How to search for Information
We have already seen what is Internet and where you can access it. Now let us see how you can use Internet to find the required information.
Today, most information we need is found with the help of a search engine. A search engine is a software program that searches millions of pages on the Internet and creates a list of relavent web pages. Users can then search this list quickly and easily to find the information you are looking for.
The World Wide Web have information and data from all over the world. There is so much of information available and sometimes you also may not be sure about the correctness and appropriateness of the information; it becomes necessary to filter the relavent information.
If you know exactly what you're looking for, a search engine is
the best way to find it.The words or phrases you give the search engine is called the “key word”. Search engines use keywords to determine which web pages have relevant information.
For the best results from a search engine, it's important to choose
your keywords wisely.
Try out the words which best fit your topic. For example if you want to know about 'cricket', use the key word "cricket" rather than "sports" or “games”.
Use words which are closely related and specfic to the topic you search. For example, if you want more information about how to go around Mumbai city, you can search for Mumbai Bus routes, or Map of Mumbai, etc.
If you are searching for multiple common words such as 'computer' and 'help', it is a good idea to place quotes around the full search. For example, "computer help"
Also many search engines ignore the common words while searching. For example, if we want to search for – "why does my computer not boot", it would search for "computer boot."
Finally, if you continue to not find what you are looking for, try a different search engine.
are some of the most commonly used search engines.
When you use a good library for reading or reference, the books and other resources have already been evaluated by scholars, publishers and librarians.But on the internet anyone can write a Web page. A webpage can be written by an expert or people who have little or no knowledge about the subject. On the internet apart from a lot of information, you can also find opinions, misconceptions, and inaccurate information. So we should first evaluate the authenticity and correctness of the information. To check the authenticity of the information, find answers to the following questions
Who is the author of the content?
Do you recognize the author or their work?
Is the information from an established organization?
Has the information been reviewed by others?
Are they stating a fact or opinion?
Another reliable way of checking the authenticity is to compare the information got from different information resources.
Here are some of the english language sites you can browse through:
Educational Institutions:
Indian Institute of Technology – Bombay
Cochin University of Science and Technology
All India Institute of Medical Sciences
Annamalai Universityannamalaiuniversity.ac.in/
Government Offices:
Indian Railways
Passport Office,India
Banks:
Indian Bank
State Bank of India
Reserve Bank of India
Newspapers
The Hindu
The Times of India
The Financial Express
Encyclopedia
Note the URL ends with some extensions like .com, .co.in, .ac.in, etc.From these extensions we can get an idea about the web page, the nature of the contents, etc. For example, if the extension is '.com' – then the site is a commercial site (
'.gov' – it is a government site (
'.ac.in' – It is an academic site in India (
'.co.uk' – a commercial site in the United Kingdom(
'.org' - any organisation can use this (
Apart from english language content, people are looking also for information in local languages too. Now a lot of information is available in local languages too. For browsing local language web pages we first have to install the language fonts. Most of the sites provide an option to download the fonts.Once it is done the contents of the page are displayed.
Here are some of the hindi language sites:
( Website of IIT-Rorkee)
(Ministry of external affairs)
In this age of information technology, anything can be accessed through the web. You can book train tickets ( air tickets ( etc through the web.
Nowadays, to know the results of examinations the most convenient way is the internet, ex: for CBSE results go to .
To learn about the scholarships for indian students go to the website
Here some other useful sites:
The election commission of India
For news, email and search
A collection of maps of India
Realtime map of the world, you can
zoom and locate places.
Rajya Sabha
India Tour/travel portal
Hotels/ tour bookings
Education/Distance Education