For this project, you will be evaluating and reviewing an internet research tool. You will find the name of and link to your assigned tool on the class wiki (ENG 1020, ENG 122).
Write a review of the research tool assigned to you and post the review in your blog. Your review should include all of the following information that is relevant for the type of tool you were assigned:
Name of and link to the tool
Summary or description of the tool
Strengths
Weaknesses
Search engines, directories, and other applications searched
Databases
Operators
Case sensitivity
Stop words
Advanced search function
Limits
Sorting
Display
Help function
Special features
See the column headings of the Search Engine Features Chart for explanations if needed. You can see sample reviews by clicking on links here and here.
Use the department and course number (ENG 1020 or ENG 122) and other appropriate tags (”Labels” on Blogger) for the post.
The first meta search engine I used (several years ago) was Dogpile. At the time, it displayed results from different search engines (about seventeen, as I recall) separately with maybe five results from each and a link to the rest. By the time I got to the last search engine in the list, the results had usually timed out.
Since then, most meta search engines that I’ve used have combined the results into one list, using how often and how high each site appeared in the results from the various search engines to determine its ranking in the meta search engine. Recently, some meta search engines have gone back to the original method of displaying results: by source. This method is not nearly as useful as combining the search results and ranking them.
I’ve decided to call the second type multi search engines as opposed to meta search engines, which combine the results. I’ve put together a list of 73 meta and multi search engines and designated them as either or both:
* The links to Federated Query Server and Wbsearch are currently not working.
** FinQoo is currently not working.
*** InCrawler appears to be only a directory not a meta search engine.
**** KillerInfo is currently being rebuilt.
To complete the project, you will need to join the College Research wiki. (I’d recommend bookmarking the site.) Please create a username that is clearly yours. You’ll need to choose a password and provide your e-mail address, which I would recommend not displaying, and your first and last names, which are not displayed. You don’t need to complete the profile.
To write your review, click on the Easy Edit button at the top of the page and use the formatting functions as you would in a word processing program. You don’t have to insert tables, images, or widgets, so don’t worry about those functions if you’re not comfortable with them.
The only things on the review page that should be deleted are the instructions in square brackets. You will replace those instructions with the actual information indicated.
Use the evaluation criteria discussed in class to help determine the grade you give your search engine or metacrawler.
Please don’t make changes to any pages except the one created for your review. (I’ll put the grades in the tables listing the search engines and metacrawlers.) If you do make a mistake or delete something you didn’t want to, it can be restored, so don’t worry.
Post three times in your blog (research journal), using the numbers, letters, and phrases in bold as the titles of your respective posts:
6a: Using Internet Search Tools–Write a paragraph or more discussing what search engines or other internet search tools you regularly use to do internet research, why you use those particular tools, and what you like and dislike about them. Please include links to the tools you discuss. You might also want to bookmark them in your Delicious account so you can find them easily in the future.
6b: Testing Assigned Search Tool–Using search strings incorporating operators supported by your assigned search engine or metacrawler (ENG 1020, ENG 122), test it by searching for websites on your research topic. Bookmark any relevant sites in your Delicious account, and record the following information in your research journal for each search you conduct:
Resource searched
Keywords used
Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches)
Date of search
Number of hits
Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5)
6c: Planning Field Research–Write a paragraph or more explaining what you are planning to do for your field research. If you will be interviewing someone or conducting a survey, include a list of questions you might ask. If you will be visiting a museum or other location, list what you information will be looking for. Include when you plan to complete your field research. If you are interviewing someone and concerned about his or her privacy, do not include his or her name.
If you need to, continue searching for reference works, books, and periodical articles on your topic. Please follow the instructions in Research Journal Assignments #4 and #5 for what information you should record in your research journal about the items you find and the searches you conduct.
Use the department and course number (ENG 1020 or ENG 122) and other appropriate tags (”Labels” on Blogger) for each of the three posts.
For this project, you will be evaluating and reviewing a search engine or a metacrawler (a search engine that searches other search engines rather than its own database).
Here is the schedule for the project:
First Week: You have been assigned a search engine or metacrawler for your project. Assignments are posted in the class wiki (ENG 1020 (Metro), ENG 122 (Red Rocks)).
In discussion in class, we will determine what criteria you should use to evaluate your search tool. (Final criteria will be listed on the College Research wiki.) You will spend time exploring the search tool you were assigned.
Second Week: You will write a review of the search engine or metacrawler you were assigned and post it on the College Research wiki. You will receive instructions on how to do so at the beginning of the second week of the project. If you start writing your review before then, please do it in a word processing program. You may cut and paste the information into the wiki page next week.
Anyone who successfully completes his or her review may be eligible to do an additional one for extra credit.
I learned about a new metacrawler, Viewzi, which is still in beta testing. After you input your search terms and click on “Search,” you see a row of icons that you can scroll through to select different views and databases for your search:
Web Screenshot View (searches Yahoo)
Simple Text View (searches Alexa Rankings, Google, Yahoo)
Power Grid View (searches Google, Yahoo)
Google Timeline View (searches Google Timeline)
Site Information View (searches Alexa Rankings, Delicious, Google, Summize)
