Why are you searching?
Think about the idea, information or question you are looking for answers to.  This should guide the way you phrase your searches and read the results.  If you have a question from a project description, you often can just type it or paste it into the search field (What is the future of wireless internet?).  The key words are: future wireless internet.  You can add more words to narrow it down, fewer words will give wider results, or you can substitute words to alter the results.

What techniques should you use to search?
Choose your search phrase carefully, and modify it based upon what you get back.  Try the same phrase with different search engines.  You will have a question that you are looking to answer.  Narrow it down to a few choice words. (electric motor control) If you get too specific (electric motor control in New Bright brand remote control car) you might get no results.  Your answer lies somewhere between the two.  If you put your search phrase "in quotes" the resulting pages will contain only pages that include that exact phrase. Don't bother with web pages that are trying to get you to buy (unless you're shopping). Avoid web pages that use bad design such as: unreadable text, incompatible colors on text and background, bad spelling or grammar, broken links, pictures that don't load, excessive popups, freezes your web browser or crashes your computer.

How do you read the results of a search?
After you press the Search button or hit the enter key, the search engine will often present you with a page showing the search results. If it comes back with no results, you will have to rephrase your search.  Mostly, you will see that there are pages and pages of results, and often there is a statistic on the first page stating that there are some stunningly large number of pages that match your search criteria.  Generally, don't bother with anything beyond the first page of results.  When you get a search page that has returned decent results, check all of the links that look like they have promise before you lose the page.  The best way to do this is to open the pages in either a new window or a new tab.  If the page turns out to be a dead end, you just have to close it, and you don't have to hit the back button endlessly to get back to the search results.

How do you find the right information?
First you need to remind yourself what you are looking for.  It's easy to get off track when looking at the results of a search query.  Look at the brief descriptions of the found pages.  Read the longer descriptions.  Look at the web address of the found page.  Don't rely on any one website for too much information.  You need to have a couple of viewpoints to be able to make up your mind about the truth.   If you are seeking information on the "Mendocino motor and electricity", and you see something on electromagnetism, you may want to save the link, and read it later (see below).

What do you do with the information you find?
You should never copy text from a web page that you did not write yourself.  Read it.  Understand it.  Answer the question that you were looking for.  Read several web pages on similar topics.  Build your knowledge of the topic.  Let the web pages change the way you think about the topic and world.  Make up your own mind.  Answer the question in your own words.

How do you keep from always having to search?
When you find information on the web that actually helps you in your quest for knowledge, record the address of the pages that are useful. Copy the address of pages that are useful.  Paste the address onto a word processing page.  Make a descriptive statement about what the page is about, because often you can't tell by looking at the address alone.  If you have found the page through a hosted site such as Ask Jeeves or How Stuff Works, you should look for a button on the top frame that says "close frame."  This will clean up the address and make it shorter.  As you do this, you should pay attention to the addresses.  If you find that all the pages are on the same website or domain, you need to find some other viewpoints.

A very useful format for links is this:
How to Search for Information -  http://teched/resources/html/howsearch.htm
To the left is a description that tells the user what to expect.  To the right is linked text of the address of the page.

Here are a bunch of links on this topic:
Interpreting Google Results - http://www.google.com/help/interpret.html
Using Google without the mouse - http://labs.google.com/keys/index.html
Google Help Central - http://www.google.com/help/index.html
Google Page Rank - http://www.google.com/technology/index.html
Basics of Google Search - http://www.google.com/help/basics.html
Why Use Google - http://www.google.com/technology/whyuse.html
Tips for successful searching with Jeeves - http://static.wc.ask.com/docs/help/help_searchtips.html
Ask Jeeves results http://ask.com/main/askjeeves.asp?ask=how+does+a+search+engine+work&o=0
Help page for Jeeves - http://static.wc.ask.com/docs/help/ Search engines - http://www.smsu.edu/contrib/library/resource/search.html
Directories - http://www.smsu.edu/contrib/library/resource/drctrs.html
Metasearch Engines - http://www.smsu.edu/contrib/library/resource/meta.html
Search Engine Glossary - http://www.searchenginewatch.com/facts/glossary.html
Search Engine Terms - http://www.cadenza.org/search_engine_terms/srchad.htm