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Internet Scavenger Hunt

Your grandmother, who was born in 1908, once told you about her uncle, Berton Isaac Staples. It seems Uncle Bert and his wife left Vermont and "moved West". He only returned once, but when he did, he brought your grandmother several pieces of Indian jewelry. Your main research project is giving you problems, so you decide to spend a little time trying to uncover more information about this unusual relative. What better place than the Internet?

This search may be a 'for fun' search, but you never know what might turn up. Use your "Internet Search Log" to track your progress and answer these questions along the way. If you need help, click on the red question marks for clues.

Need help?
  • First, define your problem.
  • What do you already know or infer?
  • What keywords will get you started?
  1. Let's test a few search engines. Try these two search parameters, berton isaac staples and "berton isaac staples" in Google and Ask.com.
    1. How many results did you get in each search?
    2. What is the difference between the two search parameters?

  2. Investigate the Ask.com results of the "berton isaac staples" search. They might be interesting. Berton's father was a man named Guy Staples. Oh, no! This page can't be found! There are several possibilities for finding this missing information.
    1. Some search engines, Google and Yahoo Search among them, include "cached" pages, a copy of the page as it was when it was indexed. If the page on Guy Staples has not been missing for long, or has simply been moved to another location, one of these search engines might uncover that new location or yield a cached page.
    2. Try the Internet Archive, http://www.archive.org/ and its "WayBack Machine". Copy the URL for the missing page; insert it in the "WayBack Machine" search box; click "Take Me Back". This may give you an archived copy, or copies, of the missing page. [For this exercise, you'll need a little help. Some time ago, Ancestry took over RootsWeb, including the "Freepages" section. The "WayBack Machine" can't deal with the change in URLs. Delete the word "ancestry" from the URL before pasting it into the "WayBack Machine."]
    3. Of course, you can try to contact the page's author and ask for information.

  3. Metasearch engines search other search engines' results. I don't recommend metasearch engines because their results are incomplete and unreliable, but sometimes an interesting site appears in a search engine you haven't considered. Search for berton isaac staples in Excite.com.
    1. How many results did you get?
    2. What search engines does Excite.com cover?
    3. Excite.com is not one of my favorite metasearch engines, but it does allow the user to sort results by search engine. Find the "View results by:" option and select "Source." What happens?
    4. Which search engines yielded relevant results?

  1. Let's experiment some more with Google at http://www.google.com/. Google allows an interesting wildcard: an asterisk in the middle of a phrase. Try this search: "berton * staples".
    1. How many results did you get?
    2. What new relevant references did you get, and what is the common denominator in these new results?
    3. Does this give you any ideas for new name variations?

Need help?
  1. Look for additional results from Google Books, http://books.google.com/.
    1. Try the following: "berton * staples OR "staples berton". Wow!
    2. The Encyclopedia, Vermont Biography is a full view book. This means it's now in the public domain, has been digitized, can be read on line, or downloaded. It's definitely a must-read.
    3. How would you cite this source?
    4. Who's Who in New Mexico looks like a good source, but it only provides snippet views. Follow the links to look for a copy.
    5. Sometimes additional results may appear when you search OCLC (http://www.worldcat.org/) directly. Try to find a copy of Who's Who in New Mexico (1937) in a nearby library.
    6. Don't forget that many libraries are not part of OCLC's WorldCat. The Sutro Library is one of these. Check that library's catalog for a copy of this book: http://www.lib.state.ca.us/.

Need help?
  1. Don't forget to search for name variations. Include all these possibilities: nicknames, initials, and spelling variations. Phrase searches should be made in surname first order as well as given name first.
    1. What name variations should be searched for Berton Isaac Staples?
    2. Try a few name variations in the following:
      1. Google
      2. Google Books
      3. Google Scholar
Need help?
  1. Each new search usually uncovers a few new keywords. In addition to Berton Isaac Staples and associated name variations, you should have several new keywords.
    1. What is Staples' wife's name? That's a new surname keyword.
    2. Where did he live? You should now know towns and counties in at least two states, i.e. many new place keywords.
    3. With what organizations was he associated? These are possible subject keywords.

This search exercise worked with common search engines and few tools. Although not part of this exercise, your internet search could continue with these sources discussed in our class. Practice with your own search problem.


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This page copyright January 2007; revised September 2008.

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