Originally Published EMDM November/December 2002
WEB WATCH
Searching for Answers on the InternetResearch tips and tricks make surfing the Web a rewarding experience.
Have you ever been at a loss for words on the Internet? Sometimes searching for a specific item on the Web is cause for consternation. A simple query can produce hundreds of results, many of which you'll find irrelevant. Paul Krupin, a Web-savvy scientist from Kennewick, WA, USA, shares his knowledge about Internet research in his new book series titled Magic Search Words. In the guides, Krupin offers advice on how to get the most out of your on-line queries.
Where to Begin?
Getting pointed in the right direction is half the research battle. There are many ways to conduct a search, states Krupin, the most common being the use of "true" search engines. Rather than exploring the Web itself, sites such as Alta Vista (www. altavista.com) and Google (www.google.com) reference an index of the Web that is only updated periodically. These sites may have quick response times, but their results can be overwhelming and not up to date.
The benefit of using Web directories such as Netscape (www.netscape.com) or Yahoo (www. yahoo.com) is their hierarchal structure. Web site employees examine and categorize links under specific headings. Therefore, in addition to being able to conduct a search by entering a string of words in the search box, users can click around categories, subcategories, and sub-subcategories until they find what they want.
Krupin also reveals the highly technical cataloguing systems of many government agencies and universities that are available on-line as virtual libraries. The U.S. Library of Congress's International Horizons page (international.loc.gov/intldl/ intldlhome.html) offers digital collections from around the world. The World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C (www.w3.org), is another key resource. It was created in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, and CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The site is a global research tool, supported by international organizations and maintained by volunteer industry experts.
Metasearch or multisearch engines, including MetaCrawler (www.metacrawler.com) and Chubba (www.chubba.com), are a combination of the above methods. They simultaneously send a single request to multiple search engines, directories, or specialized databases, filtering out duplicates and ranking results.
Finally, the "invisible Web" (simply type the words invisible Web in any search engine) provides access to specialized databases that usually aren't indexed by search engines. They offer high-quality results that otherwise would not be viewable by ordinary Web surfers.
Choosing the Right Words
Once you've chosen where to look, the next question is how to look. You'll need the right tools; in this case, words. Remember, the better you communicate what it is that you are looking for, the more relevant your results will be, so decide what the key words of your search should be, and be specific. Krupin suggests structuring your query by using a string of "magic words." These consist of subject words (manufacturing, laser beams, etc.), learning words (A to Z, information, etc.), and Internet words (on-line, searchable, etc.). For instance, a search on manufacturing trade journals on-line information is straightforward and should return a set of matches close to what you want.
Narrowing Your Search
Another way to streamline your search, Krupin explains, is to omit all of the commercial advertising sites (the dot-coms). By adding -.com to the end of any word or string of words, you will tremendously decrease your number of results, leaving only the .orgs, .edus, and .govs, which are often more valid and more trustworthy.
To search on country-specific Web sites, Krupin tells us to type in a string of magic words followed by the country code. For example, plastics manufacturers .fr will return links to plastics manufacturers with French Web sites. (To find Internet country codes, use the magic words Internet country codes in any search engine.) If you want to find sites related to French plastics manufacturers, but not necessarily French Web sites, type in plastics manufacturers France. If you're not limited by your language skills, create a string of foreign magic words that will return results in the specific foreign language you requested.
The Magic Search Words book series offers many more Internet search tips and tricks on how to streamline your search results. For more information, visit www.magicsearchwords.com or call +1 800 4578746.
Copyright ©2002 European Medical Device Manufacturer
