Changes. Google is still the best place to start, and for a second opinion in Web searching, we now recommend Ask.com and/or Yahoo! Search. We do not recommend any meta-searchers in our classes to replace using a few good search engines.

Our updated workshop is now a single session titled "Research-quality Web Searching: Google and Beyond." It covers techniques for making your Google searches more precise and for focusing on academic information; using other search tools and new technologies to improve your results; and evaluating what you find for research quality. The latest workshop materials will be posted soon; previous versions are available here.

Directories continue to grow and become more valuable. The Librarians' Internet Index and InfoMine have both grown in quality and contain wonderful primary sources, specialized databases and directories on many topics, and other useful sites.

The UCB Library Find Websites page reflects our current top picks. The pages for search engines, directories, the invisible web, and meta-search engines have each been updated.

The section on critical evaluation of web pages is updated and simplified.

How to use this Tutorial

The Tutorial Table of Contents offers a variety of information on web searching and web services. You may pursue the tutorial linearly following the table of contents. Or you may skip sections you feel you already know, and start anywhere in the table of content by clicking on that section. On any page are links to other parts of the tutorial that you may follow as needed. On any page you may click on the Glossary for a definition of specialized terms you encounter.

Objectives of this Tutorial

• Provide a current, up-to-date remote and local learning resource for anyone interested in finding information on the World Wide Web
• Support and extend the "Research-quality Web Searching Classes" offered by the UC Berkeley Library.

What's Unique About this Tutorial?

This tutorial grew out of the experience of the Teaching Library at UC Berkeley, beginning in 1995, in offering beginning, intermediate, and advanced courses on using the Internet's resources to find information. From this experience we came to believe that the investment of time to learn to effectively and efficiently find information on the Internet using complex search strategies is worthwhile. You can have confidence in your search results (if you evaluate everything you find) and learn ways to refine and focus your searches.

The tutorial was developed by Joe Barker, who retired from the University of California in June 2007. The tutorial and workshops are being continued by John Kupersmith. Joe arranged before his departure for the retirement also of some of the early, introductory web pages in the tutorial. In 1995, it was hard to find non-technical explanations of the World Wide Web. Now there are a number of other good websites with this background information. The Wikipedia is a good place to begin.