"An
Interactive Guide to Better Web Searching"
Welcome!
Background:
Since 1995 the Internet, and most particularly the
World Wide Web, has become a dominate force in peopleÕs lives.
The technology available to individuals, schools, libraries, and
companies has changed the way people access information. Where
people once turned to the encyclopedia and library card catalog,
now they turn to the Web and call up a search engine.
Web based research is quite different from traditional
methods, and people are often at a loss on how to search the Web
effectively. Also, a common misconception is that Web research
is easier than traditional research - all a person has to do is
type in what he or she wants and the computer will return a wealth
of information. This misconception leads people to believe all
they need to do is jump on the Web and he or she will quickly
come up with useful information.
Unfortunately, finding information on line is harder
than that. Some thought and effort needs to go into planing the
search; the proper search engine needs to be used; and the search
results need to be evaluated for quality. Too often people approach
web searching in a hit or miss manner - they randomly go to a searching
site, type a few keywords, then sift through the hundreds, and sometimes
thousands, of results hoping to find something useful.
The
Sections:
There are 7 sections that step you through different
aspects of searching the Web. They are:
Most people will go from section one through seven
in order. However, feel free to jump around to different sections
or go back and rework a section. Words marked with a 
icon are linked to and defined in the Glossary.
Use the navigation bar at the top of the page to move
from section to section and page to page. The squares in the medium
blue bar are a quick way to jump from one section to another.
The links in the light blue bar move
from page to page within each section.
Credits:
This site was designed and built by Jason Pettis.
You can find out more about Jason, as well
as give feedback on the site. Search engines are constantly changing,
so this tutorial site is still a work in progress. I hope you find
it useful.
