Searching the Internet Effectively

Tools and Techniques

Internet search tools: Directories vs Search engines

There are two basic types of tool to help us find information on the Internet:

Directories

Organise resources in hierarchical subject categories. Sites are allocated to categories by people. Less up to date, more idiosyncratic than search engines. Usually wo ways to search:

navigating through the subject categories
searching for keywords in the titles and descriptions of the sites

Example:

Librarian's Internet Index (LII)

Directories may attempt to cover the whole Internet, as LII does, or be restricted to specialist areas, e.g. INTUTE. Subject specific directories are also called subject resource guides, jumpstations, etc...

Search Engines

Search engines search a database of web pages gathered by a search robot traversing the Internet. Search engines search on keywords in web pages.

One example of a search engine is:

Google: http://www.google.com/

When to use directories; when to use search engines

Directories are good for

getting an overview of a topic
finding a few significant sites where there may be many
topics which are difficult to define in a few keywords, e.g. where many terms may describe a concept.

Search engines are good for searching for

topics described by very specific terms
topics where there are few relevant sites.

Try searching for information on "databases that give information on specific pharmaceuticals " (or another topic of your choice) on

Librarian's Index to the Internet (use both the subject hierarchy and the keyword search)
Google

There is some blurring of functions between directories and search engines: Google includes a web directory with a hierarchical directory structure like LII.

Directories...

Introduction

Preparation

Tools

Directories

Search Engines

Strategies

Evaluation

Last updated 19 June 2009 by Alastair Smith