How to Search the Internet

How does anyone ever find anything on the Internet?

Very simple. There are hundreds of special web pages on the Internet called "search engines." These search engines are almost like an electronic card catalog and are FREE to use. You simply enter keywords for the engine to look for and it searches the Internet for you, providing you with a list of web pages containing your keywords. As with any computer, it gives you exactly what you ask for, whether or not that is what you actually wanted.

If you have a general topic you are looking for, or if you are just starting out on the Internet, start with a search engine such as Infoseek. This engine will often times return a few thousand "hits" or matching documents to each search, but you can then do sub-searches on the results, making it much less intimidating and more relavent when you are first starting out. Often you will find what you need with no trouble through infoseek.

Most search engines let you search on single words or phrases enclosed in quotes. i.e   nascar      or   "nascar drivers" Capitalization will return slightly different results. The best way to get familiar with search engines is to USE them. All search engines have TIP's on their use, somewhere on their page. Use them and you will be an expert in no time.

Using  Search Engine's

Luckily most search engines work about the same. When you first "connect" to the engine, you will see an empty white box, normally with a search or submit button next to it. Click on this box, then enter your search terms. For example, if you want to search for information on recipes for lactose intolerent people, Do NOT type recipes for lactose intolerent people, instead use only the specific words. Type "lactose intolerent" then sub search on recipes. Once you have the search terms entered, click on the submit/search button. (sometimes just pressing enter works too) Soon a list of web pages the engine thinks might be what you are looking for will appear. This is a list of links which you can follow to the actual page. Don't forget about your browser's BACK button, it can be a huge help once you start looking at web pages. If you need to further narrow your search, be more specific. Perhaps subsearch on "cookie recipes".




Searching for People     411   Yahoo's Personal Lookup   BigFoot

You can also search the Internet for people you think might have an email address. There are several search engines on the Internet which will allow you to type in names of people and it will look for them on the Internet. Sometimes these search engines will only return the person's name and email address, other times it will include their postal address and phone number as well. However, just because you don't find them with one search engine doesn't mean they don't have email. Not everyone is listed with all the search engines yet.