FINDING INFORMATION ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY
by Paul and Kerri Elders
The internet is bursting at the seams with information. But just HOW do you go about finding what you're looking for?
Well, the place to start is a search engine. Search engines are your keys to all the information throughout the internet.
If the internet is like a gigantic library, a search engine is its card catalogue.
Most internet surfers are familiar with Yahoo, an indexed search engine. But there are a wide variety of other search engines just waiting for you to explore. Our personal favorite is Google, which was initially launched by Stanford University and has recently partnered with Yahoo.
Here are some simple searching tips to help you find what you are looking for:
- When searching for something specific, enclose it in quotes. If you're looking for running shoes, for example, enclose the term in quotes in the search box like this: "running shoes" If you put running shoes (without quotes) in the search box, the search engine will find all occurences of EITHER word: running or shoes. By enclosing the term in quote marks, you are telling the search engine to find BOTH words (running shoes) together, as a single search term. This helps you find EXACTLY what you're looking for, quicker.
- Another example: you want to find out about the New Mexico legislative schedule, enter this into the search box: "New Mexico" "legislative schedule". If you simply enter the words New Mexico legislative schedule, without quote marks, you will get returns for any site containing ALL the words New, Mexico, legislative, and schedule. Which means you'll be finding things like legislative new schedules in Mexico. But by entering "New Mexico" "legislative schedule" you will retrieve hits for sites containing New Mexico AND legislative shedule. To be even more specific, enter "New Mexico legislative schedule" and you will return results for sites containing that exact wording, in that exact order.
- And, if you don't find what you're looking for under one search engine, just try another one!
Here is a clickable list of search engines to get you started in your search for information internet-wide; Happy Surfing!
Paul & Kerri Elders are freelance writers who live in Ranchvale, New Mexico.
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