WEB STRATEGIES

Web Search Strategies

Web Search Strategies are tried and tested ways to use search engines to find information on the web. The strategies demonstrate best ways to reduce useless results. They are guidelines for researching topics and utilizing the most creditable and appropriate resources available. Tactical skills used for the best retrieval of information are: knowing how search engines work, picking the right key words, using quotes and the minus sign, combining of strategies, use a variety of search tools, and evaluate research findings. Web search engines are designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. The search results are presented in a list called hits. The information may consist of images, information and other types of files. Search engines operate with a mixture of algorithmic and human input.
The very first tool used for searching on the Internet was Archie. The name stands for "archive" without the "v." Alan Emtage, a student at McGill University in, Montreal created it in 1990. Martijn Koster first announced in November 1993 his development of ALIWEB (Archie Like Indexing for the WEB) and it is considered the first Web search engine. ALIWEB was presented in May 1994 at the First International Conference on the World Wide Web in Geneva. ALIWEB preceded WebCrawler by several months.
Nearing the end of the 21st Century 1st decade, three web search engines have been launched in 2009 that are purportedly demonstrate features that are to improve World Wide Web information search. The search engine Bing was launched in May 2009 with notable changes. They include the listing of search suggestions in real time as queries are entered and a list of related searches based on semantic technology. Bing also includes the ability to save and share search history file. Yebol is a search engine developed as artificial human intelligence that automatically cluster and categorize search results, web sites, pages, and contents that it presents in a new innovative visually indexed format more aligned with initial human intent. It aims to eliminate the need for refined, secondary, or advanced search steps, as by Google and Yahoo. Mugurdy is a visual search engine that launched in July 2009. In addition to textual results of search queries it shows a screenshot of each webpage.
Diane Tinucci teaches Language Arts (AP Literature and Honors Freshman) half the school day ay Lafayette High School in Wildwood, Missouri in addition to helping teachers implement technology in their curricula. Ms. Tinucci has an acute understanding regarding Web site evaluation and the necessity to present information to the high school students. At one time or another they will be required to complete a research project. These student are technologically savvy but do not have a clue about the merits of thousands Internet searches hits. It has been seen over and over how student’s copy down lists of URLs to turn in as their projects’ source list. Their mind set is it was displayed on the monitor it must authentic and valid. Student Internet research users lack good judgment in picking and choosing sites on which to base research projects for the following reasons just to name a few: 1) lack of time, 2) lack of understanding of the difference between print and internet publishing, 3) lack of understanding of the need to screen sites, and 4) lack efficient and effective search skills. When she embarks on a Web evaluation education course to teach a CARS Checklist derived from and article, “Evaluating Internet Research Sources is the foundation. The checklist presents four simple criteria for evaluating the worth of Web sites. The acronym translates to:
C = credibility. Is the article trustworthy and authored by an expert?
A = accuracy. Is the article up-to-date, factual, and comprehensive?
R = reasonableness. Is the article fair and objective?
S = support. Does the research and example substantiate what is said?
To assist faculty and students even further she created a related lesson on Missouri’s SuccessLink Web site and created a Power Point presentation offering high points of the Web evaluation lesson, so teachers could present the material themselves.
http://eduscapes.com
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listwebsiteje.html.
http://4teachers.org/testimony/tinucci/index.shtml