How Do I Find Information on the Web?
Using Search Tools
The most common way to find information on the web is to use a search tool, sometimes called a search engine. A search tool is software that looks for information on web pages stored on servers attached to the World Wide Web. Several popular search tools are listed below. If you click on one of them, the search tool will be displayed on your screen:
You enter a word or phrase that you wish to learn more about into the proper place on the search tool (see Illustration C7). The search engine software then scans the web for pages that contain that word or phrase. When it completes the search, the search tool displays the web pages it has found that contain the word or phrase you entered. The words or phrases you enter into a search tool are usually called search terms. For example, you might wish to learn more about George Washington. To do so, you might use the search tool Google and enter George Washington into the search line or box of the search tool, as shown below:
When you click on the search button to the right of the search terms you entered, Google will hunt for pages on the World Wide Web that contain the words George Washington. Magellan will then display the results on your computer screen. The results will be a list of web sites that contain the words George Washington. Since the World Wide Web is changing all the time, the results you get on later searches may not match the results of your first search. A partial page of results is shown below:
As you can see, there are many web pages that contain the words George Washington. This search found more than 157,000,000 pages with the search terms that were entered. The link to each page is shown as an underlined phrase, such as George Washington. To read each page, click on the underlined phrase and the page will be displayed on your computer screen.
It is important how you phrase your search terms. The better your choice of search terms, the more relevant the results will be. For example, entering "Washington" will result in web pages that deal with George Washington, Washington, D.C., and the State of Washington. If you are only interested in information about George, it's best to enter "George Washington."
Adding other words to the search terms might help narrow
the results for you. For example, if you added "President" (President
George Washington) to the search terms, the web pages that dealt only
with George Washington as president would be listed first. Read the instructions
included at each search site for hints on choosing your search terms.