Module 3 Unit 1

All right, can everyone hear me? Today we are going to learn the basics of searching information from the Internet. And I am going to start with some of the key definitions you should know when dealing with hunting for information through the Internet. As you listen, complete the worksheet.

Well, what is the World Wide Web and what makes it work?

The World Wide Web (commonly referred to as WWW or the Web) is a part of the Internet, actually it is a service on the Internet that enables simple retrieval of linked information. You can retrieve documents, view images, animation, and video, listen to sound files, speak and hear voice, and view programs that run on practically any software in the world, if your computer has the hardware and software to do these things. It is pretty easy to see why and from where the Web got its name (the spider’s web of course). The WWW consists of a set of linked documents known as webpages which can be viewed using a programme called a browser. Firefox and Internet Explorer are currently the leading "graphical browsers" in the world (meaning they facilitate the viewing of graphics such as images and video and more). There are other browsers (e.g., Mozilla, Safari, Opera). Most of them offer many of the same features and can be successfully used to retrieve documents and activate many kinds of programmes. Finding the Web documents can be done by using different search tools. They help to find the information you are looking for if you do not know exactly where to look.

The next point is a search engine. Special web sites provide a facility known as a search engine that can be used to search for other websites. A search engine uses special programmes to collect information about websites on the WWW and stores the information in a database. The user can then search the database to obtain a list of links to relevant websites. To search using a search engine, type words (known as keywords) into a text box (called a search box). The search engine then displays a list of website links that are relevant to the given keywords. Think carefully about which keywords could be used to define the concept you are interested in. Think whether there are a lot of synonyms of equivalent terms for what you seek. Then group those words that mean the same thing in the same group. Use keywords to form search phrases by putting quotation mark around the key words and they can be combined in different ways using special logical operators such as the words AND, OR, NEAR which can be grouped by enclosing them in brackets. Sometimes symbols such as + or – can be used to represent the operators. Special symbols known as wildcards can also be used with keywords. These symbols represent certain characters or combination of characters. E.g.: asterisk (*) is often used to represent any combination of characters. A search for “col*” would look for any word beginning with “col”. As well as keyword searches, search engines can be used for field searches. This allows the user to search webpage fields such as the title field of a webpage or its web address. Search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, search mechanically without any selection or valuation of the resources which means that the resources must be used with a critical eye. In fact, no search engine will find everything on the Internet. Different search engines use various strategies to easify the search and ultimately attract more users. Let’s have a closer look at one of the convenient Google‘s strategies. After you've entered your search terms, try the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button, which takes you straight to the most relevant website that Google found for your query. You won't see the search results page at all, but if you did, the "I'm Feeling Lucky" site would be listed on top. For example, if you're looking for the Moscow University homepage, just enter Moscow University and click "I'm Feeling Lucky" instead of the Google Search button. Google will take you directly to "www.msu.ru".

I hope this talk on searching tips and techniques can help you find what you are looking for in cyberspace quickly and easily. So, now let’s move on to the practical session…

(Adapted from http://www.google.com/search)