|
 What
are they? A search engine is an Internet tool (NOT a human) that
sends out a spider or Webcrawler that searches for keywords
and gives you a list of pages where the keywords were found. A spider
or a Webcrawler is a program that automatically fetches Web pages that
contain the word or words you typed in the search box.
If
you were in the "House of Candy," a search engine would
be like a robot that you send out through the entire building to
search for your favorite candy bar. Since the robot cannot think like
you do, it will only do what you tell it to do.
Characteristics
of a search engine:
- require you to do some planning and
thinking before using
- can
be time-consuming, if you haven’t
planned well
- work best for specific information
- can give you too many sites, some of
which are undesirable
- are keyword searchable
|
What
are they? Subject directories are lists of sites, selected by humans
and placed into different categories. Spiders or Webcrawlers are used
to collect the sites, but humans sort through the sites and select
the best ones for each category.
Let’s
compare subject directories to the "House of Candy." Ms.
Barz would be the expert who goes through the building selecting and
grouping the candy for you. For example, she would put the lollipops
and jaw breakers in the Hard Candy category, but salt water taffy and
caramels would go in the Chewy Candy category. Get the idea?
Characteristics of a subject directory:
- show fixed terms that are selected
for you from within different categories
- can save you time because they focus
on relevant topics
- may work best if you need more general
information or if you do not know where to begin
- could get better results since they
are created by humans
- work from a series of menus, but sometimes
allow you to do keyword searches
|
| Let’s
link to www.Google.com
to see an example of a search engine and to do a very simple and
very broad keyword search on bikes.
Hey, just type the word bikes into
the search box and then click on the Google Search button. (The "I’m Feeling Lucky" button will link you straight to the
single best Web site on your topic. Try it, too!) |
Let’s
link to www.yahookids.com
to see an example of a subject directory. Don’t type in the search
box this time. Instead, click on the category for "Sports
and Recreation." On the next page that loads, click on
"Cycling." Have fun browsing
for bike information! |
|
Well,
what did you think? Did you want to be more specific and type in "stunt bikes" instead of bikes?
Did you want to look up prices on bikes? Did you look for pictures of
bikes? Good! That means you’re ready to learn how to do more advanced
searches.
Today and in the weeks ahead, you will
learn more stupendous searching secrets!
Close
this Window
|