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Internet and World Wide Web Basics
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What are the Internet and the World Wide Web?
Internet: A collection of computer networks all over the world, connected to each other using a communication
system. Internet services include email, the World Wide Web, newsgroups, chat rooms, bulletin boards and more.
World Wide Web: A collection of files (text, graphics, images, sound, video) stored on computers (called
servers) which are all connected through the Internet using the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). Documents on
the Web (or WWW) are created using a language (HTML) that allows links to other files on other computers.
Web Site: A collection of
linked pages.
Home Page: The main page of a Web site
(like a table of contents in a book).
My Home page
Personal
School
Links
Pictures
School
Personal
Pictures
Web Page: An individual page from a Web site (like a page in a book).
Links: pieces of text or graphics or images that connect to other Web resources. They are sometimes
underlined or in different colors, but not always. If you are not sure what something is a link, try it.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator): also known as the Web address, it identifies a Web page’s exact
location on the Internet. Below is a diagram showing the parts of the URL.
Top-Level Domain
http://www.ccsf.edu/Library/reference.html
shows that this is
a Web document
Server (Domain) Name:
host computer & general
Web site for CCSF
file name
a directory
This URL shows: City College of San Francisco hosts this Web site; we are at the Library’s area of the site; on a
page called “reference.” The domain tells us it is an educational site.
Domain is used more than one way. Domain Name refers to the name of the server or host computer, e.g.
www.ccsf.edu, which consists of several parts separated by dots (.). The top-level domain (TLD) is the part of the
address to the right of the last dot, often a 3-letter suffix. Each suffix has a specific meaning. Some examples:
Domain
.edu
.com
.gov
Meaning
educational site
company site
government site
Domain
.org
.net
.us, .uk, .mx
Acknowledgement is given to Glendale College for use of the Web site diagram.
Modified by J. Dear – Spring 2011
Meaning
non-profit organization
network operations
country designation
C handout
Finding Information Using the World Wide Web
SUBJECT DIRECTORIES vs. SEARCH ENGINES
Subject Directories
Search Engines
database includes fewer Web resources than
search engines
database compiled by people
database includes more Web resources than subject
directories
database compiled by computer program, not
people
no personal evaluation of each Web page
Web sites evaluated and placed into categories
with sub-topics
good starting place for pre-evaluated informative
Web sites on a topic; good place to browse
Example:
ipl2
http://www.ipl.org
good place to search for a specific Web site or page
and to do more complex searches
Example:
Google
http://www.google.com
Metasearch Engines are tools that send your search terms to several search engines at the same time. They
are sometimes useful when you are not finding enough results using a single search engine.
INVISIBLE WEB
The Invisible Web refers to online information that is not accessible using general Web search engines and
most subject directories. One reason is that thousands of specialized searchable databases have requirements
such as passwords to access their contents. Another reason is that many databases do not store information
as Web pages that search engines can link to. Finally, some sites or pages are excluded by search engine
providers’ policies, due to format or content concerns.
SEARCH TECHNIQUES
Effective searching often means using more than one word to describe a topic. You can require two or more
words to be present in each search result and/or use phrases. The table below shows some examples.
Ways to Focus or Obtain Fewer Results
Examples
1. combine two or more keywords
earthquake california
2. exact phrase searching, use quotation marks
“san andreas fault”
3. use “Advanced Search” for limiting search to a domain, keywords
in the title, or a date range
In Google, Search within a site
or domain: .edu
Note:
 Many search engines automatically require all the words you type to appear in search results when
you type words separated only by a space. Some use a plus sign (+).
 If a problem occurs, check the search engine’s Help link. Look for such terms as “Help,” “Search
Tips,” “About,” “FAQ,” etc.
 Try different ways to do the search; try different search engines; ask a reference librarian for help.
Example of a MLA citation for a basic Web page on a Web site:
Herringstone, Michael. “Global Warming Basics.” Natural Resources Defense Council. NRDC, 14 Mar. 2007.
Web. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/f101.asp>.
Acknowledgement is given to Glendale College for use of the Web site diagram.
Modified by J. Dear – Spring 2011
C handout