Search engines are automated, this means people are not involved in gathering and placing the information on the search engine database. Some of these results may not be exactly what you are looking for, especially if you are using broad or common terms. AltaVista is an example of a search engine. Later on in the tutorial, you will learn of ways in which to narrow a search. Web sites in a directory are classified by subject.
People evaluate and classify the web sites.
There may be a higher degree of accuracy using web directories instead of search engines for researching broad subjects or topics. However, web directories may not be as useful for researching specific or obscure topics. Web directories may also contain short summaries describing web sites. These are often ignored in a search. Enter the most important words first.