Internet Search Engines Essay Research Paper The

Internet Search Engines Essay, Research Paper

The internet was established as a back up for the military in case of a nuclear attack and all normal communication were cut off. By establishing this form of communication the chain of command would have a way to pass down information and important orders. The military abandoned this idea and gave it to the higher education system. It was here the “internet” started to grow and develop. WOW, big business found a new way to advertise there products, individuals had a means to express there views about ALL subject matters, subject matter experts had a place were everybody could use there knowledge and expertise. Hundreds of thousands, millions of people had access to the rest of the world. All this information, how do you know where to access this information? Introduce the search engine. It is the use of a search engines that helps the user to narrow down his choices of millions of web pages.

The are millions of different type of search engines for different purposes. There is a search engine designed to find the perfect bed and breakfast, there is one to find all web pages that have a Christian themes or topics, there is even one to find the occult. What if the user is not sure what search engine to use? The first basic lesson of using the internet is how to find a general knowledge search engine, a search engine that has no main theme. Currently there are eight commonly used all purpose search engines: infoseek, webcrawler, go network, alta vista, yahoo, net search, lycos and excite. All these listed search engine can find any topic the user can dream up. The user types in a word or word phrase and double clinics on the “search” box to set the search engine researching millions of web pages with the word or phrase the user has typed in. While reaching this project, this paper used several search engines to see how they compare. The word “ football “ was used in each search engine. While some search engines produced American football, college, semi-pro and pro football, others produced soccer web sites. Engines like lycos and alta vista gives a choice of searching by several means, category, web sites, web pages and news and media. One search engine, infoseek produces 4,573,438 different web pages to search. The topic was then narrowed down to the Dallas Cowboys. The search engines produced information on the Dallas Cowboys, the city of Dallas, the weather of Dallas, and the shopping of the Dallas area malls. The topic then is narrowed down even further by asking for the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. Again the selection of web pages and sites becomes smaller on the topic of football but more sites on other topics like cheerleading and different squads appeared. Finally, the topic of Pamela Jagger, a member of the 1998-1999 squad, was inputted. The majority of the different engines produced only several sites on the topic while others explored the x rated sites. It is here the users most be aware of what each search engine searches for and what the user wants. This paper has learned that the most user friendly search engine was yahoo. It produced a wide variety of topics, while the topic was narrowed down, it was if the engine knew what was being searched for and linked the user to them. Each person must choose the search engine that fits their needs. This is again show why the internet will last, it meets the needs of its users.