Web serachning tools & techniques

Electronic Searching Tools
for Information Access
by

K.T.S.Pushpakumara
Senior Assistant Librarian & Visiting Lecturer
Faculty of Medicine
University of Ruhuna
Galle
Sri lanka
sanathka@lib.ruh.ac.lk

Outline
•
•
•
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Electronic searching tools
Web searching techniques
OA scholarly Databases
Exercises

26/10/2010

• “Information is a source of learning
but unless it is organized,
processed, and available to the
right people in a format for
decision making, it is a burden, not
a benefit.”
-Willion Pollard-

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Information Literacy…….
“ Information literacy enables
individuals to recognize when
information is needed and gives
them the ability to locate,
evaluate, and use effectively the
needed information”
- American Library Association

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IL Helps Students to Improve Their
Research Skills

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“If you give a man a fish
He will have a single meal
If you teach him how to fish
He will eat all his life”
(A Chinese proverb)

The Changing Research Environment
Information Overload and Data Smog

Electronic Searching Tools
• Search Engines
• Specialized Electronic databases
(Invisible or Deep Web)
• Web directories
•General directories
•Subject directories
• Subject gateways

What is a search engine?

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Definition:
A search engine is a searchable
database of Internet files collected by a
computer program (called a crawler,
robot, worm, spider). Indexing is created
from the collected files, e.g., title, full text,
size, URL, etc. There is no selection criteria
for the collection of files, though
evaluation can be applied to ranking
schemes that return the results of a query.

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1. Individual search engines
An individual engine uses a spider to collect its own searchable
index. There are two types of individual search engines.

a. General Search Engines
Ex: Google, AltaVista, HotBot, Cycos

b. Subject Specific search engines
Ex: MetaPhys, Chritech, Religon Explorer

2. Meta Search Engine
A meta engine search multiple individual engines simultaneously.
Ex: metacrawler, lxquick, mamma
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What are some search engines?

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Search Engines
Aeroseek
AltaVista
Argus Clearinghouse
AskJeeves
Aviation Search Engine
Beaucoup
Bing
Debriefing
Dog Pile
Einet Galaxy
Excite
FinderSeeker
Galore

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Google
GoTo
Highway61
HotBot
Inference
InfoSeek
Internet Sleuth
Librarians' Index
Ixquick
Look Smart
Lycos
Magellan
Mamma

MetaCrawler
Metafind
MetaGopher
Northern Lights
Opentext
Profusion
SavvySearch
SCIway
Search Spaniel
Starting Point
Verio Metasearch
WebCrawler
Yahoo
Scirus

• Google scholar(scholar.google.com)
• Yahoo( www.yahoo.com)
• Lycos(www.lycos.com)
• Excite( www.excite.com)
• Hotbot(www.hotbot.com)
• Altavista(www.altavista.com)
• Mamma(www.mamma.com)
• Google (www.google.com)
• Bing ( www.bing.com)

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Search Engine
Good For:
Precision searches, using named people or
organisations, searching quickly and widely,
topics which are hard to classify

Not Good For:
Browsing through a subject area

URL:

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http://www.alltheweb.com
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URL: http://www.lycos.com
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URL:
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http:// www.looksmart.com
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URL:
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http://www.mamma.com/

Exercise 1
Searching ppt
• http://www.slideshare.net
• Google Advanced search

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Electronic databases

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What is a database
A database is any organized collection
of data.
Some examples of databases you may encounter in your daily life are:

–
–
–
–
–
–

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a telephone book
T.V. Guide
airline reservation system
motor vehicle registration records
papers in your filing cabinet
files on your computer hard drive.

Electronic DataBase
Database is computerized record
keeping system. The important thing is
that a database allows storing data
and getting it or modifying.

There are tow type of databases–

• Analytical Databases
• Operational Databases

Analytical Databases
Analytical Databases are
primarily static, read only
databases , which store
archived, historical data used
for analysis.

Operational Databases
Operational databases
allow to modify that data.
These types of databases
are usually used to track
real-time information.

Database cont…..
• A database consists of organized pieces
of information. These pieces of
information are placed into records.
• The electronic databases contain
magazine and periodical articles, as well
as other types of information.

Database cont……
• There are many, many
different types of electronic
databases in the world
today, including;
–
–
–
–
–

full-text databases,
bibliographic databases,
statistical databases,
image databases,
and others.

Why are electronic
databases useful?
• Using electronic databases
is a very valuable way to
conduct research.
• Before the advent of
electronic databases,
research was even more
time-consuming and
tedious.

What is a Specialised Database

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Specialised Databases
• Also known as the “invisible web” or
Deep Web
• Materials that general search engines
cannot or WILL not include in their
collection of web pages (indexes)

• You cannot find through general
search engines
• Contains a vast amount of information
– much of it authoritative, qualitative
– much of it specialized

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Specialised Databases
Good For:
Gathering specific kinds of data
Not Good For:
Browsing through a subject area

Examples
Open Access Scholarly Databases

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Open Access Scholarly
Databases
• EThOS-Beta
EThOs is an electronic thesis online service
from British Library. It provides over 250,000
theses to download freely.

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EThOS-Beta

URL: http://ethos.bl.uk/Home.do
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•Directory of Open Access
Journals(DOAJ)
A service that covers free full text quality
controlled scientific and scholarly journals.
Currently there are 3940 journals in the
directory.

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DOAJ

URL: http://www.doaj.org
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• Programme for the Enhancement of
Research Information (PERI)
• Led by INASP
• Over 17,000 full-text journals in all
disciplines from major publishers
(countries select resources)
• 100+ eligible countries
• National level licenses

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PERI

URL:

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http://www.inasp.info/

• DIGITAL BOOK INDEX
 Digital book index provides links to
more than 148000 full-text digital
books from commercial publishers,
universities and various private sites.
 More than 120,000 of these books, text
and document are available in free
while many others are available at
very modest cost.

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DIGITAL BOOK INDEX

http://www.digitalbookindex.org/_search/search011t-rev.asp
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What is a subject directory?
Definition:
A subject directory is a service
that offers a collection of links to
Internet resources submitted by
site creators or evaluators and
organized
into
subject
categories. Directory services
use
selection
criteria
for
choosing links to include, though
the selectivity varies among
services. Most directories are
searchable.

Directories
• What is a Directory?
– A file used to organize internet resources into
categories.
– Types of Directories
• General– Cover many subjects
– Ex: Yahoo

• Subject Directories.
– Cover specific subjects

Subjects Gateways

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What is a Subject gateway
A subject gateway can be
defined as some facility that
allows easier access to
network-based resources in a
defined subject area
o The simple types of subject
gateways are sets of web pages
containing lists of links to
resource.
• The aim is to help users to locate
relevant and high quality
resources on the Internet

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• carefully selected by
human experts
•abstract describing
•good subject access
•tools for finding Internet
resources
•especially resources which
are
-good quality
-serious, professional,
academic

What is a Subject Gateway
o

Subject gateways are also known as
Subject-based information gateways
Subject- based gateways
Subject index gateways
Virtual libraries
Subject trees
Web portals

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What’s the difference between
a Subject Gateway
and
a Search Engine?

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Subject Gateways
Good For:

Topics that fall into a thematic area that has
a subject directory, guided browsing in your
subject area
Not Good For:
Quickly finding information from widely
varying themes

An important Information Gateway

URL: www.hw.ac.uk/libWWW/irn/pinakes/pinakes.html
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An Useful Subject Gateway

URL:http://infomine.ucr.edu/
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Powerful Subject Gateway for Information

URL: http://www.vlib.org.uk
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Search techniques
 Several techniques for database,
catalog and Internet searches include:

•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Guessing URL
Phrase searching
Truncation
Wildcard
Field searching
Setting Limits
Boolean ( AND,OR,NOT)

1. Guessing URL
( Uniform Resource Locator)

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Anatomy of URL
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/services/reference/fag.html

Web page (document)
Protocol

World Wide Web

Sub folder

Domain Name
Directory/Folder

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• http://
• www. --

Short for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. This indicates a
hypertext document or directory
This indicates on the World Wide Web. ( Some times “www” is missing)

• lib.utexas.edu/ --

Called the domain name. It often tells you the
name of a company, university or organization.

• www.lib.utexas.edu-- together, these indicate the web server name
• services/--

This is directory or folder on the web server that
contains a group of related web pages within the website.

• reference/-- This is sub directory or sub folder
• fag.html– This is a web page inside the folder(the same file can be
named as start.html)

Note that: A URL does not always indicate the name of the web page.

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Top level domain by type of organization are;

•
•
•
•
•
•

edu:
com:
gov:
mil:
net:
org:

• ac:

Educational institutes
Commercial business or for profit organization
U.S. government organization

U.S. military organizations
Networking organizations
Nonprofit organizations

academic institues

Top level domains by geographical location include;
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

ar:
au:
ca:
uk:
lk:
In:
bd:

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Argentina
Australia
Canada
United Kingdom
Sri Lanka
India
Bangladesh
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• BBC ( www.bbc.com)
• Library of Congress (www.loc.gov)
• Harvard university(www.harvard.edu)
• University of Ruhuna (www.ruh.ac.lk)
 CNN
 NASA
 Yale University
 Open University of Sri Lanka
 Library of University of Ruhuna
 University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka
 University Grants Commission of India
 Open University of Bangladesh
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2. Phrase Searching
o Using quotation marks (“ ”) makes it possible
to search for important phrases instead of
individual keywords.
o Enclose the phrase in “…” or (…)
o Phrase: “world health organization”
o As Keywords: world and health and Earthquake

o Phrase: “Welfare Reform”
o As Keywords: Welfare and Reform
Instead of
American English

Try

“American English” or (American English)

3. Truncation searching
–Use the root of a word to
broaden your search responses
–allow you to search alternative
spellings

Type of truncations
1.Right hand truncation
Ex:

vote
votes
voting
voter
voters
vot*
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oUsing the root Psycholog* will result in
the following;
o Psychology
o Psychological
o Psychologist

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 Ex:
 child*
will find Child OR Childs OR Children
 parasite*
will find parasite OR parasites

 manage*
will find manager, managers,
management, managerial etc.

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2. Left hand truncation
Ex:
vinylchloride
polyvinylchloride
methylenechloride
potassiumchloride
sodiumchloride
lithiumchloride
chloride

*
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3. Middle truncation
Information Communication Technology
In formation Processing Technology
Information Systems Technology

Information*technology

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4. Wildcard searching
Wildcard symbols replace a single letter, so can be used
to find terms with different spellings.

• Alternate spellings: ?

Examples:
If you want both woman and women
Try wom?n
 wom?n would search for “woman” and
“women”
Organi?ation would search for “Organization”
and “Organisation”

5. Field Searching
– title, author, subject, keyword,
all fields, etc.

6. Setting Limits
– language, date, region, file
format
( Use Advanced search options if
the search engine provides)
Ex:

www.google.com

7. Boolean Search
Boolean search techniques work in databases
and on the Internet. Use keywords in a variety
of ways to refine your search. A and B stand
for key words or phrases.
The words “AND,” “OR” and “NOT” are called
logical operators.

Boolean Search
AND:
When you use “AND”
between two terms, your results
will include sources that show the
two terms together in a source.
OR: Use “OR” to broaden your
search by looking for several
terms in a source whether they
appear together or not.
NOT: Allows you to reduce the
number of results you get from a
search. This can be helpful if you
want to exclude results related to
your topic but not relevant to
your problems.

AND Operator

(to combine two concepts and narrow a search)

the AND operator is used to combine two
concepts e.g. “hip” AND “fracture” – in the
shaded area; retrieves items containing all
the search terms

Africa AND (malaria OR tuberculosis)

malaria

tuberculosis

africa

Africa AND (malaria or tuberculosis) – in the shaded area
The (OR) operator retains items in each term and the AND
operator is used to combine two concepts

OR Operator

(info containing one or other term; will broaden a search)

“renal” OR “kidney” – in the shaded area with the
overlap in the middle having both search terms;
retrieves items containing either search term or
both search terms

NOT Operator
(in one term or the other - will narrow a search)

“pig” NOT “guinea” – in the shaded area;
eliminates items in 2nd term (guinea) or both
terms

Search Strategy
Putting it together

organi?ation* AND (change OR development)
AND
(health service OR health authorit* OR NHS
OR National Health Service)
AND
(middle manage*)

Search Strategy
AND
We can find both
spellings of organization
this way…

AND
(middle manage*)

Search Strategy
AND
AND
…and we use AND to combine
the different concepts so
that all of these have to be
in the article…

(middle manage*)

Search Strategy
AND
AND
…we use OR to combine
alternatives for the same
concept so that any of these
can be in the article…

(middle manage*)

Search Strategy
AND
AND
…brackets help to separate
the parts of the search to
make sure it is clear.

(middle manage*)

(Dispos* OR Dump* OR Clean* OR
Recycle*)
AND
(“Hazardous waste” OR “Toxic waste”
OR “Industrial waste”)
AND
(Canad* OR Quebec OR “North
America”)
NOT
Radiactive

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1

Putting it together
(Popular OR Common OR Favorite)
AND
(Method* OR Way* OR Technique*)
AND
(Los* OR Reduce*)
AND
(Weight OR Fat OR Diet*)
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11
2

Search Strategy
It may look really complicated, but
it is actually quite easy once you
get the hang of it…
…and it will save you having to look
through lots of irrelevant articles.

To prepare Search Strategy;
•Use keywords, not sentences
•List your keywords in order of priority
•Don’t use plurals

•Avoid “stop” words (words that many search
engines do not search for: a, an, and, as, be, by,
from, how, I, the, to, we, when, where, with, etc.)

Searching techniques
• To find FEWER results,
– Search in specific fields (title,
abstract, subject, keywords, etc.)
– Add or change search limits (date,
language, etc.)
– Add more search terms (using
AND)
– Use phrase searching instead of
AND
– Use specific subject headings
instead of common language
words
– Decrease search terms connected
with OR

• To find MORE results,
– Use truncation or wildcard
characters (* or ?)
– Include more synonyms (using OR)
– Search “all fields” rather than in
specific fields
– Remove search limits (e.g. date,
language, etc.)
– Use AND instead of phrase
searching
– Use broader subject headings

Basic Searching Techniques
• To find more RELEVANT results,
– Use NOT to exclude unwanted terms
– Search specific fields (title, abstract,
subject/descriptor, etc.)
– Use AND instead of OR

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If you received no results at all
DON’T WORRY!
 Check your search strategy again
and
 Change the search engine you used.

Images strategy
•
•

AltaVista – choose the “Image” tab
Google Images
Search engine search with
description of image and (.jpg or .gif
or .bmp, etc.)

images

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images

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Popular vs. Scholarly Sources
Popular:

Scholarly:

For general readers
 Glossy, colourful
 No abstracts
 No references
 Not peer reviewed

 For academic readers
 Complex vocabulary
 Have abstracts
 Have references
 Articles peer reviewed

Examples:
National Geographic
New Scientist

Examples:
JAMA
NEJM

26/10/2010

Exercise
on

1.

Female engineering professionals with
specialization in electrical of
Sri Lanka.

Answer:
(female OR wom?n) AND engineeringAND
(professional OR expert) AND
(Speciali?ation OR interest) AND electrical
AND Sri Lanka

2.
Water pollution or soil erosion in
Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Answer:
[(Water AND pollution) OR (soil AND
erosion)] AND (Pakistan OR Sri Lanka)

3.
The effect of media violence on children

Answer:
(effect OR result OR impact) AND (media
OR television OR radio OR newspaper)
AND “violence” AND (child* OR teen*)

4.

Development of a system to
study the motors efficiency and
reduce kWh usage

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Answer
(Development OR growth) AND
(system OR structure) AND motor*
AND (efficiency OR effectiveness)
AND reduce AND (kWh OR energy)
AND usage

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5.

Stress monitoring of civil engineers
during work and leisure time.

6.
Leadership and management skills of
engineering professionals in Sri Lanka

7.
Job satisfaction of engineers of Sri Lanka

8.
The brain drain of engineers

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9.
Solar thermal energy for Sri Lanka

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10.
Electrical conductivity of silver metavandate

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11.
A quantitative study of the direct use
of kerosene for lighting in Sri Lankan
household

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12.
Information technology development
in Sri Lanka

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13.
use atomic energy for the generation
of electric power in Sri Lanka

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14.
Energy resources in Sri Lanka and
supply options for the future

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15.
A study on transformer losses and to
reduce energy loss

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Thank you
If you wish to do something for the community,
build a road
If you wish to do something better for the
community, build a bridge

-Chinese Proverb
Libraries build roads to information
and
bridges to knowledge
26/10/2010

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