Searching the Web

Know your search engine

• Search Engine Watch or Search Engine Showdown
• Read the Help and Advanced sections for your favorite search engine
• Match your search to a search engine - see Internet Tutorials

Practice good search strategies

• Use Boolean operators (Thanks George!)
• Use words you expect to find on the Web page
• Use synonyms
• Use the search engine's limiters
• Have a go at the invisible web aka the deep web
• Try Infomine which searches scholarly internet resources

Evaluate your results

• Use our checklist
• Think it's a hoax? Run it down at Snopes or other urban legend sites

Don't recreate the wheel

Librarians love compiling online guides to point out useful resources. Look at the business sections of websites at university or public libraries. While you may not be able to access all the resources you find, many of these guides suggest freely available websites.

Example: try a Google search for

(research OR subject) guide library site:.edu business

TIP: replace "business" with a more narrow subject, like industry or market research.