Internet Search Engines
The Internet is often the first place many people go when they need to do research. Though this might be the first place to look for basic information, the key to using the Internet wisely begins with understanding how the Internet works and how it can work for you.
How Internet Search Engines Work
An Internet search engine is akin to a library in the online setting. Within millions of domain names are stored pieces of information you can use for your research.However, you need to begin somewhere.
Browser: The browser is the entryway to your Internet searches. You can use a variety of different search engines to help you begin your research, including:
- MSN's Bing
- Ask
- Yahoo!
- Dogpile
- Altavista
- AOL search
No matter what search engine you decide to use, you will find a vast collection of resources. Many people choose one search engine before all others, and you might choose to do the same.
In collecting your information, assess how quickly the search engine can get to your needed materials and then choose the search engine that works consistently for you. It is much easier to use one search engine than to use several.
While search engines are complex in the way they arrange their information, this is the basic setup.
- Domain name: At the base, each Web site online has its own personal URL. This is the name of the Web site. For example, you might have www.Apple.com. This is Apple's Web site name. If you were to type this name into a browser or search engine, you would find a listing for the Apple site. If you typed in another spelling into a Web browser, you would not reach this site.
- Domain details: After the domain name, you might see additional words, often after a back slash (/). This allows the site to break up into additional pages so a person can reach different pieces of information.
- Subpages: Within those pages might be even more subpages, helping you further refine your search and find the results that you need to complete your research.
- Keywords: Search engines operate much like a computer at a library might. You can type in a word that is related to your topic, a title of a book, an author, a question, or any other number of words to find results that are related to your search. Search engines rank the sites online by the keywords that are most related to the Web sites, as well as to keywords that are used most often on those sites. For example, when you want to look something up about dieting, you do not type in "carrot." You type in "diet" or "dieting." Search engines have complicated algorithms to determine what keywords match best to Web sites online.
- Popularity: What you might not realize is that search engines also will rank Web sites based on how popular they are with users. For example, when you look up weight loss, you might find a site that talks about the health-related aspects of weight loss, rather than an actual weight loss plan. Why is this? More people decided to choose that Web site over weight loss product Web sites, so the search engine ranks it higher. These popularity rankings might change between search engines or they might change over the course of a week, depending on the popularity of a Web site.
Now that you know how a search engine basically operates, you can begin to see how you need to work with the search engine to find the pages and Web sites you need for your individual research. Though you might have a clear idea in mind of the questions you need to answer, you need to work with the search engine to ensure you can find the best possible information.
The Internet has a lot of information, and a main part of your research process will be sifting through your findings to determine what is useful.
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