Types of Information

The first search tool I tried was Bing.  On the page, there is a help link to help users search more efficiently when using Bing.  It seems to use the OR and NOT Boolean type operators, which helps narrow down your searches.  It also boasts that you don't need to type in the word AND since by default, all searches are AND searches.  Bing has a Related Searches on the left side incase you are not satisfied with your search results in the first place.  It will give out possible give better results by using a slightly different angle compared to how you searched.  Also in the help section, it teaches the user it suggests that you should put the most important words first so that it knows more or less what you might be looking for.  So basically searching for treehouse vacation California returns different results versus typing California treehouse vacation.

From the metasearch tool column, I chose to use the search tool Yippy.  It's search syntax is close to using a Boolean search tool.  For example, like Bing, by default, Yippy searches already include AND in it's search terms.  It also uses OR to find sites that can find at least one of the specified word or phrases.  It also uses the NOT or - syntax search in that it will exclude the word or phrase.  Yippy also ignores caps, so searching for Pumpkin Pie will have the same results like pumpkin pie.  Yippy has this feature called Anatomy of a Cloud in that it helps you see a topical overview of your search results so you can be able to find exactly what you're looking for.  It eliminates having to scroll through pages after pages.  It groups together similar results under the cloud, find relevant results that may not be displayed on the first page and uncover related informations.

The final search tool I used was INFOMINE which is a subject directories tool.  It very much uses the boolean operation type searches for example you can search by typing in industr* and it will search words like industries, industry, industrial, and industrialization.  It's like a virtual library that gives you back educational results in what you are looking for.  It gives the users annotated and indexed links.  According to INFOMINE it collects content with a large second-tier collection of elected and described resources that should complement first-tier collection of expert created records.  Definitely a good way to find out academic and educational resources that you may need when writing a paper.  It also discovers other indexes like Authors, Titles, Resource Types and What's New.

When using Bing I found that when searching with it, you should always put the important words first. It thrives to give you the best results when you place the important words you are mainly looking for first.  It could definitely be useful when looking up either a news about something or trying to learn more about an event or someone.  Using Yippy was interesting in the sense that it uses several search engines at once to find what you are looking for.  It would definitely help when researching something versus just using one search tool like Bing.  I feel Yippy would produce more results and most likely more specific since it's utilizing more than just one search engine.  Finally INFOMINE was interesting, I have never heard of the search tool, like Yippy.  It reminded me very much like using a academic-type of data base like Proquest.  It can rely heavily on using boolean type of searches and uses expert and academic kind of resources to search what you are looking for.  I could see my self using INFOMINE as another search tool when doing a research project, as well as Yippy.  But for Bing, I almost feel like if I am going to use a regular search tool, it may as well be Google.