Advanced Search Features (2024)

Searching the Web

Search Engines

Guidelines for constructing a search query:

5 to 10 keywords are better than 1 or 2
Names of specific people or places can help narrow the query
Enter keywords in lowercase unless they are proper names
Proper names should have the first letter capitalized
Include the organization that might post the information you want
Use specific nouns that are relevant to your topic
Include alternative spellings or abbreviations for important names
Play around with variations on your query
If one keyword is leading you astray, remove it

Webcrawler –

Subject Trees

A subject tree is a hierarchically organized collection of categories and subcategories that can be browsed to locate specific information.

Examples: Hobbies

Þ Pets Þ Pet Dogs Þ Obedience Þ Professional Dog Trainers

U. S. Government

Þ Agencies Þ Census Bureau Þ 1990 U. S. Census Lookup

Yahoo –

http://yahoo.com/

Clearinghouses

A clearinghouse is a large collection of resources or documents on a given topic.

East View Publications

Example Þ title: president Kennedy (find articles with president in title and Kennedy in the body)

feature: Name

Example Þ +feature:video +title: Mickey Mouse (find videos of Mickey Mouse)

Example Þ -feature:video +title:Mickey Mouse (find items about Mickey Mouse that are not videos)

Name can be audio, video, image, applet

domain: Name

Example Þ -domain:com +wreath (find wreath at non-commercial sites)

Test Yourself:

1) What is a Mersenne prime? Find a list of the 10 largest Mersenne primes.

2) What year did the Suez Canal open?

3) Find an audio file of the sci-fi character called a Dalek, speaking its most remember phrase "Exterminate."

Tips for using HotBot

Smarter searching

Ask better questions, and you can dramatically improve your search results.

1. Use at least two or three search terms. By using more keywords to narrow your search, you can locate documents that fit your information needs more precisely.

Search terms	# of matches
Jobs	681,718
Jobs consulting	51,452
Jobs consulting engineering	21,770
Jobs consulting engineering civil	6,568

Adding query terms is the easiest way to focus your search quickly - you can add terms directly to the text box on the results page. When using the default

all the words setting, adding search terms narrows your results.

2. Be specific. Try to pick words that are unique to the topic you're investigating. If you're looking for information about the Virginia state motto, enter all three words in your search. If you enter

Virginia motto, HotBot may give you pages that discuss mottos, but not the state motto.

3. Using

all the words vs. any of the words. By default, HotBot displays documents containing all the words in your search query (Note: This is the equivalent of a Boolean AND search). By setting the main search pulldown menu to any of the words, you'll find documents that contain as few as one of your requested words (a Boolean OR search). This will increase the number of documents that are returned. HotBot's relevance ranking will automatically favor documents that contain the greatest number of your search words.

4. Use exact phrases. You can narrow your search by requesting that your search terms appear in order as an exact phrase. Select

the exact phrase from the search pulldown menu, or simply enclose your phrase in double quotes (" "). For example, if you are looking for database administrators, search for these words as a phrase. This produces one-fifteenth as many matches. You can also mix phrases with single search terms in the search box, for example: "auto parts" BMW.

5. Give 'More Search Options' a spin. HotBot's detailed search is a powerful, but easy-to-understand, extension of the regular HotBot search interface. 'More Search Options' allows you to enter additional search terms, specify additional media types, and much more.

Advanced Search Features

Boolean operators
Boolean operators are the power searcher's friend. They allow you to enter "advanced" searches directly as text, instead of using the Modify panel. Remember: to use any Boolean operators, you must first select "Boolean Search" from the "all the words" menu.

word	symbol	description
AND	&	AND links two or more terms together to narrow a search. Only pages containing all the terms listed will produce a successful result. For example, Nostradamus AND prophesy will return results with both the term Nostradamus and the term prophesy in the pages.
OR	\|	OR links two terms and collects all documents that include either term. For example, searching for design OR "graphic arts" will bring up pages containing one or both terms.
NOT	!	The NOT or ! operator will search for records that contain the query term that precedes it, but do not contain the term that follows it. For example, searching for `boxers NOT shorts` will produce documents related to pugilists without mistakenly giving you articles about trousers that do not descend below the knee.
complex queries	( )	Each of the Boolean operators described above will work on either a simple search term or a more complex query marked by parentheses. This allows you to construct very powerful queries. For example, "bed and breakfast" AND ((grapes AND California) OR "wine country") ((hacker OR programmer) NOT "part time") AND (design OR "graphic arts")

Query modifiers

Query modifiers can be used to further refine all the words, any of the words, and Boolean searches. When entering search terms into the main or Modify type-in boxes, you can use quotation marks around phrases ("search engines") and pluses and minuses before words and phrases (+sports -"ice hockey"). These query modifiers allow greater control of search results.

name	symbol	description
quotation marks	" "	Quotation marks (" ") are used to denote exact phrases. For example, a search on `"New York Times"` will match only documents containing the words as an exact phrase. It will not find pages with the words used in different orders, such as "New times in York!".
plus operator	+	The plus operator ( + ) placed before a word or phrase requires that all returned pages contain that search term. For example, `JFK +CIA` will return only pages mentioning the CIA, but pages that also mention JFK will be ranked higher in the results.
minus operator	-	The minus operator ( - ) placed before a word or phrase excludes all documents containing that search term. For example, searching for `"Three Musketeers" -candy` will help you find Web pages about the book and the movies without mistakenly getting articles about the candy bar..

Meta words

Meta words are short cuts that allow experienced searchers to use HotBot's non-text search features from the main text box. A Meta word is a keyword:value pair, separated by a colon (with no spaces). For example: the title keyword finds values in the titles of Web pages, so a search containing the meta word title:president will return documents with the word president in their titles.

meta word	description
domain:[name]	Restricts a search to the domain selected. Domains can be specified up to three levels deep ( `.com`, `intel.com`, or `support.intel.com`).
depth:[number]	Restricts the depth of pages retrieved.
feature:acrobat	Detects Acrobat files
feature:applet	Detects embedded Java applets
feature:activex	Detects ActiveX controls or layouts
feature:audio	Detects a range of audio formats
feature:embed	Detects plugins
feature:flash	Detects the Flash plugin in HTML
feature:form	Detects the use of forms in HTML
feature:frame	Detects the use of frames in HTML
feature:image	Detects image files (GIF, JPEG, etc.)
feature:script	Detects embedded scripts
feature:shockwave	Detects Shockwave files
feature:table	Detects the use of tables in HTML
feature:video	Detects a range of video formats
feature:vrml	Detects VRML files
outgoingurlext:[extension]	Restricts a search to pages containing embedded files with the specified extension. For example, `outgoingurlext:ra` finds pages containing RealAudio files.
newsgroup:[full newsgroup name]	Restricts Usenet searches to articles that have been posted to the specified newsgroup.
scriptlanguage: [language]	Searches for pages containing JavaScript or VBScript. (Note that these should always be lower case.)
title:[word]	This searches for pages containing the given word in their titles between the HTML tags. Any additional words with this marker could be found anywhere within the text of a document, including, but not limited to, the title. One should note the spacing after a colon when using a meta tag. For example, "title:[word]" is equivalent to one word, and "title: [word]" is equivalent to two words.
after: [day]/[month]/[year]	Restricts a search to documents created or modified after the specified date (e.g., `currents AND after:30/6/96`).
before: [day]/[month]/[year]	Restricts a search to documents created or modified before the specified date (e.g., `"cyber crime" AND before:30/6/96`).
within:number/unit	Restricts a search to documents created or modified within the last specified time period (e.g., `(pet +care) AND within:3/months`). Units can be days, months, or years. Currently, all date meta words are special cases in the search engine and will only function correctly if used as a single term within a Boolean clause, without any pluses or minuses. So `(+cloning -sheep) AND within:8/months` is OK, but `+cloning -sheep +within:8/months` will not work.

It is important to understand that HotBot treats Meta words as words, not as commands that effect the entire search. So the search

title:president Nixon will return documents with the "president" in the title and "Nixon" in the body of the document. Furthermore, all of the advanced search modifiers can be used with meta words. For example: -feature:image +title:president Nixon

will return pages that must not contain images, do have "president" in their title and may have the word "Nixon" in them.

These special search words can be added to queries to restrict search results in a number of ways. Most of these effects can also be achieved by using the controls on the HotBot page.