HIT:Internet searching...some more

[Dianne & Ken <kdhager@labyrinth.net.au>]

I teach basic Internet at my library and do want to delve into proper
search methods (I make a point to say "do not .com every word!")

I just used Alta Vista, though, at my last class and it seems to have
added types of searching and no longer requires the "+"- still works, it
seems, though I looked pretty stupid when I was showing the help screen
and
right there it said to not use the "+"!

I cannot vouch for where it was exactly, but it is in there...

-----------------------
Two things for you.

1) I would strongly suggest taking a look at the work of Greg Notess.
Greg
is a librarian and web researcher at Montana St. University and
his widely known for his Search Engine Showdown site. It is an absolute
"must have" resource.
http://www.searchengineshowdown.com

Specifically, take a look at the sites search chart which provides the
information you are looking for.
http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/features/


2) A note about the + and - sign in Google.
The - sign does work with Google to eliminate a term or phrase.
The + sign is not needed to add or increase a terms weighing with
Google.
However, the + sign is available to search on a stop word.

An example only for illustration:
Searching the specific phrase, "where are you".


A) where are you = 354,000,000 hits
the words "where" and "you"  are stop words and are NOT searched. Also
note
we are not using quotes

B) "where are you "= 318,000,000 hits.
Even with the quotes we still get huge amounts of recall and
still "where" and "are"  are not being searched.

C) To precisely search the exact phrase, "where are you"
construct the search using the + sign to indicate a search on a stop
word.

"+where +are you"= 454,000 hits
---

The classic example of this issue uses the phrase "to be or not to be"
All of these words except "not" are stop words.
"to be or not to be" = 248,000,000 (you are only searching the word
"not")
"+to +be +or not +to +be" = 56,000 and the exact quote

Finally, you can use a Boolean OR with Google but it MUST be
capitalized.

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