alerting you to
the latest additions to the Internet Search Tools page.
Internet Search Tools
(will soon be found on other pages of Physicians e-Library)
Search engines and directories can assist users in finding Internet sites of interest. Users can type in keywords describing their topics and these search tools will find, sometimes ranking, any sites that match the words according to their relevancy. A brief explanation of each of the Internet Search Tools is available by clicking on the specific column heading. If in doubt, consult the "FAQ" or "Help" or "Tools & Tips" sections that can be found on most Search Tools.
Click here to Learn Specifics of Web Searching. When you need to know the "language of the Internet" click here on NetLingo.
Looking for a useful tool for researching the history of both popular and obscure web sites? Do you want to know what a web site looked like in 1996? Click here on the Internet Archive and get started!
Look for the
blinking
alerting you to
the latest additions to the Internet Search Tools page.
A search engine relies on computer programs called spiders or robots to crawl the World Wide Web and log the words on each page. With a search engine, you type keyword(s) that are related to a topic into a search "box." The search engine then scans its database and returns a file with links to websites containing the word or words specified. The downside of these databases is that they are very large, so these search engines often return thousands of results. Without search strategies or techniques, finding what you need can be quite frustrating and time consuming.
Therefore, it is essential you apply some methods or technique that can narrow results and push the most relevant pages to the top of the results list.
Subject Directories / Name Directories
Think of a subject directory as a catalog of sites that has been collected and organized by humans. Subject directories are often called subject "trees" because they start with a few main categories and then branch out into subcategories, topics, and subtopics. A good example of how subject directories work was provided by Debbie Flannigan, a librarian in Fort Lauderdale, FL. She illustrates the finding of the homepage for the Atlanta Braves at Yahoo!.
First, she asks you to select "Recreation & Sports" at the top level, "Sports" at the next level, "Baseball" at the third level, "Major League Baseball" at the fourth level, "Teams" at the fifth level, then finally "Atlanta Braves."
Because humans were the ones that organized the websites in subject directories, she feels that you can often find
a good starting point (but only if your topic is included). Directories are also quite useful when finding information
on a topic where you don't have a exact idea of just what you may need. A
wonderful feature of many of the large
directories is that they often include a keyword search option which can eliminate much of the need to work through
numerous levels of topics and subtopics.
Since directories cover only a small fraction of the pages available on the World Wide Web, they are most effective
when "hunting" for general information on popular or scholarly subjects.
Remember, if you are looking for
something quite specific, use a search engine.
Meta-search engines search several major engines at once. Meta-search
engines do not crawl the Web or maintain a database of web pages. Rather, they act as the middleman, passing the
query to the major engines it uses, usually 10 or more, and then returning the results. Because the major search
engines often produce very different results, meta-search engines provide a quick way to determine which engines
are retrieving the best match for your information need; allowing you to further concentrate your search using
the search engine that is working best for you. Simple searches seem to work best when using this Internet Search
Tool.
So, when you need answers and you need them now, conducting your search on a meta-search engine gives you a variety
of results to choose from in a fraction of the time that it would take you to search several engines. One other
thing to keep in mind is that Meta-search engines can produce large quantities of information that can be difficult
to wade through.
Access is provided through a search box into the contents of a database in a computer somewhere on the Internet. Any topic can be searched, no matter how trivial. It can be commercial, task-specific, or a rich treasure devoted to your topic. Keyword searching is also utilized with many of these collections.
Learn Specifics of Web Searching
Most general web surfers and Internet users want to know
how to find things better using different search tools.
Presented here are links to different sites that
will provide you with the basics to locate what you want when it may seem easy or impossibly difficult to find. Finding Information on the Internet: A Tutorial from UC Berkeley provides you with a what it is, how
to find it approach to searching. Greg Notess, a writer and speaker who has been researching and covering Internet
information resources since 1990 created Search Engine Showdown that
compares and evaluates Internet search engines from the searcher's perspective. Search Engine Watch from Meckler Media is a site that provides tips and information about searching the web.
Evaluating the quality of information on the Internet can be quite daunting. The libraries at Ohio State University
have collaborated on a tutorial, Judging the Value of Web Sites for research purposes.
Page Last Updated : May 19, 2008