USING SEARCH ENGINES

Making use of a search engine to look for information on the Internet will very often make your search easier and more successful. All search engines are not created equal. Here are the search engines recommended by the Oakton librarians:

• alltheweb
• AltaVista
• Dogpile
• ez2find
• Google
• Excite
• Hotbot
• Lycos
• Profusion
• Teoma
• Vivismo
• Yahoo

Now, how about some tips for making effective use of these search engines. Here are eight suggestions Beverly Drick (Professor, Oakton Library Services) pulled out of Elizabeth P. Crowe's article "Search the Web in Style: Seek Right and You Shall Find."

1. Pick your search site. That is, get to know the different search engines and what each one does, or does best. We do the same thing with books, looking first in the quotation book or dictionary or encyclopedia with which we have had the best luck in the past.
2. Learn to use the site. All sites have search boxes, but they don't all work the same. Read the directions before jumping in and then follow those directions for the best results. Or, alternatively, read the directions when all else fails.
3. Choose your words carefully. Start with the best word or phrase to describe your subject; consider alternative words or phrases.
4. Use alternative spellings when appropriate. For example e-mail and email.
5. Widen your search by using the connector "or." If you ask for "Clinton or Dole," you will get results citing just Clinton, results for just Dole, and results that include references to both men.
6. But maybe you have far too many results. You can use "and" to narrow your search. If you ask for "Clinton and Dole," you will get results only for references that include both men. You can also use the connector "not." If you ask for "Clinton not Dole," you will get only references to Clinton that do not include also a reference to Dole. Use of "or," "and," and "not" in combining terms is referred as using Boolean searching.
7. Don't give up after one search. Try different terms, different combinations of terms, or a different search engine. Librarians all know that there's a certain amount of creativity involved in doing reference work and that the best results come when you can stay open and flexible and are able to try different approaches.
8. Save a record of your search. If you needed the information once, you may need something very similar another time. Don't expect to remember what you did three weeks ago.

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