RESEARCH THROUGH ALTA VISTA SEARCH ENGINE

Alta Vista is the recommended search engine. It is preferable to Yahoo because of its speed, larger data base and new features which allow users to refine searches and limit searches to a specific time period.

WHEN CAN A SEARCH ENGINE SUCH AS ALTA VISTA BE USED?
• Search engines can be used for any word search.
• Search engines are most effective when used to search a discrete, somewhat unusual term (e.g., a name search) or phrase or for a broader term search which can be modified and refined through Alta Vista's features.
• Important search tip--never use "+" or "and" features--these generate too many irrelevant documents.

EXAMPLE: Search OASIS on Alta Vista (altavista.digital.com)
• Option 1--use full title "Open Access Same-time Information System" (discrete phrase, generates @726 documents)
• Option 2--perform simple search of OASIS, which generates 205,831 documents (many unrelated to transmission access)
• Use advanced search to limit search to period 11/1/96 to 11/1/97, which generates 191,698 documents
• Use Alta Vista "refine" option to exclude all irrelevant terms (e.g.,Alanis, relaxation, etc..), which reduces documents to 83,985
• Use Alta Vista "refine" option second time, and require inclusion of certain terms (e.g., utility, transmission). Final search yields 462 documents