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Web Searching Basics
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Eric W. Wohlers, PEEnv. Health Director
Chris Crawford, Ph.D.Water Resource Specialist
Cattaraugus County
Agenda
• Basics of web-searching• Valuable PWS sites
Web Searching Basics
Web Research Strategies – Search Engines
Web directory defined :“A web directory or link directory is a directory on the World Wide Web. It specializes in linking to other web sites and categorizing those links.” Wikipedia
“A Web directory organizes Web sites by subject, and is usually maintained by humans instead of software. ” about.com
“Directories, unlike search engines, use a hierarchical tree structure to organize their database. Another common distinction is that a directory tends to list Web sites (root directory of a site or homepage) whereas a search engine will list Web pages (individual pages of a Web site). .” rustybrick.com“Directories are run by humans who review web sites and categorize them within their directories. This leads to a more abridged set of sites which can good or bad depending on what you're searching for. ” haystackinaneedle.com
Web Research Strategies – Search Engines
How do they work: SearchWeb Crawler / spider –A Web crawler is a computer program that browses the World Wide Web in a Methodical, automated manner or in an orderly fashion. Copies visited pages for processing by search engine.
Rules- time- following URLs- what to copy
Meta-tags
Web Research Strategies – Search Engines
How do they work: SearchIndexing–Collects, parses, and stores data to facilitate fast and accurate information retrieval.Factors
- Speed- Storage- Maintenance- Ranking methods
Web Research Strategies – Search Engines
How do they work: Meta-search
Rules- weighting- ranking- source engines
Web Research Strategies – Search Engines
Optimizing your search: Goldilocks searches
• Don’t focus on one word• Think conceptually• Develop a question• Use advanced options• Think of associations • Information type (i.e. image, video, diagram)
Web Research Strategies – Search Engines
Optimizing your search: Advanced searching
Web Research Strategies – Search Engines
Optimizing your search: Advanced searching
Web Research Strategies – Search Engines
Optimizing Search – Results ScanSource – Is it
appropriate?- Trade group- Govt. agency- Supplier / consultant- News- Other
Optimizing Search – Results Scan
Date – Is it timely?- Rate of change
Optimizing Search – Results
Scan
Context – Is it
accurate?-Surrounding
language- exact phrase
Optimizing Search – Evaluate Content
• Source• Audience• Language
Web Research Strategies - Directories
• www.dmoz.org
• dir.yahoo.com
• Site directories- EPA.gov
Optimizing Search - Directories• Use directory search
• Apply same hints as engines
• Note category
Public Water Supply Websites
AmericanWaterWorksAssociation
NY Rural WaterAssociation
Association of State Drinking Water Adminstrators
NYS Department of Health – Drinking Water Protection Program
US EPA – Ground & Drinking WaterProgram
NationalEnvironmentalServicesCenter
Water Environment Federation
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
USA Bluebook