INTERNET SEARCH TOOLS
There
are two main ways to search for information on the Internet.
These are know as Web Directories and Web Search Engines,
including Meta Search Engines. If you are in the habit of
only searching the Internet one way, we recommend that you
review
the following information to broaden your understanding
of other search options.
Web
Directories,
such as Yahoo, generally depend on human editors for
their listings. Directories are compiled based on descriptions
of Web sites and are listed under one or more subject
categories. Some directories only list sites that have
been selected as the "best" sites in various
subject areas. Directories are a good place to start
when looking for information on general subjects and
to get an overview of what is available on the Internet.
Directories find fewer but often more relevant sites
than search engines.
Search
Engines, such as Google,
create their listings automatically by "crawling" the
Web and returning results. They are useful
in searching for very specific information,
but they are not the best tools for finding
sites on broader topics (see "Subject
Directories"). Search engines are different
in size, search features, and the criteria
of documents indexed. Keep in mind that there
is no single search engine that covers the
entire Web. In order to retrieve the most relevant
information, learn to use 2 or 3 search engines
well by reading the "Search Guides" for each
engine.
Meta
Search Engines search many search engines
and Web directories simultaneously. The results are categorized
by each search engine. Since each search engine includes
a different set of sites, meta-search engines are recommended
in order to perform the most extensive search possible.
The
links below were selected based on their recognition as quality
resources. Remember that Search Engines and Directories are
in a continuous state of transformation. For more in depth
information and to stay current with changes, visit: searchenginewatch.com or
searchengineshowdown.com.
Selected
Web Directories
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Infomine
infomine.ucr.edu
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Infomine
originates from U.C. Riverside and is maintained by librarians
for the introduction of Internet resources relevant to
faculty, students, and researchers at the university
level. It provides links to over 100,000 Web sites that
have been reviewed and annotated. It offers a unique
expanded search feature that allows you to browse by
Library of Congress Subjects and Classification System
as well as author, title, and Table of Contexts. |
Librarians'
Index to the Internet
www.lii.org
|
"Information
You Can Trust" is the motto of Librarians' Index
to the Internet (LII). This is a searchable, annotated
subject directory of more than 14,000 Internet resources
selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness
to users of public libraries. One very unique feature
is that each record is assigned Library of Congress subject
headings that can be searched directly from the record. |
LookSmart
www.looksmart.com
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LookSmart
is primarily a human-compiled directory of Web sites.
Listings contain both commercial sites that pay to
be included and free sites reviewed and added by editors.
Note the category listings under the headings of Society & Politics,
Reference & Education, and Science & Health.
LookSmart also provides an "Article Search" that
links to millions of magazine articles both free or
for a fee.
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Yahoo
www.yahoo.com
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Launched
in 1994, Yahoo is the Web's oldest Web directory. In
2002 it replaced human editors with crawler-based listings
for its main results. You can use tabs above the search
box on the home page to find images, Yellow Page listings
or Yahoo's shopping search engine. You can still search
classic Yahoo by selecting Yahoo Directory. This will
take you to a list of Web sites that have been reviewed
and approved by a human editor.
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Selected
Web Search Engines
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Google
www.google.com
|
For
many people Google is the first choice in search engines.
Besides searching for Web pages it offers a number
of special features. From the home page, click on “more>>” to
access a list of Google services and tools. For precision
searching, click on “Advance Search” to
customize your search strategy by word or phrase, date,
Internet domain, and language.
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AlltheWeb
www.alltheweb.com
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Currently
powered by Yahoo, AllTheWeb is lighter and more customizable
than Yahoo itself. It offers a clean search interface
that supports 36 languages. Other features include
advance search strategies for news stories, pictures,
videos, and MP3 files.
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Ask.com
www.ask.com |
Formally known as "Ask Jeeves," Ask.com is a "natural language" search engine that lets you enter searches in the form of a question. The results are produced from sites selected as being the most authoritative and popular to best match the topic of your search.
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Selected
Meta Search Engines
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Dogpile
www.dogpile.com
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Dogpile
searches 26 search engines. Under “Advance Search” you
can choose to have results displayed by search engine
name or by relevancy to your search term. One of the
main benefits of Dogpile are the automatically generated
subtopics that can be used to refine search results.
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MetaCrawler
www.metacrawler
.com
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MetaCrawler
has a simi liar interface to Dogpile. Advance search
features and preference setting are identical. MetaCrawler
simultaneously searches Lycos, WebCrawler, Infoseek,
Excite, Thunderstone, AltaVista, GoTo, and Yahoo. It
is known for speed and relevancy.
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Vivisimo
vivisimo.com
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Vivisimo
currently searches only Inktomi, Google, AllTheWeb,
LookSmart and Overture. However it does offer an advantage
of searching a number of news sources and specialized
databases, such as FirstGov or PubMed directly from
the search bar. Search results are returned with clustered
links that can be selected or searched separately to
narrow your topic.
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Victor Valley College Library
Last Modified: August 29, 2006
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