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Services and Assistance > Using the Internet
The Internet is a worldwide system of computer networks. It is a public, cooperative, and self-sustaining system accessible to hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The most widely used part of the Internet is the World Wide Web (often abbreviated "WWW" or called "the Web"). The Web offers access to billions of pages of information.
The web has made it possible for anybody on the Internet to publish. Web sites rarely go through the exacting review process demanded by editors of print resources. It is therefore even more important to critically evaluate information you find on the web in terms of purpose, authority, scope, accuracy, and presentation. See Evaluating Websites for more information.
The content of web sites comes from:
ACCESSING CONTENT ON THE INTERNET
Web browsing is done with a web browser, the most popular of which are Windows Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. In most Web sites, certain words or phrases appear in text of a different color than the rest. When you click on one of these words or phrases, you will be transferred to the site or page that is relevant to this word or phrase. Sometimes there are buttons, images, or portions of images that are also "clickable." If you move the pointer over a spot on a Web site and the pointer changes into a hand, this indicates that you can click and be transferred to another site. Web browsers allow users to choose a web page to serve as a consistent starting point.
A portal is a web page designed to be the starting point or anchor site for web users. Portals generally include web search engines and directories, community forums and chat rooms, and a range of the most popular web services which might include news, weather, sports, shopping, travel, entertainment, games, hobbies, recipes, personals, jobs, and financial information. Most portals will personalize web pages for individuals, often including free e-mail. Some of the most popular free portals include AOL/Netscape, Excite, the GO Network, iGoogle, Lycos, MSN, and Yahoo!.
SEARCHING THE INTERNET
There are five basic approaches to finding information on the Internet. The approach
you take depends on the method that best serves your needs.
1. Go directly to a URL
A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) identifies an address on the Web. It consists of a protocol defining the way your browser needs to communicate and a domain, and often includes directories and file names. Connecting directly to a URL is most useful when you suspect an organization may provide the information you need and you already know the URL or can make an educated guess.
In the URL http://elibrary.unm.edu/services/internet.php
In the US , the top level domain extension:
Newer domain extensions include (there are at least 60):
The rest of the world uses two-letter country codes.
2. Browse a subject directory
A subject directory is a hierarchical, topical arrangement of web resources gathered by people. It is most useful for browsing. Examples include:
Tens of thousands of specialized subject directories are available on the web as well – use the general subject directories listed above or the search engines listed below to find them.
3. Use a search engine or meta search engine
A search engine is a word-by-word index of web resources gathered by a computer program. A meta search engine searches several other search engines at one time. Search engines are useful for all kinds of searching.
Search engines
Some of the most established and successful include:
Google supplies AOL, Go, Lycos, and Netscape. Yahoo! supplies alltheweb and AltaVista. They, along with Ask, supply Excite and HotBot. Other search engines include:
Meta search engines
Specialized search engines
Academic search engines
Children (both search engines & subject directories)
Images
Google supplies image searching for A9, AOL, and Netscape. Yahoo! supplies image searching for alltheweb and AltaVista. Picsearch supplies image searching for Ditto, Lycos, and MSN.
News
All major search engines offer news search engines:
Some search engines specialize in news:
Reference
For a larger selection, check out the Electronic Reference List that the library maintains.
Video
Miscellaneous
4. Search the invisible web
Only ten percent of the Internet is covered by search engines. What's left is called the "invisible web." It includes unlinked web pages and private intranets, but most come from databases. A database is a file of information whose records may be searched by defined fields (a phone directory is an example of a database). The web page doesn't exist until the search is conducted, which is why a search engine cannot find the contents of a database. The best way to find a database is to consult a directory or use a search engine to see if a database exists. There are only a couple of engines that specialize in searching the invisible web:
5. Search Usenet or Join a Discussion Group
Usenet is a collection of conversations that take place electronically on almost any topic you can imagine. In addition to joining a Usenet discussion (or e-mail discussion group), it is possible to search the archives of past Usenet exchanges. It is most useful for tapping expert knowledge or gauging public opinion. Search Google Groups for the archives of Usenet discussions.
SEARCH TECHNIQUES
Most Web search tools offer a simple search interface – the results are determined
by an algorithm. In order to influence the algorithm, it is necessary to take advantage of advanced search techniques. All search techniques are based on Boolean logic. In most search
engines you will either conduct a Boolean search or use a required operator. Other
techniques will help you refine your search. Please note that different search
tools will use different symbols for truncation, phrase, and proximity searching
– if they offer them at all – check help screens to see what is available.
Boolean Logic
Boolean logic is a mathematical way of combining sets. Boolean
operators include and or +,or,
and not or - .
In the results from a two word search:
In a variation developed for the web, placing a + or - at the beginning of a word means:
Find out which Boolean operator is used as the default before entering your search.
Truncation or wild card
Phrase Searching
Search a sequence of words (ex. "capital punishment").
Proximity Searching
Search for words that are close together (ex . john near kennedy)
Field Searching
Field searching limits a search to words within the same defined portion of a record
(ex. image:mermaid).
SEARCH TIPS
The following hints and caveats are based on the fact that
search engines index different parts of the Internet, search it in
different ways, and rank results differently. If at first you don't find what you need:
Coverage
Search engines look at different parts of the web:
Ranking
Algorithms are formulas that take the results of your search and rank them. Each
search engine keeps them secret, but they all tend to give more weight to:
Beware of search engines that accept payment to move sites to the top of the search results list without indicating that they are sponsored links.
Currency
Recent information may not be available - it takes time to create an index of the
web and indexing cycles range from days to weeks.
