A few last thoughts on search engines.  

Some search engines have a "family filter" that you can turn on before you enter your search to filter out objectionable results.  I recommend this.  For instance, if you're doing a research project on the negative effects of pornography, and you do an unfiltered search on the word pornography, you'll get more than you ever wanted to know or see on the subject, mostly Triple-X sites that will put graphic images on your screen right there on the search engine. (Advertisers pay to display their ads based on words people search for, so pornographers will display their ads to you if you search for the word pornography).

But if you turn on the "family filter" and do the same search for the word pornography, you'll get several sites that deal with the issue of pornography, its effects, how to combat it, and so on.  And you'll cut out the objectionable ads, too.  Quite different results.

You don't need to try this example...just take my word for it.  The "family filter" works, so turn it on!  That way, anyone who does a search from your computer in the future will see filtered results rather than seeing all-there-is-to-know and then some!  (You can change the family setting in the future.)

To turn on the "family filter" on Alta Vista, go to altavista.com.  Look for the words "Family Filter" and click the link and change your settings.  Enter a password so you can change it again in the future.  Now you're set.  To learn more safety tips that will protect you and your family when using the Internet, you can look through my workshop "Using the Internet Safely" when you're done here.

Another tip: after doing a search and finding a few pages that are exactly what you want, remember to bookmark them in your browser.  To do this, just go to the page you want to bookmark, and click bookmark or favorites in your browser (depending on if you're using Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer), then click Add.  The next time you want to go back to the page, just click "bookmark" or "favorites" again and scroll down the list of the pages you marked to find them again.

To learn more about popular search engines, how they rank their pages, and which ones you might want to use in the future, go to searchenginewatch.com.  You'll find plenty of search engine tips and it's also a good place to go when you create your own website and want it to appear high in the rankings when other people search for your information!

Grab another cup of whatever you like to drink and we'll take a look at another great way to find information:  Christian Portals.