AltaVista Search—How to get the most out of it
An excellent tutorial on using the huge search engine, from Richard Seltzer, co-author of The AltaVista Search Revolution.Asking an Expert
When searching doesn't work, you can always ask for help from online experts. Internet research expert Tara Calishain tells you when—and how—to ask an expert.Best of the Internet Tutorials
A guide to the best online tutorials, compiled by the Department of Telecommunications of Bowling Green State University.Boolean Searching on the Internet
(Want to be a great searcher) and (do not know Boolean logic) or (how it works)? Do not (miss this exceptional illustrated primer on the topic).Evaluating Quality on the Net
Once you've found a site, how do you know if it's any good? Here are practical tips on distinguishing the valuable nuggets from the junk.Finding Information on the Internet: A Tutorial
From the Teaching Library at UC Berkeley, offering beginning, intermediate, and advanced sections on using the Internet's resources to find information.Finding It Online: Web Search Strategies
This tutorial presents an easy-to-follow process on using search engines and subject directories for finding what you need on the World Wide Web.How to Choose the Search Tools You Need
The Teaching Library at UC Berkeley shows you how to choose a search engine that matches the optimal database size with the features you need to research your topic successfully.How to Search the World Wide Web
This tutorial for beginners provides helpful explanations of how the various search engines work. Especially useful are the "Hints" and "Planning and Conducting a Search" sections.Making Web Research Pay Off
Reviews of Web research tools that help you keep your favorite Web sites organized.The Many Faces of Inktomi
The Inktomi database serves several Web search engines, such as HotBot and Yahoo, but doesn't provide identical results. Here's why.Pandia
Pandia is devoted to effective Internet searching, with tutorials, tools, "Q-Cards," Web search, and much more.Power Searching 101
An in-depth Web searching tutorial, organized to proceed from the basics to more advanced topics. It has 12 parts containing 48 topics.Search Engine Help: Documentation and Resources on the Web
A guide to search engine help resources, advanced searching commands, and other "helpful" sites, from your About.com Guide.Search Engines: What they Are & How They Work
An excellent overview of how search engines work, with examples to illustrate which engine performs the best for specific tasks.Sink or Swim: Internet Search Tools and Techniques
Notes for a Web searching workshop which includes a lot of useful tips and techniques, and comparisons of different search engines.The Spider's Apprentice
A good, reasonably thorough tutorial on search engines, how they work, how to plan a search strategy, and brief reviews of popular search sites.Things to Know About the Internet
An outstanding, densely-packed but easy to read "cheat sheet" for key information about the Internet, e-mail, and searching the Web.Tips On Popular Search Engines
This concise overview of all major search engines describes how they work and offers tips for getting the most from each.Web and Internet Search Engine FAQ
An excellent overview and tutorial on search engines and how to use them most effectively, including several specialized search engines.Web Search Help and Tips
An annotated guide to Web search help, with explanations of how to get the most from each search engine, from your About.com Guide.Web Teacher - Finding Things
This basic tutorial on Web searching is part of the comprehensive Web Primer covering just about everything you might want to know about the Internet.
Google at www.google.com Searches 3,307,998,701 web pages
AltaVista
http://altavista.com
AltaVista offers Basics, Advanced Help, and help with its Refine Results feature, a tool that dynamically sorts your results into different topics to help you become more exact with your search keywords.Excite
http://www.excite.com
Excite has a number of help files, including What is Excite Search?, General Search Tips, Advanced Search Tips, how to interpret Search Results.HotBot
HotBot provides basic help with Getting Started, and extensive help for its advanced searching features in Advanced Search Features List.Infoseek
Infoseek (now the search service for the GO network) provides How to Search, complete with examples linked to actual queries. Infoseek also provides a Quick Reference to Search, a Quick Reference to Syntax, and help for Advanced Search.Lycos
Lycos provides General Search Tips, help with interpreting Search Results, Lycos Pro Search Tips, as well as links to help files for other specialized searches offered through the Lycos Network.Northern Light
Northern Light's Search Help is simple but adequate, and also features links explaining how to use its various specialized search capabilities.Webcrawler
Webcrawler Help offers useful tips for this relatively limited-coverage search engine.Yahoo
Yahoo has two sets of help files. Browsing Yahoo describes the structure of the directory and how to use it. Yahoo also features a fairly powerful search engine. Help on Search describes the basic search capabilities, while Advanced Search Syntax goes into more detail for refining searches.
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Search Tips & Tricks
Essential strategies and methods for finding information on the Web, for beginner and expert alike, from your About.com Guide.