2.  How can I find the information I need?  Where do I start?  Will the information I find be valid (true) or not?

3.  Web pages  Billions of pages on thousands of servers  How do sort through all of these pages?

4.  Special software robots ◦ Build lists words found on Web sites ◦ Web crawling  Begin with popular site  Indexes words on its pages ◦ Number of times word is used on page ◦ Where word occurs on page (title, heading, paragraph) ◦ Beginning of page vs. end of page  Follows every link within the site

5.  Software program ◦ Searches web pages for specified keywordskeywords ◦ Returns list of pages where keywords were found  Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Dog Pile, Ask, Alta Vista

6. A9A9 Amazon books, Live results Abcsearchengine Index based, fairly small About Lots of articles on lots of things Accoona Excellent for news, good for focussed searching Acronymfinder Find acronyms Aftervote Social search engine Ajaxwhois Great for site statistics searches Alexa Good for background information on a site AllPlus Good meta engine, lots of options Alltheweb Part of the Yahoo family Altavista Oldie, but still a goodie, suprising enough Answers Good for factual information AOL Search Google in a different guise Archive, Internet Good for older versions of a site Ask One of the big four Azoos Painfully bright yellow index engine Beaucoup Index based, not impressed Better Who Is Information about a website owner etc Blinkx Multimedia search engine Brainboost Part of the Answers family Buzzle Index based, not impressed ChaCha Search with a human guide Clusty Good all rounder Collarity Personalised search engine. Very good. Complete Planet Excellent for hidden/invisible web Country Search Engines 4,000 country search engines Digital- librarian Collection of links from a librarian DMOZ (Open Directory Project) Good index/directory Dogpile Multisearch GYMA Draze Compare GYM on one screen bingbong Social search, lets users rate results. Eurekster Good for building your own engine ExaleadSuperb functionality, good advanced options ExciteDoes anyone still use that any more? Factbites Factual information FaganFinder Superb collection of engines Fazzle Good all round meta search engine Feedster Findsounds Audio/sound search engine FinQoo Multi search engine, doesn't say what the sources are Freesearch UK based engine, global scope Galaxy Index based Google Do I need to say anything about this one? Google Blogsearch Best blog search engine going Google Directory Same as DMOZ Google Groups Good for obscure information Google Images Yahoo image search is superior Google Local Local to the UK that is. Google News Adequate. Good for email alerts Google Personalised Tailor results to your interests Google Scholar Good(ish) for academic stuff Google Trends Who is looking for what? Healia Excellent medical search engine Hotbot Blast from the past! IAF People search Searches for people! US biased. iBoogie Multi search engine, strong on clustering Icerocket Good for blog searching Illumirate Index based InfoMine For scholarly internet resource collections Infopeople People search Infoservice Index based, bizarre collection of headings Intute Superb directory, very authoritative Irazoo Social search engine, vote for results Ixquick Excellent meta search engine Jayde Business to business Jux2 Excellent meta search & compare results Kartoo Visual search engine, good reputation Kazazz Free text search engine, not particularly exciting KidsclickChildren's search engine Librarians Internet Index Superb resource Linkopedia Index based, not citing Live Search One of the big 4 Lycos Almost lost in the midst of time, but still trying Mahalo Social search engine, some like it, I don't MammaMulti meta search engine that's been around for years Mastersite Calls itself #1 though I can't work out why Metacrawler Meta search engine Monstercrawler Meta search engine Mooter Visual search engine MsDewey Microsoft folly; annoying and pointless Oaister Emphasis on hidden web academic material Omnimedicalsearch Excellent medical search engine Peerbot Very unusual engine, as it searches for favicons Pepesearch Does not stand out Pinakes Superb collection of Virtual Libraries Questfinder Selective web directory Quintura First rate, uses clouds of terms. Recommended RedZee Visual search. Awful. Used to be excellent Re-quest Index/Directory web search engine Scandoo accurately indicates a level of trustworthiness Scirus Scientific search of web and selected journals Scrubtheweb Nothing to recommend it Search-beat Uses Google's database Searchbug Search for people and companies in the US Search.com Metasearch engine Searchhippo Metasearch engine, unimpressed Searchy Personalised search Searchmash Google test bed Search Medica Excellent medical search engine Searchthe.net Meta search engine Searchtheweb Index/Directory Selectsurf Selective web directory Similicio.us Find similar sites Silobreaker Superb news resource Slider Full text search engine that searches DMOZ Smartlinks Index/Directory SMEALSearch Academic authoritative content Sproose Social search engine Sunsteam Index/Directory Supercrawler Index/Directory Technorati Excellent weblog search engine Thenet1 Index/Directory Thunderstone Index/Directory Trooker Superb video search engine Turbo 10 Great for hidden/invisible web TurboScout Very good multi search engine Ujiko Visual search engine Web Brain Visual search engine Webcrawler Meta search engine for GYMA Web-search Meta search engine, one at a time Webworldindex Index/Directory Whatuseek Web/Index based, not worth the trouble Windseek Meta search engine WWW Virtual Library Second only to Pinakes Yahoo! One of the big 4 Yahoo Buzz What's going on? Yahoo Directory Yahoo as it used to be Yahooligans For children Yahoo Local Local information Yahoo Mindset Emphasis research or shopping YouTube Video engine. Use Trooker instead Zapmeta Allows for various methods of re-ranking Zensearch Uses the Google databaseAbcsearchengineAboutAccoona AcronymfinderAftervoteAjaxwhoisAlexaAllPlusAllthewebAltavistaAnswersAOL Search Archive, InternetAskAzoosBeaucoupBetter Who IsBlinkx BrainboostBuzzleChaChaClustyCollarityComplete PlanetCountry Search EnginesDigital- librarianDMOZ (Open Directory Project)DogpileDrazebingbongEureksterExaleadExciteFactbitesFaganFinderFazzleFeedsterFindsoundsFinQooFreesearchGalaxyGoogleGoogle BlogsearchGoogle DirectoryGoogle Groups Google ImagesGoogle LocalGoogle NewsGoogle PersonalisedGoogle ScholarGoogle TrendsHealiaHotbotIAF People searchiBoogieIcerocketIllumirateInfoMineInfopeopleInfoserviceIntuteIrazooIxquickJaydeJux2KartooKazazzKidsclickLibrarians Internet IndexLinkopediaLive SearchLycosMahaloMammaMastersiteMetacrawlerMonstercrawlerMooterMsDeweyOaisterOmnimedicalsearchPeerbotPepesearchPinakesQuestfinderQuinturaRedZeeRe-questScandooScirusScrubthewebSearch-beatSearchbugSearch.comSearchhippoSearchySearchmashSearch MedicaSearchthe.netSearchthewebSelectsurfSimilicio.usSilobreakerSliderSmartlinksSMEALSearchSprooseSunsteamSupercrawlerTechnoratiThenet1ThunderstoneTrookerTurbo 10TurboScoutUjikoWeb BrainWebcrawlerWeb-searchWebworldindexWhatuseekWindseekWWW Virtual LibraryYahoo!Yahoo BuzzYahoo DirectoryYahooligansYahoo LocalYahoo MindsetYouTubeZapmetaZensearch

7.  Directories  Indexes

8.  Good at identifying general information  Results of search = list of websites related to search term  Usually compiled by human editors

9.  Identify more specific information  Finds individual pages that match search criteria  Wade through a lot of irrelevant information  Compiled by robots http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0xUHykOPtY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8aYoVpdz8o&feature=related

10. Fact or Fiction

11. Let the reader beware!  Just because document appears online doesn't mean it contains valid information  Online information demands close scrutiny

12. Avoid Embarrassment Serious results that come from following medical or legal advice posted in newsgroups or on websites

13. Five questions to ask yourself to determine if website information is valid--  Who is the author?  Who is the publisher?  What is the point of view?  Are there references to other sources?  How current is the information?