HAROLD L. DRIMMER LIBRARY

Westchester Community College, Valhalla, New York

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• VIRGIL: Choose a Module
• 1. Keywords
• 2. Book Catalog
• 3. Databases
• 4. Internet
• 5. Citing Works

VIRGIL 3.0: Online Research Tutorial

Advantages and pitfalls of the world wide web as an information source

4.2: Search Engines as Guides to the Internet

Search Engines

Web information is retrieved using a search engine.

There are many different search engines available, including Google, AltaVista, Excite, HotBot, AlltheNet, MSN Search, and Yahoo.

Each search engine maintains its own database of information which it constructs in a unique way, but no one search engine gives access to everything.

Google is one of the best and most popular. In fact, some other Internet services like Yahoo actually use Google, or its underlying technology as their own search engine.

Meta-search engines look at many search engines at once, BUT NOT ALL OF THEM. Meta-search engines are NOT complete sources of web information.

Keyword Searching

Keyword Searching in an Internet search engine is difficult to do, even if it looks easy. To cut down on your time AND your frustration level, THINK about the keywords you are going to use before jumping into the internet.

Some Tips:

• Searching with only one keyword could result in millions of useless hits; on the other hand, using a whole sentence gives the computer more than it can handle.
• Searches should be constructed carefully using special operators and specific keywords.
• Remember: each search engine has its own unique way of indexing and retrieving information; ALWAYS read the help screens and search tips before using a search engine.

The following screens are examples of one of the most popular search engines - Google.

Using the sample keyword search of hydrogen and fuel, we captured information to compare results.

Study these searches to see the differences in searching and results.