Search
engines are tools used to search for information on the
Internet. There are different
types of search engines which gather their information in quite different ways.
None of them catalogue all of the resources available online but
Google is currently considered one of the
most user friendly with a broad coverage.
Many engines incorporate more than one
different type.
Of the main types:
Live Search Engines search using automated robots called ‘crawlers or
spiders’ which identify key words to arrange the sites.
They catalogue sites very quickly so are
good for
breaking news and the most up-to-date information
Subject Guides or Directories organise their information by subject or
topic (which requires human input).
they are
good for
finding relevant information and an overview of a subject
Meta Search Engines collate results from a number of different search
engines thus
providing
multiple results in one search which can save time
and may give ideas
for keywords and more in-depth searching.
Continue
on to Searching
or or take a break and do an activity
|
Click here for an activity to explore the features of some different search engines |
| Follow this link to Choose the Best Search Engine for Your Information Needs |
