The Internet and the World Wide Web contain information on nearly any subject you can think of. Even though much of that information is unreliable, many Web sites are affiliated with reliable "real world" sources, and the breadth of the information available makes the Internet a valuable resource for research.

It is almost inevitable that you will have to use a search engine when seeking materials on the Internet. In the past, there were clear distinctions between the different types of search engines you could use:

• Catalog Indexes like Yahoo contain categorized, registered site listings, similar to a phone book. They are organized, but exclude unregistered sites.

• Keyword Engines like Google use "spiders" and return any web pages that may relate to the words of your search.

• Meta Engines like Excite reference several other engines (like Google and Yahoo) and produce broader results.

However, virtually all search engines now have a "meta" aspect: Yahoo now implements Google's search engine to provide better results. For many people, the search engines they use on the Web are purely a matter of what they find easy and accessible.

The Search Engine Watch Newsletter reports nineteen major search engines as of June, 13 2001

:

AOL Search	LookSmart
AltaVista *	Lycos
Ask Jeeves	MSN Search
Direct Hit	NBCi
Excite	Netscape Search
FAST Search	Northern Light
Google *	Open Directory
HotBot	RealNames
IWon	Yahoo *
Inktomi

Those sites with an "*" are good places to start, but ultimately you should make your decisions based on which engines best respond to our strategies and yours.

Explore other aspects of Evidence:

• Searching
• Locating Traditional Sources
• Evaluating Evidence