SEARCH ENGINES? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY ARE? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY CAN DO FOR YOU?

Here are some definitions for you:

1. A computer program that searches documents, especially on the World Wide Web, for a specified word or words and provides a list of document in which they are found. (Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/search+engine)

2. Computer software used to search data (as text or a database) for specified information; also :  a site on the World Wide Web that uses such software to locate key words in other sites. (Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/search%20engine)

3.

Search engine, computer program to find answers to queries in a collection of information, which might be a library catalog or a database but is most commonly the World Wide Web. A Web search engine produces a list of “pages”—computer files listed on the Web—that contain the terms in a query. Most search engines allow the user to join terms with and, or, and not to refine queries. They may also search specifically for images, videos, or news articles or for names of Web sites.

The Web is largely unorganized, and the information on its pages is of greatly varying quality, including commercial information, national databases, research reference collections, and collections of personal material. Search engines try to identify reliable pages by weighting, or ranking, them according to the number of other pages that refer to them... (retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1017484/search-engine)