How do you find information about raccoons on the Web? You use "search engines," starting points, ask an expert, and sites bookmarked by your teacher.

Search Engines

A search engine indexes Websites. You type in words or phases and a list of sites is returned about your topic. Sometimes the list does not give you what you expected. Try different words and phrases until you find information about your topic.

Search engines use different methods for searching. You will want to look at the directions and tips at each site for complete details.

Activity:

Google
http://www.google.com

1. Go to Google.
2. Type raccoons in the search box.
3. Print the first page of your result.
4. Next type raccoon habitat.
5. Print the first page of your results and compare the two searches.

Dogpile
http://www.dogpile.com

Dogpile and other meta search sites let you ask several search engines at one time. They retrieve the top hits. This can be a time-saver. However, there are occasions where sites are duplicated several times or useful information is not retrieved. Experiment and see how it works for you.

Activity:

1. Go to Dogpile.
2. Type the word raccoons.

3. Print the first page of your results.

Starting Points

Starting points are places where specific topics have been searched and links created. Many include a description of the Website.