(Once you have read through this page, print it out for reference)
You are to use a Search Engine to find and retrieve information. Click HERE to find out about Search Engines.
There are two main ways to find information using a search engine:
The first is to enter a topic or 'criteria' for your search in a box and click a 'search' button. The engine will then look around the internet for pages containing the word or words.
When the search engine has found pages that match the topic it arranges them in order of relevance to the criteria and shows this as a list on your screen. Each page will have a hyperlink which will take you straight to the relevant page.
The second way is to follow the main index page in a search engine. Each engine has an index page which contains links which can be followed until the required information is found.
Practice Using a Search Engine
Click on the Net Search button and choose one of the engines.
Type in the criteria: Charles Dickens
You will be given a list of site to visit.
Print out the first page of the list.
Choose another search engine and enter the same criteria.
Again print out the first page of links.
Use a third engine and do the same search.
Compare the three different first pages. Are the same sites shown on all three?
Now you try doing some comparative searches of your own. Use as many different search engines as you can. Look at the different results you get. You may find that you start to favour one search engine over the others but remember that you will get more results using a variety of engines.
USING INDEX LISTS
Most search engines provide searchable subject indexes to sites which help to eliminate usless information. One of the best of these indexes is Yahoo's.
Practice following links from these index pages.
First go to Yahoo and follow the links for:
News & Media,
through Television,
and Networks
to Europe
and the BBC.
INDEPENDENT PRACTICE
Now you have a go. Try a variety of search engine index pages.
Once you have found sites which are of interest to you and would like to visit again you can bookmark them so that you can go back easily.
