Using the Internet

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The amount of information available on the Web can be overwhelming. When researching a topic, it is not unusual to get thousands of hits. Evaluation of that information often reveals results that are totally unrelated to the topic you searched. If you are using the Internet as a resource, you must be selective. When doing research, it is wise to use addresses (URLs) with .edu and .gov extensions. Use information that has an author who is an authority in the field. Don't believe everything you read on the Web. You have to be careful of the accuracy and timeliness of the information. Just because something is in print, does not mean that it is reliable, up-to-date information. Remember, anyone can be an author on the Web.

Searching Techniques:

For effective results use quotation marks around phrases and proper names. For a topic such as capital punishment in the United States, use "capital punishment" + "United States". You will obtain different results in different search engines. Learn more about this topic in

Using Boolean logic with operators such as or, and, +, and not, -, during searches is likely to produce more exact information.

Directories

Break information into catagories and organize it by subject. One of the most popular directories is Yahoo.

Search Engines

Programs that search for keywords in documents found on the WWW. For best results, visit the help or tips screens for each individual engine. To become an efficient researcher, learn how to use a few search engines effectively.
To view our list of appropriate search engines, click here.