Tips
- Look at a Drury Library Subject Guides to find some relevant Web sites.
- Make a note of interesting URLs mentioned in newspaper or journal articles. (On your own computer you can bookmark web sites that you think you'll find useful again).
- If you have the URL of a site, type it into your search engine's Address or Location window and press Enter to go directly there.
- Remember: use search engines for specific information, and subject directories for more general information.
- Remember To use search engines efficiently, use the techniques you've learned about in Keywords and Boolean operators.
- Each search engine is different. Check the Online Help to find out the best way to search the one you are using.
- Use a search engine's advanced search option to help you refine your search and get more relevant hits. For example you can limit your search to just government (.gov) or educational sites (.edu), rather than commercial sites (.com) sites or use quotation marks around phrases.
The World Wide Web
You may be very familiar with the World Wide Web (WWW. NET, Internet). Most people have 'googled' or "surfed the Net" to find information. If you have, you have probably discovered that there are millions of Web pages to explore. This guide will help you to search the WWW more effectively so that you can find the information you need.
What is a Web browser?
What is a URL?
What is a search engine?
What is a subject directory?
What is a meta search tool?
Hints for searching the WWW
What is a Web browser?
A Web browser is software that lets you access the millions of pages that make up the Web. You've probably heard of the Internet Explorer web browser, but there are others, such as Firefox, Safari (Mac) and Opera.
Web browsers allow computers to read web pages containing hypertext which is text with links, graphics, sound and video clips. The system that enables web browsers to communicate is known as the hypertext transfer protocol (http).
What is a URL?
A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of a web page ('the Web address'). It usually looks something like this:
http://www.mo.gov/mo/news.htm
The first part of the URL specifies the access method, in this case http:// or hypertext transfer protocol.
The second part is the domain name - or the address of the host of the web page.
In the example above it is www.mo.gov/:
www stands for the World Wide Web
mo stands for Missouri
gov signifies that it is a government site
(If there is a country code, it is a site located outside the US.)
The middle part of the URL is the directory name: /mo/
The last part of the URL is the file name: news.htm
the file extension .html or .htm indicates it is a hypertext markup language file.
It is always useful to look closely at the URLs to know what type of site your information is coming from. This is one of the things that can help you to evaluate the information you find.
.edu or .ac indicates an educational institution or academic site
.com indicates a commercial site
.org indicates an organisation
.net indicates a network
.gov indicates a government site
What is a search engine?
When people "surf the Net" they use search engines like Google, Yahoo or MSN Search .
Search engines use automated programs called robots or spiders to travel constantly from site to site checking for new web pages and updating pages and links. Some search engines 'index' the full text of each page, others just index the keywords on the page.
When you type a search term or phrase into a search engine, the program checks your term against all the web pages it has indexed. Sometimes you'll get an amazing number of results, and you'll need to narrow your search using the techniques you've learned in Finding Keywords.
What is a subject directory?
Subject directories are web databases that use humans to index new web pages rather than robots. In subject directories web pages are organized into categories and sub-categories according to their content.
Subject directories don't index nearly as many web pages as search engines, but they are good places to start if you are looking for information on a subject and you won't have to go through a lot of irrelevant hits. Yahoo and Infomine are good examples of subject directories.
What is a meta search tool?
'Meta search tools' or 'meta search engines' are a little different in that they simultaneously search other search engines and subject directories. Your searches need to be simple, but meta search tools can be a good way to start your search for information and find the search engine that indexes your subject area better than others. Examples of meta search tools are MetaCrawler, Ixquick and InfoSpace.
Google Custom Search Engines (CSEs) allow you to search the content in web pages of up to 5,000 URLs. They are easy to make at Google Coop. You will need a Google account or Gmail account. Make specialized search engines instead of using giant meta-searchers or huge search engine databases. Use them to focus on pages on a subject.
F. W. Olin Library |
Library StaffDescription
Loading content... please wait
 |
Loading content... please wait