Project 3 - Checksheet

End of Chapter Activities

Review Questions

True or False?

1. True (p. 55)
2. False (p. 55) It is better to search a news database for recent news.
3. False (p. 63) Each search engine uses its own algorithm for determining relevance.
4. False (p. 59) Most search engines recognize Boolean operators either way but a few require capitals so it is important to check a search engine's help pages.
5. True (p. 76)

Short Answer - Completion

1. spiders or robots (p. 57)
2. stop words (p. 61)
3. case sensitivity (p. 62)
4. wildcard (p. 62)
5. domain (p. 62)

Exercises and Projects

1. In the Advanced Search page at All the Web, the search for textbox is set to "all of the words" and the keywords are typed in as "school violence." The Domain Filter is set to "Include results from" .gov and the Date field is filled in to include results set for "after" a date six months ago and "before" today's date.
   
   ----------
   
   Because the Internet is constantly changing, the search results will change from day to day, however, results should be similar.
   
2. Found a huge number of results for +"total quality management"
   Found approximately one-fourth as many results for +"total quality management" +benchmarking
   Found 0 results for host: ibm.com +"total quality management" +benchmarking
   Removed quotes and plus signs...
   Found a small number of results for host: ibm.com total quality management benchmarking
   
   
3. The Pomegranate Seeds
   http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/carolrb/greek/pomegranate.html
   
   Zeus and Demeter had a beautiful daughter called Persephone. Hades fell in love with her and wanted to marry her. Hades asked Zeus if he could marry her, Zeus dare not say no because he did not want to upset Hades. He knew that if he said yes Demeter would be angry. Whatever he answered would be wrong, so he did not answer. Zeus hoped that Hades would just forget Persephone. One day as she was sitting alone by a lake Hades; god of the Underworld stole her and took her away to his home to become his wife. When Demeter found that her daughter was missing she was very worried. She stopped eating and drinking, wore a dark veil and spent the whole time searching for her. Demeter went to the sun god;Helios. She thought that in his daily journey across the sky he must have seen what happened to Persephone. Helios told her that Hades had stolen Persephone away and married her, and that she must stay in the Underworld with him. Demeter was so upset she would not let the plants grow. People and animals died because there was no food. Zeus sent for her and said that as long as Persephone had not eaten in the Underworld she could be freed. Hades could not argue because he knew that she had refused all food. Persephone was back in her mother's arms when Hades gardener arrived and said that she had sucked on seven pomegranate seeds. That meant that she had to go back to the Underworld. Persephone cried and Demeter cried. It was decided that Persephone could live on earth for nine months, but must spend the other three months each year in the Underworld. Every year whilst Persephone was away Demeter refused to allow any plants to grow. The trees would lose their leaves and all plants would die away to come again when Persephone was free. For evermore there was to be a winter each year.
   
   
4. Google lists news links and book results before the list of matching web pages.
   AltaVista lists sponsored matches first and then matching web pages.
   The same search gave different results showing that each search engine has its own method for displaying results.
   
   
5. Alta Vista and Google each have a link to specifically search for images. Click on the images link first and then complete the search.

Self-Check of Important Concepts from Chapter 3

1. Name six major search engines
   (p. 56)
   All the Web, Alta Vista, Google, Lycos, MSN, Teoma
   
   
2. Name six popular meta-search tools
   (p. 57)
   Dogpile, IxQuick, MetaCrawler, ProFusion, Search.com, VIvisimo
   
   
3. List three common Boolean operators
   (p. 59)
   AND, OR, NOT
   
   
4. Name two implied Boolean operators
   (p. 60)
   + and -
   
   
5. True/False. Most search engines automatically assume an OR relationship between two words if you don't type anything between them.
   (p. 59)
   Most assume an AND relationship which means only those Web pages having both words in them will be retrieved.
   
   
6. Suppose you are using a search engine that allows natural language searches and you type the following statement as a search expression:
   I need rules for playing volleyball
   What words would be likely to be considered as stop words (words that are ignored by the search engine)?
   (p. 61)
   I, need, for
   
   
7. What punctuation is commonly used by most search engines to indicate words should be searched as a phrase rather than individual terms?
   (p.61)
   quotation marks
   
   
8. What symbol is often used to take advantage of a feature in a search engine referred to as truncation or stemming?
   (p. 61)
   *
   
   
9. Many search engines include advanced search forms to use field searching instead of only searching the text of the web page. Name two fields that could be used for searching.
   (p. 62)
   titles, URLs, domains, hosts
   
   
10. True/False. Most search engines pay attention to any capitalization you use in search words.
    (p. 62)
    False
    

Answers to Practice Activity

GOOGLE

1. Is Google case sensitive?
   Google searches are NOT case sensitive. All letters, regardless of how you type them, will be understood as lower case. For example, searches for george washington, George Washington, and gEoRgE wAsHiNgToN will all return the same results.
   
   
2. In Google, if you use several terms in your search string and do NOT use Boolean operators, will Google search for pages that match ALL of the terms or does it search for pages that have ANY one of the terms, but not necessarily all of them?
   By default, Google only returns pages that include all of your search terms. There is no need to include "and" between terms.
   
   
3. Does the order in which you type in the keywords you are searching for affect the results in Google?
   The order in which the terms are typed will affect the search results. To restrict a search further, just include more terms. For example, to plan a vacation to Hawaii, simply type vacation hawaii.
   
   
4. What are some common words that Google ignores as search terms?
   Google ignores common words and characters such as "where" and "how", as well as certain single digits and single letters, because they tend to slow down your search without improving the results. Google will indicate if a common word has been excluded by displaying details on the results page below the search box. If a common word is essential to getting the results you want, you can include it by putting a "+" sign in front of it. (Be sure to include a space before the "+" sign.) Another method for doing this is conducting a phrase search, which simply means putting quotation marks around two or more words. Common words in a phrase search (e.g., "where are you") are included in the search. For example, to search for Star Wars, Episode I, use:
   ~ OR ~
   
   
5. What does it mean when Google says it supports "stemming" for your search results?
   Google now uses stemming technology. Thus, when appropriate, it will search not only for your search terms, but also for words that are similar to some or all of those terms. If you search for pet lemur dietary needs, Google will also search for pet lemur diet needs, and other related variations of your terms. Any variants of your terms that were searched for will be highlighted in the snippet of text accompanying each result.
   
   
6. How do you do a phrase search in Google without using the Advanced Search window?
   Sometimes you'll only want results that include an exact phrase. In this case, simply put quotation marks around your search terms.
   
   Phrase searches are particularly effective if you're searching for proper names ("George Washington"), lyrics ("the long and winding road"), or other famous phrases ("This was their finest hour").
   
   
7. When you add math symbols to a keyword, it is important to NOT include a space between the sign and the keyword. Is there supposed to be a space BEFORE the symbol to separate it from the previous keyword?
   
   If your search term has more than one meaning (bass, for example, could refer to fishing or music) you can focus your search by putting a minus sign ("-") in front of words related the meaning you want to avoid.
   For example, here's how you'd find pages about bass-heavy lakes, but not bass-heavy music. Be sure to include a space before the minus sign but no space after the minus sign.
8. What is the purpose of the Safe Search Filtering feature?
   Many users prefer not to have adult sites included in search results (especially if their kids use the same computer). Google's SafeSearch screens for sites that contain explicit sexual content and deletes them from your search results. No filter is 100% accurate, but SafeSearch should eliminate most inappropriate material.

9. In the "Occurrences" line for "Return results where my terms occur".... What other choices are listed in the drop down list for where terms will occur?
   in the title, text, url or link of the page
   
   
   NOTE:
   When searching, the results will vary depending on when you do your search. The answers given below are approximate but should be similar to the results you get.
   
10. In the Advanced Search window at Google, go to the textbox labeled "with the exact phrase" and type in the words: bald eagle. How many results are listed in the line that says: "Results 1-10 of about ?????. Search took ?? seconds."
    approximately 3,130,000
    
    
11. Go back to the Advanced Search window and drop down the list for occurrences. Choose "In the URL of the page" and do the search again. This time how many results are listed?
    approximately 29,200
    
    
12. Go back to the Advanced Search window and drop down the list for occurrences. Choose "In the title of the page" and do the search again. This time how many results are listed?
    approximately 120,000
    
    
13. Go back to the Advanced Search window and drop down the list for occurrences. Choose "In the links to the page" and do the search again. This time how many results are listed?
    approximately 170,000
    
    
14. Go back to the Advanced Search window and drop down the list for occurrences. Choose "anywhere in the page " and also go to the box labeled "return results from the site or domain" and type in: .gov
    Do the search again. Visit the first page of the results list. Give an important fact about the bald eagle that you see on this page.
    May vary - facts about eagles
    Length: 32 inches Wingspan: 80 inches
    Sexes similar
    Very large, broad-winged, broad-tailed hawk
    Rounded wings
    Thick, hooked bill
    Plucks fish from water with talons
    
15. Go back to the Advanced Search window and drop down the list for occurrences. Choose "anywhere in the page " and also go to the box labeled "return results from the site or domain" and type in: .org
    Do the search again. Visit the first page of the results list. What organization published the page?
    Answer may vary, but it should be an organization interested in the Bald Eagle like:
    The American Bald Eagle Foundation
    
16. In the Advanced Search page at Google, what are the choices in the drop down list for searching by Date?
    anytime, past 3 or 6 months, past year
    
    
17. Go to: http://www.alltheweb.com and go to the advanced search page. In the "Search for" text box drop down the choice for "The exact phrase" and then in the textbox beside it type in the words: life span. Scroll down the page to find the "Word Filters" section and in the textbox to the right of "Must include" type in the words: bald eagle. Choose "In the title" in the drop down list box to the right of where you typed in bald eagle. Click on the Search button. How many results show up on the results page?
    approximately 355
    
    
18. For the previous search, after the list of (sponsored) links, visit a page that is given in the search results that provides facts about the bald eagle. Who published the information for this page?
    Results will vary but should be an organization interested in bald eagles.
    Example: Endangered Animals Center

19. How many items were returned for octopus
    approximately 6,310,000
    
    
20. In the search box type: title:octopus How many items were returned?
    approximately. 1,010,000
    
    
21. How does the search engine narrow the search using this keyword phrase?
    by including title: the search engine knows to look for titles only that have the word octopus included rather than the text of the web page