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Photo by mac_funUsing the Internet as a powerful research tool
There is a wealth of information easily available on the Internet and various search engines can be used to research and locate the specific information you need. Some of these search engines have been around for quite a while and produce excellent results – others are fairly new to the Internet and may have different methods for achieving the same results. The more popular search engines will give you the most dependable results since they are maintained on a regular basis.
Most of these search engines are considered ‘web crawlers’; that is, the ‘spider’ portion of the engine continuously crawls over the Internet to find a corresponding Web page and then follows the links that have been made to other pages. These pages get added to the index of the search engine. Then, when you enter your word or phrase as the search criteria, the engine looks through these indexed pages to find matches for your criteria and delivers the results to you in ranking order depending on its relevance to your request.
Now, let’s take a look at some search engines that are currently available and use the links below to access these pages. If you are not yet very familiar or comfortable with using the Internet for this purpose, use this exercise to examine the sites and actually perform some searches. Access each search engine mentioned below and enter the same search criteria to see the various results that will be produced. This exercise may help you determine which engine to use when performing your Internet searches.
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/article.php/2167961
Ask Jeeves www.ask.com
Use this natural language search engine to ask questions related to the information you need. For example, when I entered the question “where can I find information about technical writing”, a few of the following search results were returned:
macadamian.com www.macadamian.com
This is a website about a software engineering and consulting firm specializing in working with hardware and software companies to develop new products
stc.org www.stc.org
This is the web site for Society for Technical Communication which is a professional association for technical communicators
So as you can see, this search engine produced many different results: an online resource for receiving a technical degree, a consulting firm, and a professional organization. While this very well might be your intention, it could also cost you a lot of time if the results are not specific enough and you find yourself having to search and search and search to find exactly what you need. This can easily cause you to go through many hours searching the Internet.
There are various search tools available on the Web. To determine which one of these tools will work for you, it will be helpful to know how they were designed so you can receive the results you need.
AltaVista http://www.altavista.com
This search engine delivers useful information due to the fact that it has numerous indices. You can perform simple searches by entering the words or phrase specific to your request. When you enter capitalized words, the search will become case-sensitive and only those words spelled exactly as they were entered will be returned.
To search a phrase, include your words within double quotes. For example, type “Technical Writing Certification” and you will receive a set of results that include links for only technical writing certification sites.
To eliminate a word from your search results, identify it with a - before the word to ‘subtract’ it from your result set.. For example, type “Technical Writing” -Online and you will receive a set of results related to technical writing that is not associated with the word online.
To include a word to your search results, identify the word with a + before the word to ‘add’ it to your result set. For example, type “Technical Writing” +Online and you will receive a set of results related to technical writing that is also associated with the word online.
Remember – if you enter a string of words within double quotes, you will receive a list of sites that correspond exactly to the order in which the words appear within the double quotes. So if you enter “Technical Writing Certification”, your search will return sites that have these three words in the exact order in which they were entered. If you enter technical writing +certification, your search will return sites that have any one of these words appearing in any order within the results set. Either of these methods might be appropriate depending on the type of results you would like to see.
You can also use wildcards to substitute any combination of letters. For example, type tech*** and you will receive a set of results that include Georgia Tech, CNET technology news, the Tech Museum of Innovation, and several other non-related topics. This might be helpful if you are not exactly sure of the spelling for the word. This feature may not be available when using other search engines.
By using the advanced search feature, you can really narrow down your results even further. For example, type “Technical Writing” +Certification -Online will produce a list of results for technical writing certification but not those that are performed online. These examples illustrate how you can best narrow your criteria in order to get specific and targeted results from your Internet search.
Google http://www.google.com
This is a fairly new search engine and has many of the same features that are described above for Alta Vista. It produces good results and also has an advanced search capability. It has become the most popular search engine!
Excite http://www.excite.com
This search engine uses a combination of text and subject indices. You can sort your results by relevance or search engine.
Lycos http://www.lycos.com
This search engine has been around for quite a while and it continues to be fast although it does not have the advanced search capabilities and robust features as some other engines.
Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com
Although Yahoo is more than just a search engine, it’s simple to use and you can just enter a word to produce a hierarchical subject index listing.
Tips
1. You may want to try different engines to determine which will best fit your needs.
2. If you are on a specific time schedule and don’t want to spend hours searching, you should spend a few minutes up front to narrow your criteria to produce exactly the results you need.
There is a wealth of information easily available on the Internet and various search engines can be used to research and locate the specific information you need. Some of these search engines have been around for quite a while and produce excellent results – others are fairly new to the Internet and may have different methods for achieving the same results. The more popular search engines will give you the most dependable results since they are maintained on a regular basis.
Most of these search engines are considered ‘web crawlers’; that is, the ‘spider’ portion of the engine continuously crawls over the Internet to find a corresponding Web page and then follows the links that have been made to other pages. These pages get added to the index of the search engine. Then, when you enter your word or phrase as the search criteria, the engine looks through these indexed pages to find matches for your criteria and delivers the results to you in ranking order depending on its relevance to your request.
Now, let’s take a look at some search engines that are currently available and use the links below to access these pages. If you are not yet very familiar or comfortable with using the Internet for this purpose, use this exercise to examine the sites and actually perform some searches. Access each search engine mentioned below and enter the same search criteria to see the various results that will be produced. This exercise may help you determine which engine to use when performing your Internet searches.
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/article.php/2167961
Ask Jeeves www.ask.com
Use this natural language search engine to ask questions related to the information you need. For example, when I entered the question “where can I find information about technical writing”, a few of the following search results were returned:
macadamian.com www.macadamian.com
This is a website about a software engineering and consulting firm specializing in working with hardware and software companies to develop new products
stc.org www.stc.org
This is the web site for Society for Technical Communication which is a professional association for technical communicators
So as you can see, this search engine produced many different results: an online resource for receiving a technical degree, a consulting firm, and a professional organization. While this very well might be your intention, it could also cost you a lot of time if the results are not specific enough and you find yourself having to search and search and search to find exactly what you need. This can easily cause you to go through many hours searching the Internet.
There are various search tools available on the Web. To determine which one of these tools will work for you, it will be helpful to know how they were designed so you can receive the results you need.
AltaVista http://www.altavista.com
This search engine delivers useful information due to the fact that it has numerous indices. You can perform simple searches by entering the words or phrase specific to your request. When you enter capitalized words, the search will become case-sensitive and only those words spelled exactly as they were entered will be returned.
To search a phrase, include your words within double quotes. For example, type “Technical Writing Certification” and you will receive a set of results that include links for only technical writing certification sites.
To eliminate a word from your search results, identify it with a - before the word to ‘subtract’ it from your result set.. For example, type “Technical Writing” -Online and you will receive a set of results related to technical writing that is not associated with the word online.
To include a word to your search results, identify the word with a + before the word to ‘add’ it to your result set. For example, type “Technical Writing” +Online and you will receive a set of results related to technical writing that is also associated with the word online.
Remember – if you enter a string of words within double quotes, you will receive a list of sites that correspond exactly to the order in which the words appear within the double quotes. So if you enter “Technical Writing Certification”, your search will return sites that have these three words in the exact order in which they were entered. If you enter technical writing +certification, your search will return sites that have any one of these words appearing in any order within the results set. Either of these methods might be appropriate depending on the type of results you would like to see.
You can also use wildcards to substitute any combination of letters. For example, type tech*** and you will receive a set of results that include Georgia Tech, CNET technology news, the Tech Museum of Innovation, and several other non-related topics. This might be helpful if you are not exactly sure of the spelling for the word. This feature may not be available when using other search engines.
By using the advanced search feature, you can really narrow down your results even further. For example, type “Technical Writing” +Certification -Online will produce a list of results for technical writing certification but not those that are performed online. These examples illustrate how you can best narrow your criteria in order to get specific and targeted results from your Internet search.
Google http://www.google.com
This is a fairly new search engine and has many of the same features that are described above for Alta Vista. It produces good results and also has an advanced search capability. It has become the most popular search engine!
Excite http://www.excite.com
This search engine uses a combination of text and subject indices. You can sort your results by relevance or search engine.
Lycos http://www.lycos.com
This search engine has been around for quite a while and it continues to be fast although it does not have the advanced search capabilities and robust features as some other engines.
Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com
Although Yahoo is more than just a search engine, it’s simple to use and you can just enter a word to produce a hierarchical subject index listing.
Tips
1. You may want to try different engines to determine which will best fit your needs.
2. If you are on a specific time schedule and don’t want to spend hours searching, you should spend a few minutes up front to narrow your criteria to produce exactly the results you need.
3. Utilize operators (+, -, and double quotes) to specify your inquiry and increase the relevancy of your result set.
4. Do not use common terms since they will result in numerous hits.
5. Be specific – you’ll be more likely to get the results you need.
Go to http://searchenginewatch.com/ to find a wealth of information about how search engines work, news articles, reviews, tips, etc.
Resources
There are numerous valuable resources for a technical communicator on the Internet from industry standards to professional organizations. Here are some for your reference.
www.stc.org
The Society for Technical Communications is a professional organization for technical communicators and references publications and seminar/educational programs
www.cptsc.org
The Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication is another professional organization and includes links to related sites
www.ieeepcs.org
The Professional Communication Society is comprised of a diversified group of professionals and promotes technical communications.
www.microsoft.com
Click on the Downloads link and enter “manual of style” as keywords – you will be able to download the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications
www.m-w.com
This is the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary
www.writerswrite.com
This page includes links to many other resources that are useful for technical writers
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/internet/resources/index.html
This site is the Online Writing Lab (OWL) for Purdue University and offers links to many resources
www.resourcehelp.com
Here’s another site that offers many links to other helpful resources
Go to http://searchenginewatch.com/ to find a wealth of information about how search engines work, news articles, reviews, tips, etc.
Resources
There are numerous valuable resources for a technical communicator on the Internet from industry standards to professional organizations. Here are some for your reference.
www.stc.org
The Society for Technical Communications is a professional organization for technical communicators and references publications and seminar/educational programs
www.cptsc.org
The Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication is another professional organization and includes links to related sites
www.ieeepcs.org
The Professional Communication Society is comprised of a diversified group of professionals and promotes technical communications.
www.microsoft.com
Click on the Downloads link and enter “manual of style” as keywords – you will be able to download the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications
www.m-w.com
This is the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary
www.writerswrite.com
This page includes links to many other resources that are useful for technical writers
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/internet/resources/index.html
This site is the Online Writing Lab (OWL) for Purdue University and offers links to many resources
www.resourcehelp.com
Here’s another site that offers many links to other helpful resources
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