One of the greatest features of the Internet is the amount of information it contains. Information that used to be limited to regional distribution via newspapers , television, and flyers is now available on a national or even global basis. You can look for a job in a faraway city or state. You can sell your coin collection via a national classified ad. You can look up a phone number for a restaurant in Paris. But all this newly available information comes as a price: confusion. The interconnected and dynamic nature of the Net prevents it from being organized like a traditional medium, such as a book or a newspaper. But don't worry, another great thing about the Internet is that it comes up with solutions for its own problems. Enter Internet Guides and Search Engines...  

Table of Contents vs. Index
    If the Internet were a book, Internet Guides would be the table of contents. They organize web sites into related categories or topics, just like a table of contents organizes the chapter in a book into different sections. Of course, in the case of the Internet, the "book" is so big that even the table of contents needs its own table of contents. That's why most Internet Guides start with top-level categories and let you "drill down" to more and more specific topics.
    If the Internet were a book, Search Engines would be the index. In order to combat the dynamic nature of the web, Search Engines are constantly running software called "robots" or "crawlers" that real entire web sites and update the index entries for the specific Search Engine. Search Engines save their data alphabetically, just like a book's index. But, again, due to the incredible amount of information, you don't browse through a Search Engine's listings, you search through them by entering a word (or words) that captures what you're looking for. Enter the words or phrases and the Search Engine should provide you with a set of "results pages,' depending on the number of successful "hits" that your search produces.

Which Should I Use?
    How do you know when to use an Internet Guide and when to use a Search Engine? the best answer is: Use both.
    Now, let's pretend you're reading a book on genealogy. You might look through the table of contents (a guide) to see if there's a chapter on researching your family tree. But if you were looking for a more specific topic---like how to read a ship's manifest--you would look in the index. Of course, looking in the table of contents for related topics doesn't hurt, especially if there is an entire section on ships' manifests. By the same token, looking up "research" or "family tree" in the index doesn't hurt either, but you might simply get too many entries related to such general terms.
    A good rule of thumb is: If your topic is general, go for an Internet Guide first. If your topic is very specific, go for a Search Engine. But in all cases, be flexible, and check out multiple sources. Internet Guides and Search Engines vary greatly, and no one resource claims to have indexed the entire Web.

What Do You Get...
    So now, here's a riddle: What do you get when you cross an Internet Guide with a Search Engine? The answer: A Searchable Internet Guide. These resources allow you to enter a search word or phrase and they look in the Internet Guide for matches. The result: You get the best of both worlds. Categories of web sites that match your request. Individual web sites that match your request. And individual web pages that match your request.
    Still sound confusing? Well, it can be at first. But be patient. Read through this tutorial to see how each works. Try a variety of services and see which ones serve you the best. Bookmark those for further reference. But don't forget to mix it up every so often. All Internet Guides and Search Engines are constantly updating their data, and a successful surfer is one that is comfortably using a  combination of services.
    Finally, don't get caught up in "Web Tunnel Vision". There is still a great deal of information that isn't on the Net. Remember that libraries, phone directories, newspapers, and periodicals are still great resources. Just because it's not on the Web (yet) doesn't mean it's no worth knowing.