Searching+the+WEB+Tips

What is a Search Engine?
 --A program which acts as a card catalog for the Internet. Search engines attempt to index and locate desired information by searching for keywords in websitess. These lists are created by Web programs, with insect names like bots, spiders, crawlers, and worms. From a Net surfer point-of-view search engines can be quite tiresome and not very efficient if you don't know how to use them correctly. On top of that, different engines are good for different kinds of searches so it's a good idea before using a search engine to READ THE ADVANCED SEARCH SECTION of the engine's Web site. > >
 * [|Alta Vista]
 * [|Google]
 * [|All the Web]
 * [|Excite]
 * [|Hotbot]
 * [|Lycos]
 * [|Teoma]

--A search engine that displays results from multiple search engines. [][|http://seekky.com] [|www.9meta.com] [|www.dogpile.com] [|www.ixquick.com] >
 * [|Ask Jeeves]
 * [|Dogpile]
 * [|EZ2find]
 * [|Mamma]
 * [|MetaCrawler]
 * [|SurfWax]
 * [|Vivisimo]
 * [|WebCrawler]
 * [|Wisenut]
 * [|Zapmeta]

An index of web pages, compiled by people and organized more by topic or theme.

 * [|Yahooligans.com]
 * [|Quinturakids.com]
 * [|directory.google]
 * [|About.com]
 * [|Looksmart.com]
 * [|Virtuallrc.com]
 * [|Galaxy]
 * [|Go.com]
 * [|Librarian's Index]
 * [|Open Directory Project]
 * [|Yahoo]

** Kid Safe Search Engines ** || Ask for Kids - Just type in a question and click Ask! Actually a word or two works just as well as a whole question. || Kids Click: A web guide and search tool for kids put together by librarians. Fifteen major categories each with several subcategories, this site has a look similar to Yahoo. || ithaki.net - a powerful internet metasearch engine developed for kids (age group targeted, kids above 10) ||
 * CyberSleuth Kids - an Internet guide for K-12 kids (warn your students about the ads) ||
 * Kids.Net - Search Engine Just for kids & children - Searching safe & clean sites. ||
 * Kids' Search Tools - Search here for words, information or web sites with this all-inclusive page that includes a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedias, kid safe search engines and more. ||
 * Quintura Kids - a clustering search engine for Kids ||
 * Super Kids - Super Cool Guide to Finding Stuff on the Web ||

Basic Math Can Help With Your Web Search
[|from about.com]

Search Engine Math - Just Part of a Web Search Strategy

 * Be as specific as humanly possible.**

**__The minus symbol:__**
 * **Superman -Krypton**

**__The plus symbol:__**
 * **football+nfl**

**__Phrase search:__**

Guidelines for better search (taken from google help)
> [|100 Search Engines]
 * **Keep it simple.** If you're looking for a particular company, just enter its name, or as much of its name as you can recall. If you're looking for a particular concept, place, or product, start with its name. If you're looking for a pizza restaurant, just enter pizza and the name of your town or your zip code. Most queries do not require advanced operators or unusual syntax. Simple is good.
 * **Think how the page you are looking for will be written.** A search engine is not a human, it is a program that matches the words you give to pages on the web. **Use the words that are most likely to appear on the page.** For example, instead of saying [ my head hurts  ], say [  headache  ], because that's the term a medical page will use. The query [  in what country are bats considered an omen of good luck?  ] is very clear to a person, but the document that gives the answer may not have those words. Instead, use the query [ bats are considered good luck in ] or even just [  bats good luck  ], because that is probably what the right page will say.
 * **Describe what you need with as few terms as possible.** The goal of each word in a query is to focus it further. Since all words are used, each additional word limits the results. If you limit too much, you will miss a lot of useful information. The main advantage to starting with fewer keywords is that, if you don't get what you need, the results will likely give you a good indication of what additional words are needed to refine your results on the next search. For example, [ weather cancun  ] is a simple way to find the weather and it is likely to give better results than the longer [  weather report for cancun mexico  ].
 * **Choose descriptive words.** The more unique the word is the more likely you are to get relevant results. Words that are not very descriptive, like 'document,' 'website,' 'company,' or 'info,' are usually not needed. Keep in mind, however, that even if the word has the correct meaning but it is not the one most people use, it may not match the pages you need. For example, [ celebrity ringtones  ] is more descriptive and specific than [  celebrity sounds  ].

Do you need an answer quickly and don't want to search for it?:

 * [|Answers.com]****[|BrainBoost]****[|Factbites]****[|Ask Jeeves.]**

Do you need academic or research oriented results?:

 * [|Scirus]****[|Yahoo Reference]****[|National Geographic Map Machine]****[|MagPortal]****[|CompletePlanet]****[|FirstGov]****[|EducationWorld.]**

Do you need to find images, photos, clipart?:
**Do you need to find information at your reading level/just for kids?**
 * [|Picsearch]****[|Ditto]****[|Google]****[|Image Search Engines-Directories-Collections]****[|Clip Art-Buttons-Graphics- Icons-Images on the Web]**

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 * [|Ask Jeeves for Kids.] Features games, homework help, and more.
 * [|Yahooligans.] Yahooligans not only offers filtered search results, but entertainment, music, and movie news; as well as homework help.
 * [|Kids Search Tools.] From the Ramapo Catskill Library in New York State, this site helps you think of search words for a particular topic, find basic information, look at websites just for kids, and helps you search sites specifically for educators.