Augusta
County Library 1759
Jefferson Hwy, Fishersville, VA 540.949-6354 or 540.885-3961 aclwebmaster@ntelos.net
| There are many ways to go about maneuvering on the Internet. With the vast wealth of information available, knowing how to look for information can be very daunting. Search engines help to sort through all the "stuff" on the web, and make it easier to find what you are looking for. Check below for links to some of the more popular search engines, and general summaries/hints on how to use them. We would also like to recommend you visit Introduction to the Internet, maintained by the Evanston, IL Public Library. Visit Search Engine Watch - for current information on search engine pros and cons. |
| All The Web Offers personalized settings including an offensive content filter as well as advanced search options that include formats and other filters. | HotBot Lots of fun graphics and decent searching. |
| Alta Vista One of the largest search engines, find anything and everything on Alta Vista. | Lycos Use the LycosPro Power Panel and do some really fancy searching. |
| Go.com Formerly Infoseek, news headlines at a glance. | |
| Google Our favorite: able to limit search effectively if use specific query, e.g. horse drawn school bus (do not need to use quotation marks). | Yahoo! One of the most popular general search engines, does provide for subject searches |
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>Most are a word search, not a subject search, they look for the frequency in documents of the word you have entered for searching. |
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>For maximum coverage, use more than 1 search engine, each one has a different route. |
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>Meta-search engines cover several search engines, but not as completely as individual searches. Best one: Dogpile |
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>Use all lower case letters unless looking specifically for a proper name (ex. soundings [measurement] vs Soundings [a shopping mall]) |
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>Use quotation marks to signify an exact phrase (ex. "Simpson trial"). |
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>Completely capitalize full Boolean connectors AND, OR, NOT (AND NOT). |
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>If a link opens to a new browser, exit the page (click on the "x" in the upper right-hand corner of the screen) to return to your previous location. |
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>Search engines are constantly changing, the best one today may be old news tomorrow, so USE MORE THAN ONE! |
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>If clicking on a link does not initially go through, try again. |
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Site created and maintained by Augusta County
Library. This page last updated 2/23/07.