WEB SEARCH

                                   

             3^rd Day  7/7/15

As I mentioned in the earlier journal, that I thought I know quite well about the use of ict, but the topic on Web research turned me wrong. What I know was just to type the key words in the address bar and then search, which was just a basic search.

A web search engine is a software system that is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. The search results are generally presented in a line of results often referred to as search engine results pages (SERPs).

There are two web search; Basic search and Advance search. There were five search tools in the advance search, they are;

i.                 BOOLEAN OPERATORS

ii.               TRUNCATION

iii.             WILDCARDS

iv.             RESTRICTING SEARCH SITE

v.               RESTRICTING SEARCH BY FORMATS.

i.                 Boolean Operators  are used to connect and define the relationship between our search terms. When searching electronic databases, we can use Boolean operators to either narrow or broaden our record sets. The three Boolean operators are AND, OR and NOT.

AND is used to narrow down the search by typing all the key words. Example; stock market AND trading

OR is used to broaden our search by writing two or more synonyms. This will ensure the search on any one of the topics. Example; ecology OR pollution

NOT helps us in narrowing our search by excluding the content that we do not want to be included. Example; Population NOT Census.

ii.               Truncation:

Truncation, also called stemming, is a technique that broadens your search to include various word endings and spellings.

• To use truncation, enter the root of a word and put the truncation symbol at the end.
• The database will return results that include any ending of that root word.
• Examples: 
  child* = child, childs, children, childrens, childhood
  genetic* = genetic, genetics, genetically
• Truncation symbols may vary by database; common symbols include: *, !, ?, or #

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iii.           Wildcards:

Similar to truncation, wildcards substitute a symbol for one letter of a word.

• This is useful if a word is spelled in different ways, but still has the same meaning.
  
  
• Examples: 
  wom!n = woman, women
  colo?r = color, colour

iv.             RESTRICTING SEARCH SITE is also known as stemming. It is a technique to broaden our search to include various word endings and spellings. We need to type the root word and insert truncation symbol(*,!,? or #) and then search. Eg, “child*”

   v. RESTRICTING SEARCH BY FORMATS is a way of narrowing down the search and saving time is by restricting with file formats. Type the type of the file that we are looking for will reduce our search task to a great deal. Example, “pdf,hmt,xls,docs,ppt,….

The search tools were of great help in obtaining the wanted information from the internet in a short span of time, and this is what a busy teacher really in need of. Now, I realized that I have not made wrong choice by opting ICT as it really enhanced my knowledge which would be a great help to me, my children and friends.

  

Thank You.