One of the largest databases, Altavista will often find things when no other Search Engine will. Explore the Refine feature as a way to focus results. Comparison of Search Engine capabilities Use quotes for phrases. Think about who is likely to have information on your topic and what type of information you want. Information retrieved from searching the web will vary widely in quality.
Evaluation is critical.
University of California at Berkeley site . Excellent guide to evaluating web sites. Net Search defaults to least busy search engine. Robots are programmed to patrol at set intervals. Robots build a database which is searched by the Search Engine.