Finding information online

What’s a search engine?

Unlike browsers, you don’t need to download search engines. They are websites that you access through a browser. As we said earlier, you can use a ‘search engine’ to look for something without knowing the address. These do the hard work for you. They search through all the information available online and display what it thinks you need.

Search engines show you the best results based on the words you entered. We call these words ‘search terms’. The more specific the term, the better the results. We’ll show you how to create better searches later. First, let’s look at some of the most popular search engines you can use.

Creating better searches

In our example earlier, we explained how you can find results on the internet by entering search terms like ‘rucksack’.

Here are some tips for finding better results:

• Use multiple words – Instead of ‘rucksacks’, try ‘waterproof rucksacks’ or ‘blue rucksacks’.
• Use a ‘-’ If you don’t want to see certain things, like a specific brand, put ‘-’ in front of the term. For example, you could type ‘rucksack - Smiths’.
• Use quote marks – If you want to see results for an exact term or phrase you’ve entered, put your search terms in quote marks. For example, you might write ‘Cafés “York”’ so your results only show cafés in York.

The results of your searches can be very broad, so using these tips can help narrow them down. There’s also lots of different ways you can see the information online.

Types of information include:

• Articles
• Blogs
• News
• Videos
• Forums
• Images
• Maps
• Tutorials
• Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
• Media
• Games
• Books
• Music

Learning online

With so much information available online, the internet is a really good place to learn (like you are now!). There are lots of different ways to learn too, like by watching videos, listening or reading. You can also learn from the comfort of your home.

You might already know lots of ways of access information, but here are some that might be new to you.

Using chat functions

These are now on lots of websites. Especially sites where you can buy goods and services, as they let you speak with the company quickly and easily. You can ask questions and resolve issues quicker than you might be able to through a phone call or email.

If a website has a chat function, it usually appears at the bottom left or right of the screen, but it can be anywhere on the site. Find it by looking for the word ‘chat’, or phrases like ‘chat with us’. If you select this, you’ll likely see a chat box appear where you can type and receive messages. This chat is private. Only you and the person you are chatting to can see it.

Using FAQs

Sometimes you can find the answer to your questions without having to speak to anyone. Companies often keep track of questions they get asked a lot by customers. They then use them to make a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) which they display on their website.

Here’s an example. Say you want to know what the usual delivery times are for a shop. There may be a list of FAQs on their site with the question ‘What are your delivery times?’. Next to it will be the answer, for instance ‘Our typical delivery times are 3-5 days’. This saves you and the company time and effort.

Using forums and tutorials

If your question is more difficult to answer, tutorials and forums might be a better place to look.

Tutorials can take many forms. They usually explain something using either words or videos. Tutorials will usually take you through a process step-by-step, like how to set up a phone.

Forums are slightly different. You can still use them to learn, but instead of hearing from a company or an expert, you’re speaking to a group of people. This is useful if you want to hear lots of different opinions on a specific topic, such as places to eat in London, cycling tips, but it can also mean the information isn’t completely correct. So you need to decide which opinions you trust.

Here's an example:

• You might join a parenting forum.
• On the forum, you hear from lots of other parents about some of the ways they look after their children.
• Some comments you may find helpful. Others you might ignore.

Videos

The main place you can watch videos for free online is YouTube. Many social media sites let you share and view videos, too. You can also use sites like Vimeo, which is like YouTube.

Movies

If you like watching movies, there are lots of trustworthy sites you can use to watch your favourite films. Some are free to use, but you have to purchase or rent the movies for a fee. Others charge a monthly subscription fee, but then are free to use. Some do a combination of the two.

Popular paid streaming sites include:

• Netflix
  
• Amazon Prime
• Disney+

TV

Much like movies, you can watch your favourite TV shows online. The sites we listed for movies offer TV shows too. Other popular UK services include BBC iPlayer (free), ITV Player (free) and Now TV (paid).

When you're watching TV offline, you might switch between channels because they offer different shows. The same is true for these online services. Each site offers a different selection of films and TV shows, so you should pick the ones that best suit you.

Games

If you enjoy playing games, alone or with friends and family, there’s a whole world of online gaming for you. You can get games through your device’s app (application) store such as Apple’s App Store or Google Play. Here you can find free and paid for games. These types of games are often free because they show you advertisements. This is how the company makes money to create games.

Books

You can read books on your main devices. You can also buy an e-reader, which is a device you use just for reading books online. There are a few main places you can go to for online books, including Amazon’s Kindle store. There are also services like Audible, which allow you to pay a monthly fee to access a library of audio books.

Music

The ways you can pay for or access music for free online are like films and TV. You can either pay for a single song or album, or pay for a regular subscription. Music subscriptions offer more than film and TV subscriptions do. This means you can get all the music you could want from one provider.

Picking the right service for you depends on which one you like most and how much you’re willing to pay for it.

Popular music streaming services include:

• Spotify
• Apple Music
• Amazon music
• Deezer

Compare their advantages and disadvantages.

Lesson complete!

Well done on completing this lesson. You should now know how to search for what you need online. We suggest you continue your learning with the next lesson, ‘Saving and accessing documents’. This lesson will give you an understanding of how to manage your files and folders. It will also show you how you can store and access your files online.

Up next for you:

Next lesson: Saving and accessing documents

Back to: I want to create and search for documents online