This algorithm searches an alphabetically sorted list of student names for a target name. The target name may or may not be in the list.

current = 0
found = False
overshot = False

while (current < len(studentList)) and (not found) and (not overshot):
    if studentList[current] == targetName:
        found = True
    elif studentList[current] > targetName:
        overshot = True
    else:
        current = current + 1

The use of the found variable helps to make the algorithm efficient by stopping the loop as soon as the target is located.