Insight into mental models of novice Internet searchers

Because of its inexpensive and ubiquitous nature, many users regard the Internet as the first and only point of access to information to meet their needs. Yet it is known generally that information accessed via the Internet is ill formed, unorganized, and difficult to access. This leads to a variety of problems and frustrations for users, especially novices. The primary, and sometimes only, means to access much of this information are Internet search engines. When novices use search engines without strong mental models for information retrieval-especially in complex environments such as the I Internet-they are not likely to achieve success at information gathering.