Ethernet
Most LANs in existence today use a technology called Ethernet. In an Ethernet network, every piece of information put on the network is seen by every other computer on the network, and each computer must determine if that information is meant for itself.
To make this work, before the information goes out on the network it is first broken up into small pieces called packets, and each packet has added to it the address of the computer that should receive it. The part of the packet containing the address is called the header.

Then, each computer looks at the address on each packet that comes by on the network cable, and copies the ones that have the right address. The computer that sent the packet is called the source, and the one that is supposed to receive it is called the destination.
Network Connections
When a packet comes out of the computer that originated it, that packet must have a complete electrical path to every other computer. The simplest way to do this is to have a cable that goes from one computer to the next until it has connected to each one. This is called a bus network.