Home - Effective Web Searching - LibGuides at Drake University Law Library

Overview

The web provides an abundance of information resources, varying greatly in quality. Many of these resources are accessible through search engines, which find pages containing the search terms specified within a database of cached web pages or through real-time searches.

Some resources are not accessible to web pages and belong to the deep web, also known as the hidden web or the invisible web.

Directories, research guides and similar web resources provide selected access to particular web resources and may include deep web sources as well as sources available through search engines.

See Finding Library Materials for more information on how to find materials referenced in this guide.

Tutorials

Internet Tutorials: Your Basic Guide to the Internet
A series of tutorials providing basic information about web structure and function and search tools and techniques. Written by Laura Cohen, librarian at the State University of New York at Albany.
Finding Information on the Internet
UC Berkeley Library's guide to finding high-quality information on the Internet.
Bare Bones 101: A Basic Tutorial on Searching the Web
Twenty distinct lessons authored by Melanie Hanes-Ramos, Assistant Director of the USC Beaufort South Campus Library.

Evaluation of Web Resources

Searching the web is a quick and easy way to find information. However, when researching for class, co-curricular or work projects, it is important to make sure the information you find is current, factual, and authoritative. This is not as easy to do with web resources as it is with traditionally published materials. The sites listed below provide many helpful tips and techniques to help you evaluate the information you find on the web.

Guidelines for Evaluating Government Information on the Web
Guidelines specific to legal and other governmental information on the web. Developed by an American Association of Law Libraries committee.
Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask
This very helpful site is organized to combine two techniques into a process that begins with looking at your search results from a search engine or other source, follows through by investigating the content of the page, and extends beyond the page to what others may say about the page or its author(s). (Prepared by UC Berkeley Teaching Library)
Research on the Web: Evaluating the Sites
Provides evaluation checklists for advocacy web pages, business marketing web pages, news web pages, informational web pages and personal web pages, with examples of actual web pages. Includes a bibliography for web evaluation techniques and links to additional web evaluation sites. Prepared by Jan Alexander & Marsha Tate, Reference Librarians, Wolfgram Memorial Library of Widener University, Chester, Pennsylvania.
How to Evaluate a Web Page
Provides a list of what to look for in evaluating web pages. Prepared by Colorado State University Libraries.