At the conclusion of this unit, participants will

1. Use tools for locating subject-specific directories that qualify, rank and annotate websites.
   
   
2. Define ‘vortals’ (subject-specific databases), ‘directories,’ and ‘gateways’ and demonstrate how they differ.
   
   
3. Explain how databases employ field descriptors (define: descriptor, keyword, subject heading), as opposed to full-text searching.
   
   
4. Use the features of one gateway.
   
   
5. Access and select a subject-specific database using a gateway/portal and demonstrate the use of its features in locating a resource.

2 Ways of Organizing Information

Subject Organization: is achieved by people who categorize items on the Web according to what the site is about. This is the subject directory, or subject index.

• smart browsing of these directories is a key skill
• some directories also help in locating a specialty subject directory or database

Word Indexing: is the cross-referencing of words on Web pages to their locations. Search engines collect and index the words and provide access to the word-index.

Clustering is a third form that combines word indexing with subject arrangement: the search engine performs a keyword search and then groups pages into "topics" according to their text.

Some of the most sought after information on the Internet is contained within databases and indexes that are considered part of the Invisible Web.