Know Your Research Tools

Research tools differ in what information they index for searching. Tools such as Infotrac by default do a keyword search just on the title, any assigned subject headings, and any annotation. A keyword search for a word or phrase can be expanded to include the entire text of the document by using a check box, but it is an extra step that is often ommitted.

Google and similar search tools may report that millions of articles contain a search term, but these tools typically index only the first few hundred matches for retreival - the remainder are difficult or impossible to retrieve.

To learn more about the limitations of a tool, look at its "Help" and any "Advanced Search" page. A good website for learning the nuances of search engines is www.searchenginewatch.com - this site is written for both the searcher and the marketer who wants to advance their placement in search engine results, so it provides information on indexing and data retreival.
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