Using Your Computer > Using the Internet & Email

Finding Information on the Internet

By Lasa Information Systems Team

There is a massive amount of information on the Internet which potentially makes it a great resource - but with billions of web pages out there, how do get to that piece of information you're after?

Search engines can help with finding the information you need - there are many out there. Getting the most useful results will depend on choosing the right search engine for the job and using good search techniques.

How do search engines work?

Most search engines use "spiders" or "robots" - computer programs which wander round the net going from link to link, copying information back to their databases. When you use a search engine you're not actually searching the whole of the Internet - search engines only list a small fraction of what's available out there - you're only seeing what's in the search engine's database. As well as indexing pages, most search engines also attempt to rank the list of results you get by relevance. They do this in different ways. For example, Google ranks for relevance by the number of other sites that link to sites in the list of returned results - the assumption being the more sites that link, the more relevant the result.The frequency with which the various search engines update their databases or index new pages means that you'll get different results depending on which search engine you use. For this reason, using more than one search engine can improve your results. It's also important to pick the most appropriate search engine for the type of search you need to do.

Which search engine is best for your needs?

Search engines can be grouped into 5 main categories:

• Free text
• Index
• Multi or meta search engine
• Natural language
• Site / Subject specific

The best one for the job depends on the type of search you need to make. The table below summarises the main properties of the different types of search engine and when it might be best to use them.

 

Summary of different search engine types

Type	Example	Main Features	Best For
Free Text	Google   AltaVista   Teoma	Match a word or phrase Return lots more results than other search engines (both an advantage and a disadvantage) Best avoided if you're not sure exactly what you want / want an overview of what's contained in a particular subject area	When you know what you are looking for
Index	Yahoo Open Directory Project	Guided searching via categories allows users to "drill down" to find what they want Constrained by the classification used by search engine Only index a very small proportion of available sites Websites viewed / categorised by humans	When you need an overview of what's available in specific subject areas
Multi or Meta	Ixquick Metacrawler	Search across multiple search engines Can reduce the amount of time spent using lots of different search engines to complete your search Differ in effectiveness as the number of search engines used can vary dramatically	When searching for a very specific subject and other search engines haven't returned enough results
Natural Language	Ask Jeeves	Use natural language e.g. "Where can I find travel advice for visiting Austria from the Foreign Office?"	Factual queries e.g. "what is the population of london?"
Site / Subject specific	Bookfinder.com (books)         All Movie Guide (films)	Search only the data on a particular website (e.g. the search engine on the lasa knowledgebase) or specific subjects (e.g. books, news, movies, information technology etc.).	When looking for information on a particular site or subject (e.g. news etc.)

 

 

Searching Strategies:

Use as many search terms as you can. The more specific your search the better your results will be - one or two word searches return thousands of results most of which will be irrelevant

• Type phrases in quotes to narrow your search e.g.: "new opportunities fund" rather than: new opportunities fund (not all search engines support this).
• Unless case is important to your search, type search terms in lower case. If you use capitals search engines may only look for upper case words - you could miss out on some useful information
• Experiment with different combinations of words to improve your results
• Use wildcards if you're not sure of spelling e.g. incap* will find incapacity, incapacitated etc.
• Use region-specific search engine e.g. if looking for UK-based information use the .co.uk version of the search engine or the region-specific features of the .com version of the search engine
• Use the most appropriate search engine for the type of search you wish to conduct (if trying to find sites about a specific subject - use a directory site such as Yahoo or Open Directory Project)
• Use more than one search engine
• Think laterally - how might the website owner describe the resource you are looking for? (e.g. if you are looking for information about a particular drug or disease, you may get more results if you search using its American name as well)
• Get to know the advanced search features on your favourite search engine - most search engines will have a link to an "advanced search" page where you can refine your search

Still can't find what you're looking for?

If you still cannot find the information you want, it's worth looking at, virtual libraries, discussion forums (e.g. Rightsnet has a discussion forum for welfare rights advisers) - many sites dealing with specific issues (e.g. illnesses) will have discussion forums as well. You could also try joining an email list or newsgroup. Some search engines allow you to search newsgroups (e.g. Google Groups). Sites such as Yahoo Groups and Topica allow email lists to be set up quickly and easily. Discussion forums and virtual libraries are other options. A list of virtual libraries can be found at www.vlib.org/.

More Information

For more information on searching try: Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Guide, Philb.com.