Search
Engines
Search engines index the Web in a fundamentally different way from directories.
Search engines don't wait for sites to come to them. They are out "crawling"
the Web every day, looking for new sites and adding them to their databases.
Even so, each search engine is only able to crawl over a portion of the Web.
For various reasons, large chunks of the Web are invisible or inaccessible
to search engines at any particular time.
Also, different search engines are each indexing different parts of the Internet.
To get a more complete picture of the Web-based information on your topic,
you have to use more than one search engine.
Advantages to using search engines
include:
- Currency. Because sites don't have to wait to be evaluated
by human editors, they appear in search engines faster than they will in
directories. As soon as a search engine finds a new site, it's added to
the database.
- Specificity. You can get very specific when using a search
engine. This makes search engines good tools to use if you're looking for
very narrow or obscure topics.
Considerations to bear in mind:
- Use more than one search engine if you want a more complete
view of the information on your topic.
- Make sure your keywords are well-chosen. As with any
search in any electronic database, your search is only as good as your keywords.
- No evaluation. Search engines are not selective, and
don't perform any evaluation of the quality of a web site. So if you want
evaluation, use a directory instead.
- Search engines are made for searching, not browsing.
If you want to browse, use a directory.
- It takes practice to learn how to use a search engine
well. Don't let that put you off from using them! Just realize that, like
many of the other research skills we have discussed, you will learn it by
doing it. Be patient with yourself and allow yourself plenty of time to
get the hang of it.
