Internet Search: Searching the Internet

• Timely
  You can find very up to date information on, especially on current events.
• Size
  The Web is enormous and is growing by the second.
• Convenient
  You can search the Internet from any location at any time on any device.
• Easy to use
  You can easily search the web using many different search engines.
• Variety
  Information is provided in many different formats available for different learning styles.
• Free
  Aside from what you might have to pay for access to the Internet, a great deal of what you might find in your Internet research can be accessed without subscription fees.
• Social
  You can use the Internet to share information with other users across the globe.

Library of Congress New on the Web

Pew Research Center News

• Size
  Because there is so much information on the Internet it can be difficult to wade through the trivial to get to the scholarly content.
• Permanence
  Content is always in flux, being changed, updated, archived, deleted (* for archives, see the Wayback Machine).
• Accountability
  Because it can be difficult to determine the content owner, author, or sources of some information it is often difficult to trust what you find on the Internet.
• Missed information
  Most people do not click past the first page of their search results even though there may be thousands or even millions of results. In 2011, 75% did not go past page one according to Search Engine Journal.
• Surface Web Only
  Not only do most search engines miss "deep web" databases (content not indexed by a search engine because it exists within a structure requiring separate searches) but there is a lot on the web that can only be accessed by a subscription (example: library databases) or pay-per-article fee.