Online Information Retrieval Tools Techniques Rajesh Singh Deputy

Online Information Retrieval: Tools & Techniques Rajesh Singh Deputy Librarian University of Delhi DELHI rajeshzone 29@gmail. com TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 1

My credentials § Information Literacy Program (ILP) at University of Delhi, since 2006. § E-Resource Orientation Programs Campus Departments Colleges § IL Annual Workshops Sciences § § § Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities § Training The Trainers IL Workshop College Libraries Campus Libraries § Hands on Training College Faculty Members Optional short term course ‘Information Literacy for Research Competency’. “Online Tutorial on Information Literacy” http: //crl. du. ac. in/ot/ Promoting DULS ILP as a model for rest of the Universities in India. TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 2

Features of e-Resources Huge information reservoir Up-to-date information Multimedia format Interactive Quick information retrieval 24 X 7 Availability Multidisciplinary approach Peer-reviewed Information sources Various search options Special services i. e. SDI, Alerts, etc. Standardized citations TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 3

Features of e-Resources n Thus it Facilitate : My folder/ my profile/ my settings etc. Selection of Journals for searching Download/save/mail search results. Locate a Publication Visual Search/Concept Map Common/Federated Search (Possible Searches) Number of databases One subject or a group of subjects Particular Journal/ Author TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 4

O n d a o l r e v o i t a o f n I m r TTT Workshop on Information Literacy 2015 DULS Rajesh. July, Singh, 5

Information Environment n Information made available through web information retrieval tools such as search engines provides thousands of search results which may not be useful if they are not indexed properly. n Information retrieval tools such as Search engines crawl the Web and log the words from the web pages they find in their databases. n Without a clear information retrieval strategy, using a search engine is like wondering aimlessly in the stacks of a library trying to find a particular book. TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 Rajesh Singh, DULS 6

Information Environment n Use of information retrieval tools for searches of electronic resources are more effective if you know how to "talk to“. n Communicating with these systems requires knowing certain basic search techniques. n These techniques are very important for getting good search results. n These techniques will vastly improve your search results while searching the Internet. TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 Rajesh Singh, DULS 7

Categories of Information on the Web Before we begin, we first need a little understanding about how information is stored and accessed on the Web. There are basically three categories of information on the Web: The Free, Visible Web. This category includes all the publicly mounted Web pages. These pages are indexed by search engines. To find information from this category, use a good search engine or directory. TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 Rajesh Singh, DULS 8

Categories of Information on the Web… The Free, Invisible Web. This category includes the contents of sites that provide their articles or information free to users, but that content may be accessible only by going directly to the site. In other words, search engines cannot index it. Some magazines, newspapers, reference works, and other sites are in this category. Many databases such as legal, medical, and financial are here, too. To find information from this category, you must go to the appropriate database. Paid Databases over the Web. This category includes commercial databases that libraries subscribe to, containing scholarly journals, newspapers, court cases and the like. Providers like Elsevier, EBSCO, UMI Proquest, JSTOR and others are in this group. To find information from this category, you must have access to the database and search on the database using the particular search engine and its features. TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 Rajesh Singh, DULS 9

Information Retrieval Tool Types Search Engines. A search engine consists of the interface you use to type in a query, an index of Web sites that the query is matched with, and a software program (called a spider or robot) that goes out on the Web and gets new sites for the index. The robot crawls the Web at certain intervals, in order to index new material. When you use a search engine, you are asking it to look in its index to find matches with the words you have typed in. Many search engines may also have news, weather, free software, picture indexes, ratings of web sites, and other features. Directories are categorized lists of sites picked out by human editors. Directory databases are therefore much smaller than those of search engines. However, the fact that the sites are hand picked often means that you will find very high quality sites or articles in the results. Example directories are Yanza, Look Smart, and intute. TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 Rajesh Singh, DULS 10

What is a search engine? A Tool! TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 11

What is a search engine? n n Search tool most often used. Finds web pages by using small, automated computer programs called spiders or crawlers. Advantage – Sites are recorded and updated automatically so the database is HUGE. Disadvantage – Search engines do not evaluate the web sites for content or accuracy. TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 12

Search Engines n Search engines are the preferred tool when you: q q Are looking for something very specific Need to pin down a quick fact or two Need to know if any information exists at all on a subject Want mass quantities of links, but are not concerned about quality control. TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 13

Examples – Search Engines n n n Google – www. google. com Altavista- www. altavista. com Lycos- www. lycos. com Yahoo! Search – http: //search. yahoo. com Excite – www. excite. com Alltheweb – www. alltheweb. com TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 14

Subject Directories n n n A subject directory is a database of titles, citations, and websites organized by category. Advantage – Most directories are edited, maintained and created by people. q Usually they are carefully evaluated annotated for this reason. Disadvantage – Typically include a smaller number of sites than a search engine due to the great amount of human effort involved. TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 15

Subject Directories n n Subject directories are organized and selective. They are useful when you want to know more about broad-based subjects, such as q q q General topics Popular topics Targeted directories Current events Product information TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 16

Subject Directories n Examples of Subject Directories q q q q Bubl Information Services http: //bubl. ac. uk/ Infomine http: //infomine. ucr. edu/ Intute http: //www. intute. ac. uk/ Math. Guide http: //www. mathguide. de/ Pinakes: A Subject Launchpad http: //www. hw. ac. uk/ Socio. Site http: //www. sociosite. net/ WWW Virtual Library http: //vlib. org/ Yenza http: //www. nrf. ac. za/yenza/ TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 17

Metasearch Engines n n n Meta searches use multiple engines to look for your keywords. Advantage – You have many search engines all looking for what you need. Great when you are looking for something that is hard to find. Disadvantage – It’s hard to fine tune your search and narrow things down. Also, Meta searches can sometimes give you more information than what you need. TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 18

Examples - Metasearches n n Beaucoup! – www. beaucoup. com Clusty – http: //clusty. com Mamma, “the mother of all search engines”- www. mamma. com Ixquick – www. ixquick. com TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 19

Federated/Meta Search Engines @ DULS TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 20

Overall Structure Research Topic Specialist sub-area Relevant Primary research Your research question TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 21

Information Retrieval Tips … Recall, Relevance, and Precision TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 Rajesh Singh, DULS 22

Information Retrieval Strategy STEP 1: STATE WHAT YOU WANT TO FIND First, in one or two sentences, state what you want to find. Example: n Cognitive Architecture of the Depressed. n Globalization and its impact on the Indian Working Class. TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 Rajesh Singh, DULS 23

Information Retrieval Strategy STEP 2: IDENTIFY KEYWORDS Underline the main concepts in the statement. Example: n Cognitive Architecture of the Depressed. n Globalization and its impact on the Indian Working Class. TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 Rajesh Singh, DULS 24

Information Retrieval Strategy STEP 3: SELECT SYNONYMS AND VARIANT WORD FORMS List synonyms, alternate spellings, and variant word forms of each. Example: Alternate terms of Software Reengineering: Computer software reengineering, reengineering of Software, software renovation, software renewal, software engineering, software maintenance, computer software reusability, etc. TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 Rajesh Singh, DULS 25

Information Retrieval Strategy STEP 4: COMBINE SYNONYMS, KEYWORDS, AND VARIANT WORD FORMS. Using different searching techniques/ connectors / operators. TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 Rajesh Singh, DULS 26

Information Retrieval Strategy STEP 5: GIVE A CONTEXT Ø Genetic Mutation Ø Ø Human, Animal, Plants Foreign Direct Investment Ø India, 2010 -2014 TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 Rajesh Singh, DULS 27

Information Retrieval Strategy STEP 6: CHECK YOUR SPELLING A Search engines return websites with words that match your keywords. If you misspell a keyword, your results will contain websites where that word is also misspelled. TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 Rajesh Singh, DULS 28

/ p a h M c Related t r p a e e Pu c Topics S n l b o a S lic C su e i a a V rc h Search es qu Techni tio n TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 Rajesh Singh, DULS 29

Search Techniques Phrase Search Field Search Boolean operators Proximity Search Controlled Vocabulary Concept Map TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 Rajesh Singh, DULS 30

Search Techniques Limiting/ Refining Searches Publication Search Visual Search Related Topics TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015 Rajesh Singh, DULS 31

Online Information Retrieval: Tools & Techniques Thanks TTT Workshop on Information Literacy July, 2015