain: Search by type of organization or country code. Common
domains include: .edu, .com., .org, .gov, .net, .uk
- By
Link Referrals: An ability to search
all of the pages that have linked to a particular
page
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