How to Search
the Web
This and other research guides are on the ACC Library web page,
http://library.sunyacc.edu,
under Research Guides & Tutorials.
Adirondack Community College, 640 Bay Road, Queensbury, NY 12804
(518) 743-2260
The Internet started as a small group of networked research computers in 1969. It grew into a world-wide computer network using functions such as e-mail, gopher, ftp, telnet and, since the early 1980s, the World Wide Web. The Web is now the largest part of the Internet, offering multimedia sources (sound, graphics, movie clips, etc.) and hypertext links that connect to other documents.
Computers with Web access are located near the Reference Desk in the ACC Library as well as around campus. Your use of these computers indicates your consent with the college's Computer Use Policy, available on our Web page, agreeing to use the computers responsibly for academic purposes.
This guide and the interactive, narrated Search the Web Tutorial are on the Library's Web page, under "Research Guides and Tutorials."
What's on the Web:
. The Web offers access to:
| - valuable information (research, statistics, opinions, information on health, travel, finances, consumer issues, etc. from schools, corporations, government agencies, non-profit and military agencies); | |
| - commercial, inaccurate, offensive, of low quality or value, or illegal material (advertising, rantings, opinions shown as facts, child pornography, stolen music, personal pages with hobbies, etc.). |
. The Web grows exponentially: billions of Web pages are estimated to exist. Remember: all information is not on the Web, just as it's not only in books, on TV, radio or in any other one medium.
. It's best to use free Web information in addition to more reliably credible sources such as books and journal articles, which are usually fact-checked and reviewed by experts before publication.
. Web site creators do not have any overall, world-wide standards for accuracy or quality. Checking for accuracy and quality becomes your job! Use the criteria below.
Evaluating Web information:
Ask these questions to help you evaluate Web sites and other information:
Author: . Is an author listed? Who is the author or producer?
. Are credentials or contact information given?
. If published by an organization, is any background given?
. Is it the group's official site?
Date and Currency: . When was the information produced? When was it last updated?
. Are the links up-to-date, or do they lead to "dead ends"?
Bias: . Does the site offer facts or opinions?
. Are political, cultural or other biases evident? Does it present all viewpoints?
. Is the author trying to sell a product or have other vested interests?
Content: . What is the site's purpose? Who is the intended audience?
. Is the information accurate? Does it correspond to your other research?
. Is it clearly organized and designed well?
To check if certain Web sites are hoaxes, spam, viruses, etc., go to Purportal.com. Enter in the name of the Web site or the Web address in the appropriate search boxes.
See the ACC Library online guide "Evaluating Web Information" for more pointers.
Adapted 6/97 from several sources, including: Grassian, Ester. Thinking critically about world wide web resources. File: http://www.ucla.edu/campus/computing/bruinonline/trainers/critical.html Retrieved 2/15/96.
Free vs. subscription Web sites:
This guide discusses free Web sites. They often have no printed equivalent and can appear and disappear on a whim.
The ACC Library also subscribes to article and reference databases, listing well-checked, more stable information. ACC students may search these from home.
Four Ways to Search the Web:
1) Recommended Web address:
These are Web addresses we know are useful through experience. Some are listed below.
The last part of a Web address indicates the type of group creating the page: .com (commercial, for-profit company; about 50% of addresses), .gov (government), .edu (college or university), .org (non-profit organization), .net (network) and .mil (military). Two-letter country (.us) or state (.ny) addresses are also used. New Web address endings include .biz, .museum and .pro. Note: "http://" is optional - you do not have to type it!
| FedStats (U.S. & local statistics) |
|
| NewsVoyager (newspapers around North America) |
|
| RefDesk (huge collection of useful Web sites) |
|
| Purportal (hoax/spam/virus checking site) |
|
Expert Village (offers 16,000 short how-to video clips; by experts whose qualifications are listed) |
http://www.expertvillage.com/ |
| United Nations (international statistics & reports) |
2) Subject directory:
- Use a subject directory when you need a few, high-quality sites about a topic.
- They list high-quality Web sites, organized by subject.
- Sites are chosen by people (not software).
- They are very small, listing 1% or less of all Web sites.
Yahoo!, About and Google's Web Directory are commercial subject directories. While well-organized, they tend to have lots of ads and offer entertainment, hobby and consumer Web links. Most do not check Web sites for quality or accuracy. Hundreds of subject directories exist.
Subject directories from libraries and other educational groups are usually more appropriate for college-level research:
| Librarians' Internet Index |
|
| Best Information on the Net (from St. Ambrose Univ., Iowa) |
|
| Internet Public Library (from Univ. of Michigan) |
|
| The Scout Report (from Univ. of Wisconsin) | http://scout.wisc.edu/Archives/index.php |
| Intute (research/education sites from British universities and agencies) | http://www.intute.ac.uk/ |
| Merlot (sites for use in higher education, chosen by educators) | http://www.merlot.org |
| Recommended Subject Directories (from Univ. of California at Berkeley Library) | http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib /Guides/Internet/SubjDirectories.html |
| ACC Library's Subject Directory Search Engine (new! ACC Library's customized search engine of subject directories created through http://google.com/coop) |
3) Search engines:
Use a search engine if you:
- have a very specific search,
- want large numbers of results, and
- know enough about the subject to judge if the resulting Web sites are valid.
Search engines use software to search billions of Web sites by subject. They are usually not selective or quality-oriented. No search engine covers all of the Web. Most cover 8 to 50%. Google uses "link popularity" plus other criteria. Some to try:
Google (Use Advanced Search mode!) |
|
|
AllTheWeb (good for multimedia searches) |
|
| Find Sounds (search engine for sounds & sounds effects) | http://www.findsounds.com |
| Scirus (science-only search engine) | http://www.scirus.com |
| Search Engine Watch Links (links to many more search engines) |
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=links |
More than a thousand search engines exist. Each offers different search features. See Search Engine Watch above for charts comparing features, plus lists of specialized search engines (ones that search only for pictures, MP3, etc.).
4) Meta-search engines:
To find “needle in a haystack” information, when all else fails. Meta-search engines search several search engines at once, culling the top 10, 20 or 30 results from each search engine. It's best to try a few advanced searches with specific search engines first.
| MetaCrawler |
|
| Clusty (clusters results into subject folders) |
|
| Grokker (visual groupings of results by sub-topics; try Map View) | http://www.grokker.com |
| Kartoo (visual groupings of results) |
Updated May 2008 by Instruction Librarian Joyce MIller