Search Tips

There are three types of search:

Search within a single page or file

Find a word in the page you are looking at by choosing the Find on this Page option from the Edit menu (Keyboard Shortcut: hold down the Control key (Strg) and press the F key).

Search within all the pages belonging to a web site

This option is only offered by some sites and varies according to the site.

Search in everything on the web

Use a search engine to search across most of the information in the entire web. Because different engines index the information in different ways, it's worth trying several different engines. Usually the biggest problem is sifting through the Finds. Click here for some searching tips.

Some sites, such as Yahoo, are not technically search engines, they are web directories. Directories also offer a search function, but the search is limited to sites that have been registered in the web directory, this filters your results to some extent.

"Portals" or subject gateways offer listings about a particular subject. About.com is a collection of portals for a wide range of subjects. The Pinakes site provides links to some reliable portals.

Automatically search in several search engines at once with a Meta Search Engine

The table below shows three well-known search engines. Alta Vista is good for finding individual words, Yahoo is good for finding sites with information related to a subject area. The differences between web directories, portals and search engines can be fuzzy because often 2 or more of these functions are offered by one service.

Most search engines automatically search for plurals of search words. Some search engines (e.g. Google) only find sites where ALL the search words occur.

Click here for a tutorial on searching, further information on searching or a treasure hunt that gives you more search practice.

The trusty guide to internet research gives you advice about finding information on the internet.

Two sites, T is for Thinking and The Internet Detective both teach you how to evaluate the information you find.