Sample Searches: Yahoo, AltaVista, MetaCrawler

ED 205; ED 434; ED 670

Practice Searches: Yahoo, AltaVista, MetaCrawler

Connect to MSU Library's Search Engines page:

http://www.moorhead.msus.edu/library/instruct/library/search.htm

Yahoo

http://www.yahoo.com

WHAT it searches: 4 areas of Yahoo's database:

Yahoo! Categories
Yahoo! Web Sites
Yahoo!'s Net Events & Chat
Most Recent News Articles

HOW it ranks:

Multiple Keyword Matches
Document Section Weighting: Documents matching words found in the Title are ranked higher than those found in its Body or URL.
Generality of Category: (more general is ranked higher than more specific categories)

multicultural	Categories: Sites:
"multicultural education"	Categories: Sites:
"multicultural education" diversity	Categories: Sites:
multicultural book review* NOTE: will retrieve "review" or "reviews"	Categories: Sites:
"the color purple" alice walker	Categories: Sites:
multicultural +education NOTE: forces education to be on the page	Categories: Sites:
"harlem renaissance"	Categories: Sites:

multicultural -secondary NOTE: excludes pages containing the word "secondary"	Categories: Sites:
Use category "Education", Click on "Search JUST in this Category" and search for multicultural	Categories: Sites:
Remain in the category "Education," Click on "Search JUST in this Category," and search for ethnic studies	Categories: Sites:
title: "multicultural education" NOTE: only pages with the phrase in title	Categories: Sites:
title: +multicultural -education* NOTE: only pages with multicultural in title (education, educational, NOT in title)	Categories: Sites:

AltaVista

http://www.altavista.com/

WHAT it searches:

The WWW (as indexed by AltaVista)
Usenet Newsgroups

HOW it ranks:

Use the "ranking" field to control how it ranks-- if the ranking field is left blank, no ranking will be applied and the results will be in no particular order.

WHEN to Use:

Simple searches do not require AltaVista Advanced. For basic searching, AltaVista's Simple Search will work.
Use Advanced Search if you need to find documents within a certain range of dates; you want control over ranking results; or if you have to do some complex Boolean (AND, AND NOT) searches.

For the searches below, use the Simple Search unless directed otherwise:

multicultural	Sites:
multicultural* NOTE: gets hits for multicultural, multiculturalism	Sites:
multicultural education	Sites:
"multicultural education" curriculum NOTE: searches "multicultural education" as a phrase AND "curriculum"	Sites:


"national council for the social studies"	Sites:
society advancement chicanos science	Sites:
url: sacnas NOTE: searches the URL (web address) only	Sites:
"alice walker" interview	Sites:
"multicultural education" racism	Sites:
multicultural education -secondary NOTE: excludes pages containing the word secondary	Sites:
"toni morrison" curriculum	Sites:
"toni morrison" lesson plan	Sites:
"english as a second language" NOTE: searches for it as a "phrase"	Sites:
"minnesota cultural diversity center"	Sites:
"national association for multicultural education"	Sites:
title: multicultural* teach* NOTE: only pages with multicultural or multiculturalism AND teach, teaches, teachers, or teaching in title	Sites:
title: "multicultural education" NOTE: only pages with multicultural in title	Sites:

Metacrawler

www.metacrawler.com/

Sends your search requests to several different search engines at once!

multicultural education Click on the selection "ALL"	Sites:
multicultural education Click on the selection "PHRASE"	Sites:
"multicultural education" diversity "ALL"	Sites:
"toni morrison" +beloved "ALL"	Sites:
"english as a second language" programs "ALL"	Sites:
multicultural education Click on "ALL" and Change your search from "Web" to "Newsgroups"	News Postings:
"national multicultural institute"	Sites:
"global learning conference" NOTE: only pages with this phrase	Sites:

Now, using your OWN TOPICS, try to find sites that are relevant and useful. Write down the titles and URLs, or print out these resources for future use.

See also:

Evaluating Internet Resources

http://www.mnstate.edu/library/instruct/evaluate.htm

4/25/00
Brittney Goodman
Livingston Lord Library