Library Help
Simple Searching Techniques
AltaVista
(www.altavista.digital.com)
The engine defaults to an OR search so you want to
do one of the following:
-
+ in front of a word means it must contain this word.
Equivalent to an AND search.
Example: +boston +tea +party
-
- in front of a word means it can not contain this word.
Equivalent to NOT search.
Example: +boston +tea +party -music
-
" " around a phrase to make the engine treat it
as if it were a single word.
Example: "boston tea party"
Excite (www.excite.com)
This search engine defaults to a FUZZY AND search
so you want do one of the following:
-
just type in the words you want it to search
Example : boston tea party
-
- in front of a word means it can not contain this word.
Equivalent to NOT search
Example: +boston +tea +party -music
-
use it's special features to find sites like the one you
found.
-
Excite does NOT do phrase searching at all.
HotBot (www.hotbot.com)
This search engine defaults to a AND search so you
want to do one of the following:
-
just type in the words you want it to search
Example : boston tea party
-
- in front of a word means it can not contain this word.
Equivalent to NOT search.
Example: +boston +tea +party -music
-
" " around a phrase to make the engine treat it as if
it were a single word.
Example: "boston tea party"
-
To do an OR search select any of the words.
Infoseek (www.infoseek.com)
The engine defaults to an OR search so you want to
do one of the following:
-
+ in front of a word means it must contain this word.
Equivalent to an AND search.
Example: +boston +tea +party
-
- in front of a word means it can not contain this word.
Equivalent to NOT search.
Example: +boston +tea +party -music
-
Has an automatic parsing device for phrases.
Lycos (www.lycos.com)
The engine defaults to an OR search so you want to
do one of the following:
-
+ in front of a word means it must contain this word.
Equivalent to an AND search.
Example: +boston +tea +party
-
- in front of a word means it can not contain this word.
Equivalent to NOT search.
Example: +boston +tea +party -music
-
. after a phase to use exact phrase and order.
Advanced Searching
Chart for all of the above Search Engines