Help With...Internet Searching
TABLE of CONTENTS
I. Internet/World Wide Web Concepts
II. Internet Search Tools Explained
1) The Internet is a network of networks connected using TCP/IP.
1) Search Engine indexes are compiled automatically.
2) The World Wide Web is comprised of Internet resources that use HTTP.
2) Subject Directory indexes are compiled by people.
3) Web pages are located by their URLs.
3) "Meta" search tools sample the databases of several search engines/directories.
4) Domain names (.com,.edu, .gov etc.) indicate something about a page's origin
4) Some engines/directories allow you to search for particular Internet resources.
5) Web pages are created using HTML.
5) All search tools index only a portion of what is available on the Internet.
6) Browsers allow you to interact with Web pages.
6) The way your results are ordered will differ from search tool to search tool.
Related Links
Related Links
III. Internet Search Strategies
IV. Evaluating Internet Sites and Sources
1) You can often guess or truncate the URL to find a page.
1) Who is the author?
2) Choose the proper search tool(s).
2) What is the intent of the page/site?
3) When you "search the Internet," you are actually searching a database.
3) Who is the intended audience?
4) Most subject directories can be searched.
4) How reliable is the information provided?
5) Search for "gateway" sites or guides rather than several individual web pages.
5) How current is the information provided
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Evaluation checklist
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Related Links
Related Links
V. Glossary of Selected Terms Used in Internet Searching
Bot
HTML
Search Engine
Browser
HTTP
Spider
Crawler
Internet
Subject Directory
Domain Name
IP Address
TCP/IP
DNS (Domain Name System)
JPEG
URL
Gateway
Meta Engine
World Wide Web
GIF
Protocol
If you have questions about Internet searching, ask the Reference Librarian.
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Page maintained by:
John Cosgrove
Lucy Scribner Library, Skidmore College
Last updated: September 30, 2002
