Search the WEBSearch the WEBThe following example of a Web search is intended to give you an idea of how to find information on the Web. Use it as a model, but remember there is no "right" or "wrong" way to search the Web.
Let's say you want to research Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd president of the United States. You might take the following steps:
1. Type "Franklin Roosevelt" or "President Roosevelt and Franklin or FDR" into a directory site like Yahoo. Remember, in this case, you don't want sites about Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States, so your query should be phrased to eliminate them.
2. Review the first 10 or 20 results from the search. You may want to visit one or two of these sites, or you may want to jot down their URL's on a sheet of paper. (You can find a URL without actually clicking on a link by simply rolling the cursor over the link. The URL should appear in the status bar window at the bottom of your browser.)
3. Now you may want to start narrowing your subject down to, say, "Roosevelt and New Deal" or even "Roosevelt and Social Security Administration" if you are interested in a specific aspect of FDR's presidency. At this point you may want to go to a search engine such as AltaVista, Excite, Hotbot, or Infoseek. By submitting a more carefully narrowed or targeted query, you should get better results from your search. Also, search engines tend to be more effective if you are looking for some information that may have been reported in the news recently.
4. Finally, no matter what the subject you are researching, you will almost surely find one or more sites that contain lists of useful related sites. These lists of links are often your best resource when researching a subject. Our NetGuider links under "Advanced Research" provide just such a list of information-packed sites on each subject.