Searching for Information

If you require information on a certain subject but don't have an actual URL or web address, click on the Search button on the Toolbar. A frame will open on the left-hand side of your screen from which you can search the web.

Type in any relevant keywords in the box (illustrated left) and MSN Web Search will return a set of links to match your keywords.

Click on any of the returned links to view the relevant web page displayed in the right-hand side of the screen.

To view the web page full frame - or if you have finished searching - click the cross at the top of the search frame or click the Search button again. This will close the left-hand frame.

You can also access several search engines by typing in their addresses into the Location Bar.

Standard Search Engines
Each search engine has its own method of carrying out a search. If you are consistently finding nothing relative to your search criteria, try the Advanced Search (the title may vary from engine to engine) or try another search engine altogether.

A number of specialised search engines exist, for example, searching medical databases. The easiest way to find these is to type "search engine" as your keywords in your search engine of choice.

AltaVista

Excite

Go.com

Lycos

Webcrawler

Yahoo UK

Meta-Search Engines
These search and collate results from a number of search engines at the same time.

Dogpile

Metacrawler

Finding People
A number of search routines are specifically designed to find people, but the results are far more varied (in success) than general searches. There is no overall body concerned with finding peoples' URL or web address, or with individual's e-mail addresses. Some of the following might help:

Bigfoot

Infospace

MESA

Yahoo People Finder

The listings above are far from comprehensive. If you are still not receiving the results you need, run a search to find a specific search engine that might be of more help to you.

Internet Search Tips

  • If you are using lower case (ie. not capital) letters in names - for example, "james bond", type in the term exactly as you usually would - "James Bond".
  • Vice versa - if there are no search criteria returned, alter the upper case letters to lower case.
  • If you are looking for particular information, be as specific as possible - for example, for hotel prices in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, actually type in the phrase Hotels Las Vegas USA.
  • Lateral thinking can make a big difference in searching the web. Approach the subject you are looking for by using as many different terms as possible in separate searches.
  • You can use the same search engine for two seperate searches at the same time. Say, for example, you were at the AltaVista site. Go to the File menu of your browser, select New and then Window from the sub-menu. A new window will open with the AltaVista already present in it.You can run one search in one window (eg. further education) and in the other you could use to search for specific information (eg. UCLES).
  • Switching between both windows will allow you to maximise your search time. It is recommended that you use four separate search windows maximum, so you can keep track of the information gained.
  • See also Advanced Search Features

Finally, keep trying. If you are still not happy with the results, try another search engine.

Contents: World Wide Web

Skill Check: World Wide Web