BTT 1O1 Unit #1-Digital Literacy
Searching the Internet Lesson
Introduction
● In this lesson, you will _learn how a search site works and you will develop skills in performing
_effective online searches_.
● Using search engines are an important part of our day to day lives, regardless of if we are a student
or a working professional
● We want look to search engines for __relevant, accurate and current information. Therefore, it is
very important that we conduct effective online searches.
Research
The research sources and tools are available to you are:
__Textbooks Library card catalogues Library books magazines
CD-ROMS Online databases
How Search Engines Work
Step 1 The user types a word or words and hits the search button
The word is sent throught he internet to the search site.
Step 2
Step 3
Page 1 of 5
, BTT 1O1 Unit #1-Digital Literacy
The computer program searches for the word in a huge database of millions of
websites.
A huge list of hits(or matches) is compiled
Step 4
The computer program ranks the list of hits. The search site uses a method for
Step 5
deciding how closely a web site matches the search word(s).
The ranked list is split into smaller units (10 hits).
Step 6
The search site sends back to the user a custom-built web page showing the first of
Step 7
hits and giving access to the other page of hits.
Search Engines
● Search engines create an index of results for you when you type in words for it to find
● It is important to use search engines effectively because you want to retrieve fast (you don’t want
to sift through many sites), accurate (you want valid information), and current information (you
want updated information) when you are conducting research
● Example of popular search engines include: Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.
Experimenting with Search Engines
● Let’s try a search on our computers. Type in the word Leaf into the search engines listed below.
Analyzing Search Results for “Leaf”:
● Obviously, looking through millions or even thousands of sites is not very efficient! So we try to
Page 2 of 5
Searching the Internet Lesson
Introduction
● In this lesson, you will _learn how a search site works and you will develop skills in performing
_effective online searches_.
● Using search engines are an important part of our day to day lives, regardless of if we are a student
or a working professional
● We want look to search engines for __relevant, accurate and current information. Therefore, it is
very important that we conduct effective online searches.
Research
The research sources and tools are available to you are:
__Textbooks Library card catalogues Library books magazines
CD-ROMS Online databases
How Search Engines Work
Step 1 The user types a word or words and hits the search button
The word is sent throught he internet to the search site.
Step 2
Step 3
Page 1 of 5
, BTT 1O1 Unit #1-Digital Literacy
The computer program searches for the word in a huge database of millions of
websites.
A huge list of hits(or matches) is compiled
Step 4
The computer program ranks the list of hits. The search site uses a method for
Step 5
deciding how closely a web site matches the search word(s).
The ranked list is split into smaller units (10 hits).
Step 6
The search site sends back to the user a custom-built web page showing the first of
Step 7
hits and giving access to the other page of hits.
Search Engines
● Search engines create an index of results for you when you type in words for it to find
● It is important to use search engines effectively because you want to retrieve fast (you don’t want
to sift through many sites), accurate (you want valid information), and current information (you
want updated information) when you are conducting research
● Example of popular search engines include: Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.
Experimenting with Search Engines
● Let’s try a search on our computers. Type in the word Leaf into the search engines listed below.
Analyzing Search Results for “Leaf”:
● Obviously, looking through millions or even thousands of sites is not very efficient! So we try to
Page 2 of 5
