Using search engines and directories can be a bit overwhelming
because of the volume of hits which are returned by the search
terms used by most inexperienced or casual information
searchers. There is an art and a science to searching any
database from library catalog, through periodical index on to a
file on a World Wide Web server. Library catalogs and periodical
indexes/databases usually follow particular standards and rules
which makes it possible to search particular fields within the
record or full-text. This helps control the number of records
returned and is quite specific and likely to be what is being
sought. General basic searches on World Wide Web engines and
directories are likely to return irrelevant hits because most
have been indexed on all words in the document and not on
specific subjects. Some engines have organized and indexed their
catalogs of pages so that desired information will appear more
often than do other engines. The algorithms for searching and
indexing are improving in general