Each search engine’s home page provides a link to advice on using the search engine efficiently as well as help with refining a search. Look for a link labeled “search help,” “about us,” or something similar, and click on it to learn about that specific search engine.

Some Internet search engines provide for specialized searches— for images, for example. Google offers a service called Google Scholar™ that functions similarly to a database, locating only scholarly sources in response to a search term. Many of the links, however, are to subscription-based online journals that charge a fee for access to full-text articles. Learn more about using Google Scholar™ in this tutorial.

Many Internet search engines also include sponsored links—links that a commercial enterprise has paid to have appear in response to specific search terms. These are usually clearly identified. For a list of popular Internet search engines, click here .

Internet keyword searches usually need to be carefully worded to provide relevant results. For example, a search of Google using the keywords louis armstrong yields a list of more than 3,810,000 Web sites, a staggering number of links, or hits (illustrated below).

A keyword search in Google. An initial search using the keywords louis armstrong yields more than three million hits.

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