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Intro:
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| URL: The Uniform Resource Locator is the web address you type into a browser to access a webpage. Website: The collected text and graphics that an individual, government, organization, company, or university wants to present. When you search the Internet, you're searching for information found on websites. Webpage: The "document" that appears on a computer monitor when you access a website. One website can have hundreds of webpages. The pages are usually organized around a topic. Home page: The main page for a website, a home page usually contains an index of the site and other general information about it. |
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| Not all search engines access the same webpages. You may find it helpful to use several for your research. All search engines have a "help" section, where you can learn how to best conduct a search using that site. On Macintosh computers with System 8.5 and above, the Apple menu has a search tool called "Sherlock" that can search through several search engines at once. The user can choose which search engines he or she wants to use for each search. |
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Search engines are software programs that send "crawlers," "spiders," or "robots" through the Internet, cataloging important words on websites and organizing access to those sites based on what they find. When you search the web with a search engine, you're really searching that engine's index of sites. Here's how to access and use a search engine: Access. You can access search engines through Internet service providers (ISPs) or browser software. ISPs usually have their own search engines, but you can access other engines through ISPs by typing their names or website addresses (known as URLs) into the search box, usually found at the top of the provider's home page. Popular search engines include Yahoo!, Excite, and Google. When a search engine locates websites in its index that contain the words you typed into the search box, it presents them in a list. By clicking on the addresses of the sites that seem most promising, you can jump directly to these websites. Use the directory. When you access a search engine's home page, it may already have directories listed according to subject. If you want to search through one of these subjects, click on it, and it will reveal subcategories. Click on a subcategory, and then choose from the list of webpages it reveals. Use commands. All search engines have an option where you can type in words and commands to search their full index of webpages. The space where you type is usually located at the top of the search engine's home page. Usually, you'll begin with a general command, often a single word. As you learn more about your subject, you'll become more specific, including and excluding certain elements (explained later). Be specific. When you type in just one word, you usually access a wide variety of sites using that word in their pages. If the word is fairly unique, such as "astrophysics," you'll still access fairly relative sites. If the word has several dimensions, though, such as "scientist," you'll pull up sites that refer to botany, neurology, physics, medicine, mathematics, and maybe even humorous references to "rocket scientist." From the very beginning, it's best to be as specific as possible.
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Understand search engine logic
