Unit 7 level
7-8
7. Keywords, contents, indexes, data
bases, search engines
Searching in a book, a catalogue and an
online search engine all need the same thing - first you must
have an idea of what you are looking for.
If you are looking for a holiday for yourself
and your friends you could use the keyword "holiday"
or the keywords "young holiday."
What else could you use?
Searching in a book you might look at the
contents (at the front) first to find if there is a whole
chapter on your subject. You might look in the index (at
the back) to look for specific references to your subject.
So the book "The Greek Islands" by Stavros Nikolaidis
has the whole of chapter 6 on Skipios. The book "Greece
and her Islands" by S. Papadopoulos has five references
to Skipios on different pages.
A search engine searches a data
base of information collected by a person who selects by using
their intelligence or by a robot which visits online sites automatically.
Some search engines ask you to type in
words separately
eg "young" + "holiday"
while others will take words in "quotation marks" and
search only for that phrase.
You do not need to use quotation marks
or + signs for either Google > (http://www.google.com) or the Guardian
Unlimited Archive. 
Search the Guardian
Unlimited Archive at
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/
for the words "holiday" "young holiday" "family
holiday" "island holiday" and for specific places
you might be interested in.
Note how many articles are found.
Change the date buttons so you search only for this year.
How does that change the number of articles available?
Which give you the most and which the best
information?

Visit the Greek
Tourist Board at http://www.areianet.gr/infoxenios
Visit the Greek
Island Postcards at
http://www.greekisland.co.uk/islands/islands.htm
Look for infomation which will help you choose
a place for a holiday for you and your friends.
The Guardian Unlimited
site says the tourist board site is "notable for its detail
and attention to Greek history and myths" while the Postcard
site distinguishes between "touristic" Greece and the
areas that remain unspoilt.
"It is entertaining but can be ... dismissive."
Do you agree?
Go on to Units 8-10
|