Learning Objectives
    To understand what a metasearch tool is and what it is not.
    To be aware of a variety of metasearch tools available and their features.
    To be able to effectively use a metasearch tool.

AGENDA

I.      Introductions

II.    What is a metasearch tool?

            A metasearch tool is a utility for searching the internet which will send your search query to several different search engines and/or subject directories and return the results from each.  Some metasearch tools will collate the results and others will present the results separately for each search engine it has tried  On  the plus side, using a metasearch tool allows for conducting your search across many search engines and subject directories at once so it saves time. Another plus is that the search will be run using both popular search tools and some lesser known ones.  The downside is that most metasearch engines will not conduct the search across all of the major search engines (i.e., very few search both Google and AltaVista). Additionally, if one includes search syntax such as the plus sign + (to require terms), the minus sign - (to exclude terms) and double quotes (to indicate a phrase) not all of the search tools being searched within a metasearch engine support these syntax features. Results may be inconsistent or not what was expected.

III.  Metasearch Tools and Their Features
 

Dogpile    http://www.dogpile.com Ixquick    http://www.ixquick.com Inquirus    http://www.inquirus.com Profusion    http://www.profusion.com

Metacrawler    http://www.metacrawler.com Vivisimo    http://www.vivisimo.com Search.com    http://www.search.com

IV.    Exercises

V.     Evaluation