Search engines and how they find information in Intro to Computing - Draw & Build Visually

Draw This - beginner

Draw a flowchart that shows how a search engine finds information when a user types a query. Include these steps: user enters query, search engine looks in its index, retrieves matching pages, ranks results, and shows results to the user.

10 minutes

Hint 1

Hint 2

Hint 3

Hint 4

Grading Criteria

Start and End symbols present

All main steps included: enter query, search index, retrieve pages, rank results, show results

Arrows correctly show flow from start to end

Process boxes used for steps

No missing steps or extra unrelated steps

Solution

  +-------+
  | Start |
  +-------+
      |
      v
+-----------------+
| User enters query|
+-----------------+
      |
      v
+--------------------------+
| Search engine looks in   |
| its index for matches    |
+--------------------------+
      |
      v
+--------------------------+
| Retrieve matching pages  |
+--------------------------+
      |
      v
+--------------------------+
| Rank results by relevance|
+--------------------------+
      |
      v
+--------------------------+
| Show results to user     |
+--------------------------+
      |
      v
  +-------+
  |  End  |
  +-------+

This flowchart starts with the user entering a search query. The search engine then looks into its index, which is like a big list of all the web pages it knows about. It finds pages that match the query. Next, it ranks these pages by how relevant they are to the query, so the best matches come first. Finally, it shows the ranked results to the user. The flowchart ends after showing the results.

Variations - 2 Challenges

[intermediate] Draw a flowchart for how a search engine updates its index with new web pages it finds.

[advanced] Draw a detailed flowchart showing how a search engine handles a query with spelling mistakes and suggests corrections.