For the past few weeks,we learnt that there are different types of search tools on the internet and different categories of search tools have different purpose and different way to carry out our research.
Do you all want to know which search tool is effective so that you people can make full use of it?? Or rather,do you all know the difference between invisible web, search engines, meta search and subject directories?? Here it goes!
Do you all want to know which search tool is effective so that you people can make full use of it?? Or rather,do you all know the difference between invisible web, search engines, meta search and subject directories?? Here it goes!
*Invisible web (databases)
- The term "invisible web" mainly refers to the vast repository of information that search engines and directories don't have direct access to, like databases. For example, Lexis Nexis , where you need to login to use the database.
- The term "invisible web" mainly refers to the vast repository of information that search engines and directories don't have direct access to, like databases. For example, Lexis Nexis , where you need to login to use the database.
*Search engines
- Search engines are programs that search documents for specified keywords and returns a list of the documents where the keywords were found. For example, Google
- Search engines are programs that search documents for specified keywords and returns a list of the documents where the keywords were found. For example, Google
*Meta search
- A search engine that queries other search engines and then combines the results that are received from all. In effect, the user is not using just one search engine but a combination of many search engines at once to optimize Web searching. For example, Dogpile.
- A search engine that queries other search engines and then combines the results that are received from all. In effect, the user is not using just one search engine but a combination of many search engines at once to optimize Web searching. For example, Dogpile.
*Subject directories
A subject directory is a catalog of sites collected and organized by humans.For example, About.com
Now, knowing the difference between, invisible web, search engines, meta search and subject directories, I feel that everything has its own pros and cons .However,I feel that Google is more effective than using search engines, meta-search or subject directories.
Search engines have more relevant search results with the help of Boolean operators. It provides with all kinds of articles, journals, news and etc. In this way, it gives a broader view on the types of results
Moreover, it indexes large amount of search results. Even though,only few pages of search engine's are relevant.Whereas, search engines, meta-search or subject directories searches provide with more relevant information for almost all the pages.
However,the ease of use of search engines are incomparable and the information that are relevant enough in the few pages gives more thorough details of what we really need.
Also,we can use the search engines more effectively.Like for example, Google have 20 or different kinds of tips to make the search more efficient such as
- Either/or
- Quotes
- Not
- Similar terms
- Wildcard
- Advanced search
- Definitions
- Calculator
- Numrange
- Site-specific
- Backlinks
- Vertical search
- Movies
- Music
- Unit converter
- Types of numbers
- File types
- Location of term
- Cached pages
- Answer to life, the universe, and everything
I will use Google for my research topic which is on trends and implications of youth crime. This is because the search results are very relevant and are recent. The articles,journals or news covers my research's aim.It is very easy to search for what I need for my topic with or without Boolean operators. Moreover, using Boolean operators, the search results are even more accurate.
Perhaps,using Google for almost all the research and project all this while, could have influenced me to use it for this research too I guess. Even though it could be a little biased,it is important that we use a search engine where we can get the most relevant,fresh and accurate information.So,I still feel that Google is doing a great job assisting me in my research topic.
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