Guide to Internet use
If you are viewing this page, you are already using the Internet.
The window that is open right now is called a browser window.
A browser window uses a software program to display the many
different web sites and web pages that make up the Internet.
Each web site or web page has a unique address, also called
a web site address or URL that usually begins with www. (You
can see the address of the page you are viewing now, in the
address box in the toolbar of your browser).
Web pages are connected to other pages in the same web site
or elsewhere on the Internet by links. Links are highlighted
words, pictures, or web site addresses that you can click
on to jump to another place in the Internet. You can tell
if a word or object is a link by moving your mouse cursor
over it: if the cursor changes from an arrow to a hand symbol,
it is a link.
Note: Links in this site are usually blue.
Links to a page or site outside this site will open in a new
blank browser window. The icon 
is to indicate that the link is for an Adobe Acrobat (pdf)
format document. You can download the Adobe Acrobat Reader
for free from http://www.adobe.com.
Three Ways To Find What You Are Looking For
You can use the Internet in one of three ways – you
can click on a link, you can type in an address directly (if
you already know it), or you can search for information yourself.
These three different ways are described in more detail below.
1) If you are looking at a web page and it contains a link
that looks interesting, simply click on it to go to that new
web site or web page. If you are taken to a web site or web
page that is uninteresting or unhelpful, simply click the
Back button in the top left corner of your browser to go back
to the previous page. The “Links”
section can give you good practice in using links, and can
help you locate good information about different subjects.
2) If you already know the web site’s address, you
can go right to that page.
For example, you may already know the AIDS Resource Center
address because you have seen a bookmark or a sticker around
town, and you wrote it down: www.etharc.org. You can go straight
to this web site by erasing the text in the address box, then
typing in www.etharc.org, and then clicking “Go”
on the browser toolbar, or pressing the “Enter”
key on your keyboard.
3) If you want information on a specific topic, but you
don’t know any addresses of web sites containing information
on this topic, you will need to search all the pages on the
Internet for good information. See the next section for details
about searching and different search tools.
Different Search Tools
Searching can be done in four different ways. The way that
you choose depends on the kind of information you want to
find. Think before you start to search: Are you looking for
a fact or a whole web site on a topic? Do you want to find
a specific web site (like for an organization or a product),
or do you want to find multiple web sites on the same subject?
Here are four different options.
1) You can use your browser’s search button in the
toolbar (click on the globe and magnifying glass in the toolbar
to start searching). Once the search bar appears, type in
the subject or name you are looking for. This method uses
a search engine like described in #2, but it doesn’t
let you choose which one you use. This is a good and easy
way to start, but you should also try other search engines
to see if they give you better results.
2) You can use a search engine of your choosing to find
information. Search engines take the words you type and look
for matches in a database of many different web sites and
web pages, then give you the addresses of the closest matches.
What results you get from your searches depend on two things:
- the words you choose to search for, and
- how the search engine looks for those words in different
web sites (different search engines often get very different
results).
For hints about making searches more effective, click here.
Examples of different search engines you can try include:
3) You can use a subject directory. If you are looking for
information in a fairly general category (such as cancer or
HIV/AIDS), you can view lists of web sites in this category
by using a subject directory. Subject directories allow you
to explore increasingly more specific categories to find a
collection of web sites on a particular topic. Subject directories
are good for exploring the Internet, but can be difficult
to use to find specific pieces of information. Examples of
subject directories include:
4) You can use a subject-specific search engine. These search
engines tend to go into much greater depth than regular search
engines, and can retrieve specific articles or information
sheets that regular search engines can’t access. They
usually search for web sites or pages within a specific subject
area. Some of the most useful subject-specific search engines
for HIV/AIDS researchers are medical search engines. Examples
of medical search engines include:
Be Careful: Don’t Trust Everything You Read!
It is tempting to believe everything you read on the Internet.
But be aware: putting pages on the Internet is not like producing
a magazine, newspaper, or book. Magazines, newspapers, and
books usually need to be reviewed and approved before they
are published. But in many countries, ANYONE can have their
own web site, and no one reviews the content of these web
sites or gives permission for them to put information on these
web sites. Many pages don’t display dates or sources
of the information. For this reason, a lot of information
on the Internet is unreliable, and sometimes, it’s just
plain junk.
Web sites often contain distorted or false information, opinions
rather than facts, pictures or words that you might find offensive,
or other kinds of information that will hurt rather than help
your research. It is very important to think critically about
the kind of information you read, and to judge its quality
very carefully.
Here are some guidelines for evaluating the quality of information
on websites you visit:
1) Look at the URL, or address. Choose URLs very carefully.
- Who, or what organization, published the page? You can
generally tell by looking at the letters named in the first
portion of the URL (between http:// and the first /).
- Have you heard of the publisher before? Do you recognize
the author, if one is named? Can you find other works by
the author on-line or in the library?
- Is the page an organizational or a personal page? (Personal
pages are not necessarily bad, but they tend to be less
reliable than organizational pages.)
2) Evaluate links. Does the web page contain links to other
sites or footnotes?
- What kind of web sites do the links take you to? Are
they reputable organizations? Are they scholarly documents?
- If there are links to other sources or footnoted sources,
do they appear reliable and relevant?
- Do the links work?
- Are the links from a variety of perspectives on a topic,
or are they limited to one viewpoint?
3) Is the information reproduced from somewhere else? Always
try to use original information: retyped or reproduced information
can be inaccurate, fake, or forged.
- Are permissions to reproduce and copyright information
available?
- Are there links to the original source if it is online?
4) Does the page contain opinions or facts? Opinions can
sometimes be useful but are often tricky. Facts are useful
only when you know the source is reputable.
- If they are opinions, are they balanced and do they consider
other opinions?
- Are your own hopes or expectations biasing your evaluation?
- If they are facts, what is the source of the facts?
5) How old is the data or the document (or the data in the
document)? Documents without dates are usually unreliable.
- Look for the date “last updated” on the web
page. Is it current? If you are viewing a document, does
it have a date?
- Remember that undated factual or statistical information
is useless. Don’t use it.
6) What do other sources on this topic say? Are there other
similar websites and print documents saying similar things,
or is this website very different?
- Is it different because it is presenting an extreme position?
- Is it different because it is a new idea?
- Is it different because it is not very well supported?
7) Put it all together. Think critically about all the websites
you visit and the sources you plan to use.
- Remember, when you use on-line sources of information,
it is very easy to be the victim of fraud, falsehood, biased
thinking, or a joke.
- Thinking about the web page’s source, age, and
content, as well as comparing it to other web pages on the
same subject, do you think it is a good quality web site?
- Are print sources from a library a better option?
Other On-Line Tutorials
If you want more information about using the Internet, try
an on-line Internet tutorial. Internet tutorials are on-line
programs that teach people skills for using the Internet.
This includes learning better search techniques, learning
more about the structure and history of the Internet, and
learning how to make sure that the information you find is
accurate and current. If this interests you, try one of these
tutorials:
To access a tutorial, simply click on its Internet address
below:
Surf the Web (Learn the Net)
http://www.learnthenet.com/english/section/www.html
This site features short descriptions about different things
you need to know to find information on the Internet. Particularly
helpful for first-time users are the sections on “The
Web At-a-Glance,” “Anatomy of a Web Page,”
“Understanding Web Addresses,” and “Top
Ten Tips.”
Beginner’s Central: A User’s Guide to
the Internet (Northern Webs)
http://www.northernwebs.com/bc
If you want a very detailed and technical introduction to
the Internet, try this tutorial. It includes descriptions
of how the Internet works, its history, and how to search,
download files, and save information. Also covers FTP, Telnet,
and newsgroups.
Finding Information on the Internet Tutorial (Berkeley
University, USA)
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html
This site allows you to pick and choose what you want to learn
about the Internet. Topics covered include descriptions of
the Internet, comparisons of web browsers, hints about how
to search effectively, links to different types of search
tools, and how to make sure that the information you find
is good information.
10 Tips to Make Searches More Effective
Finding information on the Internet can seem as difficult
as looking for a needle in a haystack. In some ways, this
is true: from the hundreds of millions of different web pages
in existence, you are trying to find just a few web sites
about a topic that interests you. Here is the good news: if
you use search engines as a tool (whether general, like Google,
or subject-specific, like MEDLINEplus), you can learn a few
new techniques to improve the chances you’ll find what
you’re looking for. Practice makes perfect, and successful
searches often take several tries!
Here are ten tips for searching effectively:
1. Choose search terms (these are the words you
type in the search box) carefully.
Unsuccessful searches are usually the result of using search
terms that are too general to yield helpful information. General
search terms yield too many records, none of which is what
you were looking for. Think first about what you are looking
for and what you are not looking for, then be as specific
as you can in choosing search terms. For example, if you’re
looking for information about the socioeconomic impact of
HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia, type socioeconomic impact HIV/AIDS Ethiopia,
not economy AIDS Africa. Nouns, such as names and objects,
usually work best. Adjectives and verbs should only be used
if they are very unique (as with clinical or other occupational
terms).
2. Refine your search terms.
Pay attention to whether other words are used for the topic
you’re seeking. This can include synonyms, alternate
spellings, other word forms, plural/singular differences,
and even words that often accompany the topic you are looking
for. For example, using AIDS as a search term is often unhelpful,
because search engines cannot differentiate between AIDS and
“aids,” things that help people. Typing HIV as
well as AIDS restricts results to the disease.
Use singular, rather than plural, forms of words where possible.
If you type drug, most search engines also retrieve records
containing the word drugs, but not vice-versa.
Some search engines allow “stemming” or “wildcard”
searches. These searches allow you to look for all words with
the same root by typing the root of a word that has multiple
forms (for example, the root assist is common to the words
assistance, assisting, assisted, and assists), and then adding
a character such as “*” to the end. Typing assist*
retrieves all records containing any of the above related
words. Investigate your browser to find out.
3. Learn how search engines work.
Search engines all work differently: the same combination
of search terms can give you very different results using
different search engines. Somewhere on most search engine
home pages is a link that says something like “Search
Help,” “Hints for Searching,” “Advanced
Search Tips,” or “How to Search.” By clicking
on this link, you can often learn tips for how a search engine
retrieves results.
4. Learn Boolean logic.
This sounds complicated, but it’s really quite easy.
Many search engines accept Boolean logic commands, which are
a series of words called operators that you put between your
search terms to combine them in many different ways. For example,
the AND operator retrieves all records containing both words
you entered. The OR operator retrieves all records containing
one, the other, or both words you entered. OR generally retrieves
many more records than AND, so it’s usually most useful
between synonyms. The AND NOT (sometimes NOT or BUT NOT, depending
on the search engine) operator allows you to exclude records
that you don’t want. AND NOT between search terms looks
for records that contain the first term but not the second
term. For example, if you are looking for information on famine
in Ethiopia but don’t want references to the 1985 famine,
type Ethiopia famine AND NOT 1985. Check the search engine’s
help page before you start to see whether it accepts Boolean
operators. For more information about Boolean logic and how
to use it, click here.
5. Search for phrases, not words.
Some search engines let you look for phrases rather than just
words. For example, using Google, you can put quotation marks
around phrases and it will retrieve records where the words
you entered appear as a whole phrase in the exact order you
typed. This is especially good for quotations and proper nouns
like names with multiple words. Here’s an example: if
you type Lion of Judah (no quotation marks) in the search
box, the search engine will usually look for all records containing
the word “lion” and the word “Judah,”
no matter if these words are near each other or not. This
just as easily turns up pages about people who battled lions
in the Biblical land of Judah as it would a record about Haile
Selassie or the biblical origin of the title “Lion of
Judah.” Search engines also ignore common words like
“of” unless they are within quotation marks as
part of a phrase. A better solution is to type “Lion
of Judah” in the search box: this will retrieve only
those records where the whole phrase appears.
6. Use more than just one or two search terms.
Search engines look for all the search terms you enter in
one document, so using more search terms at one time narrows
your search. Using 6-8 carefully chosen terms increases the
likelihood you will find what you are looking for. For example,
using Ethiopia as a search term will retrieve many documents,
most of which will be useless if you are an Ethiopian HIV/AIDS
epidemiologist working with youth. Ethiopia HIV/AIDS retrieves
a small fraction of this number, but the results will still
be broad. Ethiopia HIV/AIDS adolescent transmission epidemiology
heterosexual will find many fewer documents, but they will
be more specific. The only danger of this method is that you
can occasionally use too many search terms, which restricts
the number of results and sometimes excludes web pages that
would be helpful.
7. Put the most important search terms first.
Most searches put records that match your first search term
higher in the list of results than records that match your
second term, and so on.
8. Use different search engines, or a metasearch
engine.
Because different search engines retrieve web pages based
on different criteria, what works in some search engines may
not work in others. If you are having difficulty with one
search engine’s results, try another one. Here is a
list of search engines to try.
- Google: http://www.google.com
- AllTheWeb (formerly named FAST): http://www.alltheweb.com
- AltaVista: http://www.altavista.com
- Excite: http://www.excite.com
- MSN Search: http://search.msn.com
Some people like using metasearch engines, which search for
results on multiple search engines simultaneously. Those records
at the top of the list are the pages found by all the different
search engines. The main benefit of metasearch engines is
that they can increase your Internet coverage by three to
four times. However, records that only one search engine can
find (usually individual articles, documents, and lesser-known
or more recent web pages) tend not to show up using metasearch
engines. Here is a list of metasearch engines to try.
- Dogpile: http://www.dogpile.com
- Fazzle (formerly named SearchOnline.info): http://www.searchonline.info
- Ithaki: http://www.ithaki.net/indexu.htm
- Vivisimo (also clusters results into categories): http://www.vivisimo.com
- Webcrawler: http://www.webcrawler.com
9. Combine techniques.
Mix different techniques together to make searches work better.
Try using lots of search terms, then try just a few very specific
ones. Another useful technique is combining phrase searches
with careful selection of keywords to find exactly what you
want. For example, typing “Lion of Judah” Ethiopia
Haile Selassie will find records about Haile Selassie and
his title as the Lion of Judah. Typing “Lion of Judah”
Bible scripture is more likely to find records about the Scriptural
verse from which the name “Lion of Judah” comes.
10. Learn more about searching and search engines.
If you want additional tips on how to search, take an online
tutorial. A great one can be found at http://thewebtools.com/tutorial,
but you can also search the Internet for others!
Another great resource to learn about searching is Search
Engine Watch. This website and accompanying electronic newsletter
have current information about search engine features, the
most effective search engines, helpful tips and tricks, and
other valuable information to improve speed and accuracy of
searches.
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