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Go for it With this brief introduction, enter the site in your preferred way. We hope you will be able to move easily about the site and find what you are looking for. In addition, you may wish to search other Web sites accessible through the Internet. For persons not familiar with the Internet, we provide the following brief introduction. Introduction to searching the Internet Understanding the Internet and Web sites The terms Internet and Web sites are often used to describe the same thing, but, technically, they refer to different things. The Internet is the set of connections and common means for linking users to Web sites throughout the world. The Web sites contain the information one can access through the communications and linkages provided by partners who make up the Internet. Today, Web sites are maintained by most major organizations, including universities, research centers, government ministries, professional organization, international organizations, and businesses. The ever-increasing number of Web sites offers information on almost any topic you can think of. Because of the growing importance of Web sites as a source of research information, researchers routinely check Web sites for information. We recommend you include a Web search for any research you plan to undertake. Web site addresses Each Web site has a unique address, referred to as its Universal Resource Locator or URL. In the beginning, the addresses for all Web sites began with "www," which stands for the World Wide Web. Now, many Web sites do not include the "www" prefix; instead, they begin with some short version or the initials of the name of the organization sponsoring the site. For example, the Web address for the World Bank is www.worldbank.org while that for the Ahfad University for Women, in Omdurman, Sudan, is ahfad.org. You will see Web addresses in both forms with various sets of letters and numbers. Also, Web addresses may end in a variety of ways. Some may include the letters "html," but others may have only "htm" or some other ending. Somewhere in their addresses, sites include three letters that identify the kind of organization that maintains the site. For example, "org" stands for organization; "edu" for an academic institution; "gov" for a governmental body; and "com" for a commercial establishment. There are other three-letter identifications endings as well. Be sure to note the full and exact address of any site you see and wish to return to; otherwise, you will have difficulty returning to it. Kinds of information on Web sites Many kinds of information are available on Web sites. Chapter 4 describes five kinds of information sources that are particularly useful to researchers. These are:
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