Search Engines

Think of the internet as a humongous index at the back of a book, and the book is the World Wide Web. As web sites consist of words, these words from web sites are included in the index at the end of the book. So, the search engine faithfully looks up any word or phrase that you ask it to in this huge index. It then returns the “results” to you in a list by order of relevancy. Since the web contains billions of “documents,” these “spiders” will retrieve thousands of results, in order of relevancy to the search term that you use. Be aware that there is no shared controlled vocabulary on the web. That means that people that create web pages do not use the same words to mean the same thing. Thus, one site devoted to women’s travel narratives might contain completely different words and phrases than another similar site. This is important to know when using search engines, as you will have to be creative with possible words and phrases that might be used for your particular subject.

Search engines are best used when you have a specific question, and when you know exactly what you are looking for. For example, if you do not remember the exact url (web address) for the Library of Congress, you just enter Library of Congress as an exact phrase, and the search engine will retrieve the web page link to you. Yet, not all search engines are alike; some are able to span more of the internet than others. My favorites are google, alta vista and northern lights.

Search engines are also handy when you cannot find information from a library catalog about a certain title. Let’s say that I wanted to get more background information on the book On the Texas frontier by Mrs. Henry H. Beck, but I couldn’t locate it in any library catalog. Using the title and author in google, I am able to retrieve 3 pages of results. The first result is a link to a research bibliography on “roots web.com.” This page connects me to an in depth description of Beck’s book.

Search engines usually have two basic types of queries: "Basic" and "Advanced. "Basic" searches are like library "Keyword" searches. They will search for pages that contain every word that you plug in for a specific query. "Advanced" searches allow you to search by phrase (such as On the Texas Frontier). You can also use those handy Boolean terms that you have become familiar with using in the ÆD: and, or, and not, truncations, and domain type.

Internet Subject Directories

A subject directory differs from a search engine in that consists of a limited compilation of links organized by subject specifically created by humans. They are more like a table of contents to a book, rather than an index. Each subject directory differs from the other, as different individuals formulated each one. Usually they are roughly organized like a library, so that you can go directly to the “reference” section if you’d like. Some excellent subject directories are Internet Public Library, Argus Clearinghouse and Librarian’s Index to the Internet. Subject directories are good places to find more general information on a topic.