What is a Web Search Tool?
Web search tools, commonly known as “search engines,” are defined as a large collection of pointers to Web pages. This set of pages can be explored with a search interface or a directory. We will only focus on those tools that are free to access through the Web. What are Specialty Search Tools? These tools are some of the more focused tools available online. It is estimated that 80% of the Internet is not available through the general Web search tools. The key to finding resources in this “invisible Web” are specialty search tools, and while these can be difficult to find, unlock information available nowhere else. Objectives: By the end of the class, students should be able to: 1. Understand the different technologies that go into the search tools, both from a theoretical and an applied perspective 2. Use advanced features of commercial bibliographic databases 2. Identify invisible Web resources and know the tools to seek them out 3. Choose between the different types of search tools
