I.  Understanding...
 

II.  Searching...
 

III.  Evaluating...
 

IV.  Researching...
 

A very important realization is the enormity of information here.  It's huge!  At the same time, the answer to the question "Doesn't the Internet have everything?" is "NO".  It does not "have everything" nor is it an infinite resource, meaning having "no end".  However, it does seem that way, even to the most experienced user. 

That misperception comes from the fact that it is so huge, and growing so fast, that in any one person's experience, it would be impossible to see all the webpages or keep up with the new ones being added every second.  The number of webpages cannot be precisely known and can only be estimated--in excess of 1 billion indexable pages and 38 million web sites at this writing, according to Hobbes' Internet Timeline, which gives a brief history of the Internet.

The Internet network is not based on a single computer's resources but on millions of computers networked worldwide, from those belonging to world governments to those belonging to your next-door neighbor.  Comprised entirely of electronically shared information, the WWW is very much a reflection of its creators, some of whom are scientists, businessmen, or leaders in the field of technology, and some of whom are you, your teachers, and your friends.  With the right technology, anyone can create a webpage and make it available to anyone in the world.  That is both liberating and frightening.

Any student using the WWW for research should take the time to learn and understand the nature of the network and the information it contains.  This tutorial seeks to teach how to use the World Wide Web as a complement to research in traditional print resources in Medford Library.  Along the way, you will undoubtedly find the WWW helps answer other questions such as what computer to buy, what college major to declare, what career to choose, or what graduate school to attend and many other aspects of your life for which you may be seeking information. 

The Vocabulary of the Web
URL, link, browser, http, FAQ, HTML, IP, JAVA, frames.  Do you know what these are?

With the dawn of the Internet age, whole new words were created, or old words given new definitions, to reflect ideas that had not previously existed.  To use and understand the web, learn to recognize these and other Internet terms and know what they mean.  Many glossaries of Internet language can be found on the Web.
 

Click once on this underlined link to go to a glossary of WWW, Web Searching, and Netscape Jargon from the Library at the University of California, Berkeley.  Glance over this list and note that many such sites exist which will explain web-related terms.  Click on the BACK button at the top left of the glossary's screen to return to this tutorial page.

About Browsers
Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer are the two most popular browsers used for searching the web.  A browser is a special type of software program loaded on each individual computer which accesses the Internet. Whatever computer you are currently using to view this tutorial, it must have on its hard drive some version of browser software, or you would not be able to view this screen.  (USC Lancaster currently uses Netscape as the browser for its campus computers.)

Browsers surround your webpages with scrollbars and buttons which make it easy to move back, forward, up, down, or link to another webpage.  Most of these actions are a click away on one of the  toolbars at the top of the screen.

In Netscape, the Navigation Toolbar is the horizontal row with the buttons variously named BACK, FORWARD, RELOAD, HOME, SEARCH, NETSCAPE, PRINT, SECURITY, and STOP (sometimes also SHOP!).  If you are using a different version of Netscape, the terminology and look might be slightly different.

In Microsoft Internet Explorer, the Navigation Toolbar is very similar.  It usually has BACK, FORWARD, STOP, REFRESH, HOME, SEARCH, FAVORITES, HISTORY, and CHANNELS buttons.

Browser Hints for the Beginner...
Below are some suggestions for common situations you'll find as you search.

Links.  Also known as hotlinks, links are highlighted words, usually underlined, on any web page, which you can click on to bring up additional webpages.  Graphics and photos can also be links: whenever your mouse location on the screen changes its shape (usually from an arrow to a pointing-hand), it is hovering over a link which can be clicked to retrieve more information.  (At most computer stations, press once on the left button of the mouse to click on a link.)

Whoa.Back up!  Click on the BACK button at the top of the screen to go one screen back in your search.  This can be done a number of times to retrace your steps, screen by screen.

Status field messages. In Netscape, "Connect: looking up host" and "Connect: contacting host" mean the computer is trying to make a connection.  "Connect: host contacted. Waiting for reply" means info is on its way to you--be patient.

Watch the Little Logo.  The Netscape or Internet Explorer logo at the upper right portion of your browser screen becomes animated whenever a search is in progress.   If it is static and still, it's waiting for you to make the next move.

The STOP Sign.   On the button bar, it will light up in red when a search is in progress. Click on it to STOP a misdirected, slow, or unproductive search.

Bookmarks or Favorites.  Bookmarks and favorites are sites whose URL's reside in the computer's memory so you don't have to remember the address of your "favorite" or "bookmarked" site.  These are individual to each computer, though: a Web page bookmarked on one computer in the lab will not be bookmarked on the computer in the next row, unless someone saved it as a bookmark on that computer, too. If you are using your personally-owned computer, you may add bookmarks for sites that you will want to locate again, creating a customized bookmark list just for your computer.  To add a bookmark in Netscape, with your chosen website showing on the screen, click on "bookmarks", then click on "add bookmark" to create a bookmark.  In Internet Explorer, click on "favorites" across the very top of your screen, then click on "add to favorites". Any computer's saved bookmarks or favorites are accessible from any screen by clicking on the word "BOOKMARKS" or "FAVORITES" in your toolbar at the top of the screen.  Move the mouse's arrow over the heading until it is highlighted, then click.  Use the same procedure to select from any submenus that may appear.

URL's

As the popularity of the web has soared, so has the appearance in every print source imaginable of what looks like a type of code directing readers to a particular website.  It sometimes begins with "http://" followed by words and punctuation which are only occasionally decipherable.  This is the URL, Uniform Resource Locator, or simply the webpage address.
 

To understand what each different part of a URL means, go to the Internet Explorer's Browsers Basics page and scroll down to read What is a URL? Click on the BACK button at the top left of the glossary's screen to return to this tutorial page.

To find a specific address, just overtype the address given at the top of any browser screen in the Netsite (or location) field.  Here are some URL examples and how you would type them in.
 

No typos!  Any mistake in punctuation or capitalization or spelling can cause failure to reach a site.  Also, although it is common, it is not always true that "www" will be a part of a URL.

Most addresses include in the basic URL a three-letter extension code, such as the common .COM, which refers to business or commercial sites.  URL's with .EDU are educational sites.  Here is a more complete list of extensions and what they can communicate about a site's origin.
 

If you want to get to a specific site, but you're unsure what the URL would be, try guessing the site's address.  Use this format:

filling in the name of the agency where the underlines are.

If it seems every site has a ".com" extension, it's understandable.  A high percentage of websites are commercial in nature.  ".Org" sites and ".edu" sites rank second and third place in percentage of websites.