General Tips for Searching the Web

Using Metasearch Engines

Using Search Engines

Using Catalogues/Indexes

Using Other Search Tools and Resources

Search Tools and Directories

Starting Points for Internet Research

Online Resources

The Internet is a terrific resource.  It contains hundreds of web sites dedicated to thousands of topics.  With so many sites, it is easy to get lost.  Knowing the types of search tools available and mastering some general search tips can make your search more profitable.

Use caution when searching the web, though.  Anybody with access to the Internet can post web sites about topics that interest them.  These sites are not always accurate.  Therefore, it also is a good idea to learn how to evaluate web sites.  The Purdue University Library system's Core+ Tutorial provides helpful guidelines for evaluating sources. Purdue's OWL has a mini-tutorial on evaluating sources that includes evaluating Internet sources. There's also a great interactive tutorial on being an Internet detective on another site that you can visit if you want to work more on evaluating Internet sources.

Use the first five links on the left hand side of this page to learn more about the different resources available searching the world wide web. Click on the "test your skills" link at the bottom of any of those pages for an interactive tutorial on using that kind of search engine or directory. Note: you will need to have javascript enabled on your browser. (We are working to make a non-javascript based version of these tests.)

The last two links provide direct access to our indices of search engines and directories.

Created by Jessie Moore.