Beyond Simple Web Searching
-- Guerrilla Tactics to
Get The Information You Want &
Know What You're Getting

An Online Tutorial and Resources
Introduction
Become a savvy "Web Literate" Internet user. Learn why searching often does not return the desired information. Learn "Guerrilla Tactics" to get information you really want and know what you are actually getting. Learn essential skills for efficient and reliable use of the World Wide Web as information resource.

Advanced techniques find the most appropriate information, and then critically evaluate quality of the information and sites found. Uncover the driving social, political, media and business forces behind sites and information you find.

Learn how to read, interpret and use web site addresses (URLs) to increase searching success rate, discover ownership of sites and avoid dangerous sites.
Objectives
Participants will
  • Use advanced features of search engines to focus results
  • Explorer the wide variety of search sites available, including specialized niche search engines
  • Discover the best search engines and tools to use to find specific types of information
  • Learn how to find information that is not available via search engines (i.e. National Archives original source materials)
  • Explorer digging deeper into the sites they find to discover the specific information they want
  • Research owners of sites they find and how that can influence the information presented
  • Discover how "Pay-to-click" and paid placement effect listing in search engine results
  • Evaluate quality, reliability and biases of information found
Materials
In addition to the information, exercises and links on this page, participants are encouraged to print a hard copy of the companion booklet:
 
Beyond Searching -- Guerrilla Tactics to
Get The Information You Want &
Know What You're Getting.
 
 The booklet is provided free of charge as a PDF file and users are permitted to print one copy for personal use. If you need to print more copies or use copies in a classroom or inservice, please contact the author via e-mail for permission (mo_luscre @ mogadore.net).
Web Searching Booklet
Web Searching Booklet
Searching Booklet- version 8.09.22
Feb. 2008 as presented at 2008 FETC & 2008 e-Tech Ohio Conference
To print the booklet follow these instructions:
  1. Download & open the file: Workbook as PDF
  2. Print all the pages on legal sized paper (8½ x 14"). Depending on your printer's features, use either method a or b.
    • a. print two-sided pages using a printer with duplex tray capability
    • b. print single-sided pages then use a copier with duplex capability to create two sided copies.
  3. To assemble- arrange pages in order
  4. Fold all pages in half resulting in an 8½ x 7 booklet
  5. Saddle staple along the fold
Getting Started
Begin by reading the booklet, pausing to follow the exercises. The exercises and related links are presented below for easier access. Often the online exercises will have additional material not presented in the booklet, be sure to read this more in depth material to get full benefit of this tutorial.
Exercises & Links
Links to Exercises in Workbook
Additional Resources
Lists* & Links-- Presntations & Books--
Search Engines Presentation on Searching
Search Engines Presentation Download PPT
Printer Friendly of Both List Above
* Requires MS Power Point ($) or one of the following
free programs to view.
Open Office (Impress)
(Win, Mac or Linux)		 Power Point Viewer
(Windows only)
Searching Information ** For Original Appearance it may be necessary to download Font- "Technical"  (as used in the PowerPoint)
Recommended Books
Research & Writing Tools
 Google Hacks or Google Pocket Guide both
by Tara Calishain, Rael Dormfest & DJ Adams (O'Reilly)
Steal This Computer Book 3
by Wallace Wang (No Starch Press)

Firefox Internet Browser Add-Ons
Google Preview
Online Dictionary / Thesarus
PrefBar- Control Pop-ups, Flash, Colors, etc.
Follow-up- Questions, Comments  and/or Suggestions
Please feel free to contact the author with any problems or questions you may have. Example web pages and their links often change or disappear completely from the WWW, so reports of this nature are especially helpful. Above all I value your comments and suggestions, these often result in revisions that make the tutorial better for future users. I can be contacted via e-mail at mo_luscre @ mogadore.net


Cats Click Links
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Mogadore Local Schools Web Page
MogadoreHS/JHSPortal Page
OHS Elementary Portal Page

All pages of the web site http://www.mogadore.net are copyrighted (1999-2008)
 by Anthony A. Luscre (Webmaster) and/or the Mogadore Local School District and all rights are reserved.
Please contact the webmaster for permission to use original materials--
mo_luscre @ mogadore.net. Click here for legal disclaimer & notice of privacy



Exercises have not yet been updated to reflect newest version of booklet & presentation (Jan 2008)
Please return after Feb 8th for revisions
 #
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1
 Search Engines

Visit--  http://www.mogadore.net/searching/se.html

Go to the two tables-
Popular Search Engines & Their Uses & Specialized Search Engines
and visit a variety of new sites to familiarize yourself with their "look & feel"

Visit "Help/Tips" sections of Google, Yahoo & Ask
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2
 Google Advanced Search

A. Visit-- www.google.com
Search using the word- king, note the type of sites that appear on first two pages of results.

B. Then visit-  www.google.com/advanced_search
Repeat the search for king but this time use "without words"- burger stephen
to remove Burger King & Stephen King.

C. Repeat search using words- king england.

D. Try using exact phrase box for- kings of England

E. Try again using without word-  Richard, finally try with exact phrase- biographies of the monarchs of England

F. Visit http://www.google.com/help/refinesearch.html for more information and help on using Google's Advanced Search features.

If time permits try the same exercises at Ask.com Advanced (http://www.ask.com/webadvanced) Search page

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3
 How Much Does That Word Cost ?
 
How Much? Movie Link Before you start this exercise, you can watch a video of the steps below by click on this movie link
(requires that Flash plugin be installed on your computer)
 
To find out how much a key word or phrase costs today

A. Visit-- www.overture.com

B. Using the "Search the Web" box in upper right of page, search for a word.

C. A new page with search results will open.

D. Click on small blue link "View Advertisers' Max Bids" in upper right corner

E. A popup box will open which will require you to enter a code number.

F. Type the code in to the box exactly as viewed (it is case sensitive).
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4
 Endings Sure Do Make a Difference!

Visit the following sites and briefly describe the probable owner of  and the intended purpose of each site

www.whitehouse.net

www.whitehouse.gov

www.whitehouse.com
 www.congress.gov/

www.congress.org
www.house.gov

www.house.com
www.senate.gov

www.senate.com		 www.uakron.edu

www.uakron.org

www.uakron.net
 www.parliament.uk

www.parliament.gr/

www.parliament.ru/

www.parliament.gov.za/

Limiting the Endings of Pages Found
 
You can limit pages found in a search to specific domain ending by adding site:xyz (where xyz = a specific ending) to the end of your search text. Try it.
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5
 Danger Signs

Visit the following sites, making sure you type address exactly as below...


or if you are within the NEOnet Firewall-


****************************************************************************************

Additional Fake/Scam Sites (not listed in the printed version of the workbook)
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6
 Climbing Up The Tree

Before completing Exercises 6 or 7, please read the supplemental online description of RWS
A. Visit-- http://history.cc.ukans.edu/heritage/research/rr/rrhistory.html

Remove URL text from the right of the last "/", press Enter on your keyboard, then note resulting page. Repeat process to next "/". Repeat steps until you have removed the "/" following .edu each time noting the resulting pages.

B. Visit link below, repeating steps as above

C. Visit link below

Remove URL text from right of last "/", press Enter.
Note the listing of files, this is commonly referred to as a directory and results when no index.html or default.htm file is present in a folder or sub folder on a web server.
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7
 Recursive Searching

Before completing Exercises 6 or 7, please read the supplemental online description of RWS

Practice using the recursive searching techniques
  1. Climbing Up & Down the Trees
  2. Changing file type endings
  3. Substituing characters
  4. Using portion of URL in search
  5. Ctrl-F to find a word within a page
  6. Site Map- Visit ABC News.com and use their site map to browse site
  7. Authorative site on subject, then search within site or using terms found on the site in search engines
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8
 Teaching with Primary Source Materials

A. Visit-- http://www.archives.gov/national_archives_experience/
Browse the resources there.
Who sponsors this site?
 
B. Visit-- http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D
Browse the resources there.
Who sponsors this site?

C. Visit-- http://www.geocities.com/garebel942/
Browse the resources there.
Who sponsors this site?
Who has links from this site?
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9
 Indexes & Databases

A. Visit-- http://www.infohio.org
Browse the resources there.
Compare and contrast these resources vs. previous sites you have visited?

B. What are the trade off's of compiled Indexes & Databases vs. Search Engine indexed sites

C. Note this site is actually a collection of individual sites, most require InfOhio to pay a fee for use.
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10
 Who Owns It?
WhoIs Movie Link Before you start this exercise, you can watch a video of the steps below by click on this movie link
(requires that Flash plugin be installed on your computer)

A. Visit-- http://www.networksolutions.com/

B. Perform a WhoIs search for following sites:
 
martinlutherking.org
msn.com
congress.org
neonetda.org
mogadore.org
mogadore.net
k8zt.com
any of the addresses listed in exercise #4 above

C. Discuss the differences between Site Ownership and Content Controller

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11
 Indexes & Databases

A. Visit-- http://www.infohio.org
Browse the resources there.
Compare and contrast these resources vs. previous sites you have visited?

B. What are the trade off's of compiled Indexes & Databases vs. Search Engine indexed sites

C. Note this site is actually a collection of individual sites, most require InfOhio to pay a fee for use.


11
 Who Links to It?

A. First visit each site below.

B. Then perform a Link Search for each of the sites using-- www.altavista.com
or another search engine.
     Use the format-- link:www.xyz.com (replacing xyz.com with name of actual site)
 
Site
 Link Search
www.martinlutherking.org link:www.martinluther
king.org
www.neonetda.org link:www.neonetda.org
www.geocities.com/garebel942 link:www.geocities.com/
 garebel942
www.zundelsite.org link:www.zundelsite.org
www.k8z.comt link:www.k8zt.com
 
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12
 Information Literacy

Visit-- www.mogadore.net/ portal/search.html#il

Explore the links to the sites listed and get a general idea of the variety of resources that are available for use in teaching Information Literacy.


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13
 What Others are Reading & Writing About on Web-
Portals, Blogs & Social Bookmarking

A. Visit web portals from the link below: http://webtrends.about.com/od/ webportals/a/topten_portals.htm
Compare variety of portals. What makes a site a portal? What advantages and disadvantages of using portals for finding information? Find other portal sites.

B.Visit- http://technorati.com and search for information from blogs. Answer same questions from above for blogs

C. Visit- http://websearch.about.com/od/ bestwebsites/tp/freebookmarks.htm     
to explore Social/Online Bookmarking Sites/Services listed there
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14
 Gleaning

Visit ...
 
A. Create a Bookmark or Favorite for the site.

B. Copy just the body text (not the title) into a word processing (WP)  program

C. Remove all the extra paragraph returns* at the end of each line of text while maintaining valid returns at end of each paragraph (hint- find & replace)

D. Copy table to word processing program, repeat with spreadsheet program

E. Copy the large title text at the top of the page and paste into a WP.
Why will not copy? How can you copy it?


 * To view the paragraph returns (they will not print) in your word processor make the following adjustments to your WP program

Microsoft Word-- From top menu go to Tools...Options, select the "View" tab of the dialog box, check the box under "Formating marks" lableled "Paragraph returns"

Open Office Write-- From top menu go to Tools...Options, select the "Formatting Aids" under category "Text Document" on the left side of the dialog box, then on right side of dialog box, check the box lableled "Paragraph ends" under "Display"

Other Word Processing Programs-- Although each program may vary in procedure most involve either the Tools, View or File..Settings menu. Different programs may refer to paragraph returns as "non-printing characters", "invisibles", "formatting marks", etc.
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15
 Copyright

A. Visit and browse the following sites--


B. Digital Milennium Copytright Act of 1998-

Summary from Copyright Office- http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf

Ovierview by UCLA Online Institute for Cyberspace Law and Policy-


C. Paper Mills- Find at least two sources of online research papers offered for sale or gratis to students.


16
  Action Plan

Make a list of 6 key points or techniques you have learned today that you plan to incorporate in your teaching and/or share with your students

  1. _____________________________
  2. _____________________________
  3. _____________________________
  4. _____________________________
  5. _____________________________
  6. _____________________________
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Bonus
  Bonus
A. Find an image of your instructor or a classmate on the web.
B. Find a reference to you on a page you or your employer created
C. Find a reference to you or your instructor on a page in a foreign language


Cats Click Links
Below to
Return
Mogadore Local Schools Web Page
MogadoreHS/JHSPortal Page
OHS Elementary Portal Page

All pages of the web site http://www.mogadore.net are copyrighted (1999-2008)
 by Anthony A. Luscre (Webmaster) and/or the Mogadore Local School District and all rights are reserved.
Please contact the webmaster for permission to use original materials--
mo_luscre @ mogadore.net. Click here for legal disclaimer & notice of privacy