| Searching for Information Resources
You are now ready to search the WEB for answers and retrieve information resources that may help create solutions to financial management challenges. There are three searching strategies:
There are five basic categories of engines. Realize though that the clear distinctions between the various categories are getting more and more blurry. Examples of each type of engine are provided. Not all search engines however are listed. 1. Indexes are true search engines. They are the mother load of databases because they collect everything on the net. They scan the web 24 hours an day and automatically catalog pages they come across. 2. Directories are not as comprehensive as search engines but have better organization. They organize their information by category. The organization is done partly or completely by terms the page creators submit or make available for the automatic search engines to find. Directories often rate the probability that the site is what you are actually looking for. 3. Special search sites - These sites are set up to help focus your search. There are engines that locate business sites only or people. 4. Multiple search engine sites - These sites send your search to multiple search engines at the same time. This eliminates your need to go to the different engines. You will get, however, multiple listings for the same site and are more likely to be overwhelmed with total hits. Performing a Search Alta Vista is the search engine chosen for this class because it has a large and comprehensive database. No two search engines are exactly alike. This information is Alta Vista specific. If you use another search engines, this brief guide may not answer all your questions. To get to the Alta Vista search engine click on the search box directly under the location window in Netscape. You will be taken to the Netscape Net Center. Use your mouse to scroll down the page until you find a category called Search Engines. Then click on Alta Vista. This process will pull up the main Alta Vista search screen. Using this screen is straightforward. Click in the search field, type in the text you want to search for and then either click on SEARCH or press ENTER. Alta Vista will perform the search and a short time later return the results. In most cases that process will yield you many returns, sometimes called "hits". You will want to refine your searches to a point where you get a manageable number of returns. So before you start searching for anything, try to come up with a phrase or a set of words that you think will refine your search. Once you have done that you can type the words using the proper syntax. The following chart explains the syntax in Alta Vista using: 1. regular words, NOTE that when using the + and - parameters, you need to place a space between the end of a word and the + or - parameter,.i.e., money +credit, not money+credit. If you don’t include the space, the search will be inaccurate.
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