Search the Webquest

 Created by Rob Darrow (robdarrow [at] cusd.com) Updated:  February 1, 2009 

Introduction

I first wrote this WebQuest in September 1998 when the World Wide Web was very new.  I was the teacher-librarian working with seventh and eighth grade students and I wanted them to know that there was more to searching than just the Yahoo Directory (yes, this was before the Google days).  Each time I have updated this, I have learned more about how web searches have changed.  This time, I have learned that there is literally a search for anything you want – there are searches just for music and video downloads, blog entries, magazine articles, lesson plans, historical images, phone numbers, etc.

The one thing that has not changed is that no one search mechanism finds everything that is on the web.  The Internet itself (which includes everything that is online) is expected to double every five years (http://www.physorg.com/news151162452.html).  There were 100.1 million websites according to the entry about the World Wide Web in Wikipedia as of March 2008.  And Google says they have indexed over 1 trillion websites as of August 2008 (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/we-knew-web-was-big.html).  You may notice that there is something that doesn’t add up – 100 million vs. 1 trillion.  All agree the Web continues to grow in size and that many of these websites are publicly accessible and found via public searches such as Google or Yahoo.  However, there is also a section of the Web that is not accessible via Google or Yahoo – many people call this the “invisible” or “deep” web.  This information is only accessible if you know they exist (some of these can only be accessed via a subscription but many are freely accessible).  It is estimated that the deep web is 500 times larger than the surface or commercial web (so, let’s see 1 trillion X 500 = ???).  It is important to know that just because one search does not find what you want, this does not mean it does not exist. 

The various types of search mechanisms on the web include

• search engines (search the entire web or an entire website, generally organized by machines)
• index/directories (list of categories, generally organized by humans)
• metasearch engines (uses many search mechanisms, generally organized by machines). 

Task

The purpose of this webquest is to learn now different web search mechanisms find different types of information.  Your job is for you and/or a partner to evaluate at least one search in each of the six (6) search categories below.  You will evaluate each search by:

• the number of hits
• does it find what you want?
• What type of information does it find?  (general info, scholarly research, videos, etc.??) 

When you’re finished, you should be able to pass this search engine quiz - http://websearch.about.com/library/quizzes/search_engine_quiz/blsearchenginequiz.htm .

• Use the SAME search term or topic for each search – you may want to use quotes to learn how this changes the output of your search.
• Either copy and paste the chart below into your word processing program or download the document here to begin.

SEARCH CATEGORIES

General Searching

·        All the Web - www.alltheweb.com

·        Alta Vista - www.altavista.com  

·        Ask – www.ask.com

·        Clusty - http://clusty.com/

·        Excite – www.excite.com

·        Google – www.google.com

·        Hot Bot - www.hotbot.com   

·        Kartoo - http://www.kartoo.com/flash.php3 

·        Librarian's Index to Internet - www.lii.org  

·        Open Directory - http://www.dmoz.org/

·        Search Cube - www.search-cube.com

•   Technorati - http://technorati.com/

·        Yahoo - www.yahoo.com/

• Duck Duck Go - http://duckduckgo.com/
• Haikia - http://www.hakia.com/
• Kosmix - http://www.kosmix.com/

Student Searches

·        The Awesome Library - http://www.awesomelibrary.org

·        Ask Kids - http://www.askkids.com

·        Cybersleuth Kids - http://cybersleuth-kids.com

·        Kids Click  - www.kidsclick.org 

·        Yahoo Kids - http://kids.yahoo.com/

·        High School Ace - http://highschoolace.com/ace/ace.cfm

·        Kid Searches all on one page - http://www.rcls.org/ksearch.htm

Deep/Invisible Web Searches

• Beaucoup - http://www.beaucoup.com/
• Infomine – http://infomine.ucr.edu/

Metasearches

• Dogpile - http://www.dogpile.com/
• Ixquick - http://ixquick.com/
• Mamma - www.mamma.com
• Metacrawler - http://www.metacrawler.com/ 

Image Searches

• AltaVista Images – http://www.altavista.com/image/default
• ArtsEdge - http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/search/
• Ditto - http://www.ditto.com/
• Google Images – http://images.google.com/
• PicSearch - http://www.picsearch.com/
• Yahoo Images - http://images.search.yahoo.com/

Other Education Related Searches/Resources

• Calisphere  - www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/
• Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators - http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/  
• Discovery Education Homework Helper - http://school.discoveryeducation.com/homeworkhelp/
• BJ Pinchbeck’s Homework Helper - www.bjpinchbeck.com/index.html
• Thinkfinity (lesson plans) - www.thinkfinity.org/
• USAGov (all US government content including National Archives and Library of Congress) - www.usa.gov/
• National Archives – www.archives.gov
• Library of Congress – www.loc.gov
• Teacher Tube – www.teachertube.com/
• You Tube – www.youtube.com

Other specialized searches - http://webquest.sdsu.edu/searching/specialized.html

Process

You may work by yourself or with one other student to complete this project.  The following is a recommended plan for evaluating the search mechanisms:

1. Decide on your search term(s) or topic.
2. Choose a search mechanism
3. In the "search" box, type in your search term and hit the return/enter key or click on "search"
4. Look at your results
5. Write down your findings
6. Choose another search mechanism and repeat the process
7. After you have evaluated at least one search mechanism in each of the six (6) categories, then decide which one you like the best and write the reason.
8. If extra time, try some other search mechanisms.

Evaluation

1. Completion of the "Search the Web Webquest" worksheet and answer these questions:

• Which search did you like the best?  Why?
• What is one thing you learned from this assignment?
• How does this assignment help you to become a better user of information (information literate)?

2. Can you pass the search engine quiz? - http://websearch.about.com/library/quizzes/search_engine_quiz/blsearchenginequiz.htm .

Conclusion

The purpose of this quest was for you to determine which search mechanisms work best for you.  It is also important to realize that different search mechanisms work better for finding different types of information.  Did you find the information you needed?  Which search worked best for what you needed?

Developed by Rob Darrow, Clovis Unified School District, (robdarrow at cusd.com).

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