Some Brief Notes about
information retrieval... 

Special Thanks to Steve Grant for
MLA Style Guides & Recommended Search Tools
sgrant@ljhs.sandi.net
 

For research for class-assigned research projects, it's recommended that you first search the PLHS Subscription Databases, since you will often get more usable, reliable information in a shorter amount of time there than you will searching the Wide World Web randomly.

Any time you use a Web page for information in a paper or presentation, be sure to note the address and the date you viewed or printed it, since this information must be cited in your bibliography or citation page. Also, if you are submitting a written work you should print at least one page of the site, since most teachers require that hardcopy of any Web page cited be turned in along with the paper or presentation. PLHS teachers have adopted the MLA Style of source documentation. See below for a link to a style guide for MLA citations.

For some topics (especially in-depth historical ones),the Web is notthe best information source, and you may waste hours looking at hundreds of Web sites only to discover that none of them contain any really useful information. Also be aware of the authority of information you find on the Web: What makes you think what this page says is true? Who wrote it? Why should you believe them? When was it created and last revised or updated?

MLA Style Guides

A Writer's Practical GuideTo MLA Documentation

This site provides comprehensive, clear, up-to-date guide from Capitol Community College. Covers all kinds of print and online sources, includes inline/parenthetical citations, and matches latest official MLA style for online sources. This will serve you all the way through college.

NoodleBib

Interactive bibliography producer: prompts you for the citation information, and creates a complete bibliography you can save on your home computer (or in your folder on the schoolwide network.) Covers all kinds of print and online sources, and matches latest official MLA style for online (as well as print) sources. For bibliographies only (does not cover inline/parenthetical citations.)

Recommended Search Tools--Helpful Chart

Choose the Best Search for Your Purpose

If you're not sure which Web search tool will be best for the kind of search you need to do, try this comprehensive chart. It identifies 29 different kinds of searches (e.g. "I have an general broad academic subject and need to focus it,") and gives links to and brief descriptions of several Web search tools which are especially good for just that kind of search.

Recommended Search Tools--Keyword Search Engines

A keyword search engine essentially lists for you all Web pages in its index which contain a word or set of words you give it. Because of this, a keyword search engine can be too much of a "blunt instrument", and give you thousands of "hits" in a list of results for your search. The Web pages listed in the "hit list" from a keyword search engine are not selected by a human being; instead, search software decides what to list and how, based on how it has been programmed. A keyword search engine can seem fast because you get a hit list right away by just typing in a word or two and telling it to search, but sifting through the results for truly useful Web pages can be very time-consuming.

There are over a thousand keyword search engines andmeta-engines (which search other search engines) on the Web, and each has its own set of rules for how it searches, how you can enter your search terms, etc. If you have a very specific topic in mind, you should definitely spend a little time with a search engine's "Help" screens to learn its rules for how to enter and combine terms to better zero in on just what you're looking for. Here are some of the more popular and powerful keyword search engines and meta-engines on the Web:

FAST

Fulltext keyword search engine covers a relatively large percentage of the Web. Generates hit list very fast. Hits are generally surprisingly relevant.

Google

Keyword search engine which ranks hits in your hit list according to the number of other sites which link to each (and the relevancy of those other sites to your search term.) Multiple keywords are automatically ANDed together. Covers arguably the largest percentage of the Web.

Oingo

"Meaning-based"keyword search engine uses powerful "meaning proximity" technology to try to give you more than just hits containing occurrences of your literal keywords. Enter single word, multiple words, or entire questions.

AskJeeves

Fulltext keywordmeta-search engine. Type a question in plain English and get list of answers to your question (or one similar to yours) and to related questions, followed by list of related hits from several other search engines.

Mamma: The Mother of All Search Engines

Fulltext keywordmeta-search engine. Does not require syntax; can type a question in plain English. No Boolean searching.

Hotbot

Fulltext keyword search engine covers large percentage of the Web. Allows Boolean searches without your having to know syntax. Especially good for searching on personal names (select "the person" from drop-down list.).

Alta Vista

Fulltext keyword search engine covers large percentage of the Web. Boolean searches (go to "Advanced Search") require knowing the correct syntax, but can be very powerful once you know how to do them correctly.

Recommended Search Tools--Subject Indexes/Directories

If you only have a general idea of what you're looking for (as opposed to a very specific topic), try one of these subject indexes (sometimes called "directories.") When you click on a subject which matches what you have in mind, you know that the Web pages listed are all about that topic because a human has looked at them (however briefly) and decided they go there.

Librarians' Index to the Internet

Subject index lists Web pages by subject. Although it covers a relatively small percentage of the Web, everything included has real information value. Subject headings, selection of Web pages, and annotations are created by a professional public librarian in Berkeley, CA. It has arguably the best annotations of any subject index on the Web.

Chico High School Helpful Bookmarks

Subject index to Websites specially selected by Chico HS library media teacher Peter Milbury because of their usefulness for high school research. His annotations describe what's in each site before you take the time to go there.

YAHOO!

Probably the largestsubject index on the Web.Also allows keyword search, but it does not search the full text of the pages it indexes (searches title, URL, and annotation only.) Annotations are very brief and sometimes absent altogether.

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Special Thanks to Steve Grant for
MLA Style Guides & Recommended Search Tools
sgrant@ljhs.sandi.net