Web Searching

Search Engine Selection

NoodleTools http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/information/
5locate/adviceengine.html
Search Engines Chart http://www.infopeople.org/search/chart.html

General Search Engines

FAST http://www.alltheweb.com/
Google http://www.google.com/
Teoma http://www.teoma.com/
HotBot http://www.hotbot.lycos.com/
AltaVista http://www.altavista.com/

Metasearch Engines

Ixquick http://www.ixquick.com/
Query Server http://www.queryserver.com/
Vivisimo http://vivisimo.com/
Metor http://www.metor.com/
Infonetware http://www.infonetware.com/
Ez2www http://ez2www.com/

International Web Searching

Portals to the World: Links to Electronic Resources from Around the World
(Library of Congress)		 http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/portals.html
One World: Nations Online http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/
Search Engine Colossus http://www.searchenginecolossus.com/
International Google Sites (see bottom of Web page) http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en
Local Yahoos (see bottom of Web page) http://www.yahoo.com/
The Translation Wizard from FaganFinder (Beta) http://www.faganfinder.com/translate/

Education Only Search Engines

All Academic http://www.allacademic.com/
SearchEdu http://www.searchedu.com/
Academic Info http://www.academicinfo.net/

Subject Directories

Librarians’ Index http://lii.org/
Infomine http://infomine.ucr.edu/
Open Directory http://dmoz.org/
Academic Info http://www.academicinfo.net/

Gateway Pages

Argus Clearinghouse http://www.clearinghouse.net/
Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org/

Invisible Web

Invisible Web Catalog http://www.invisibleweb.com/
Internets http://www.internets.com/
Incy Wincy http://www.incywincy.com/
Complete Planet http://www.completeplanet.com/

Specialty Search Engines (derived from New York Times, "Mining the Deep Web," 1/25/2001 D1, D11)

Adobe PDF Files http://searchpdf.adobe.com/
Online Images http://www.ditto.com/
Current News http://www.moreover.com/
Legal Info. http://www.findlaw.com/
Scientific Info. http://www.biolinks.com/
Government Info. http://www.google.com/unclesam
Comparison Shopping http://www.mysimon.com/

Statistics

DataWeb http://www.thedataweb.org/
Statisical Resources on the Web http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/statsnew.html

Images

All Learn Alliance for Lifelong Learning (Oxford, Yale, and Stanford) http://www.alllearn.org/er/tree.jsp?c=43029
Picture History http://www.picturehistory.com/
Ditto http://www.ditto.com
Google Images http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=
Accunet http://ap.accuweather.com/apphoto/index.htm
Digital Librarian http://www.digital-librarian.com/images.html
FaganFinder's Image Search Engines http://www.faganfinder.com/img/

Blogs

NetLingo: The Internet Dictionary http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/blog/
Virtual Acquisition Shelf http://resourceshelf.blogspot.com/
Library Weblogs http://dmoz.org/Reference/Libraries/
Library_and_Information_Science/Weblogs/
Daypop http://www.daypop.com/

News

World News network http://www.wnnetwork.com/
CNN.com http://www.cnn.com/
World Press Review - World News from World Newspapers http://www.worldpress.org/

Staying Current

Search Engine Showdown http://searchengineshowdown.com/
Search Engine Watch http://searchenginewatch.com/

All-In-One Page

Search.com http://www.search.com/?ref=searchiq
iTools http://www.itools.com/

People

Worldwide Phone, Fax and Email Directory Services http://www.phonenumbers.net/
Telephone Directories http://www.infobel.com/teldir/

For More Information (WWW Searching-- tutorials)

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html
http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/fi_www.htm
http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/bones.html
http://www.vts.rdn.ac.uk/

Top 10 Internet Search Tips

  1. Use phrase searching for multiple word phrases.
  2. Use advanced searching mode whenever possible for more precise searching.
  3. The Internet is case sensitive so use capital letters when they are appropriate.
  4. Use the most specific or esoteric words you can think of to describe your search.
  5. Use the command "Control-F" or "Edit > Find in Page" to search for a word within a long Web document.
  6. Understand the difference between domains-- .com, .org., .gov, .edu-- and limit your search to the best domain.
  7. Highlight, cut, and paste to save retyping text or to move text to a new document.
  8. Use + to require a word in your search or – to eliminate a word from your search.
  9. Change the word order or try new words if your search doesn’t bring you the desired results.
  10. Ask a librarian for help or use the Subject Guides from C of C Library home page.

Last updated September 22, 2003.
seamans@cofc.edu
Back to Sheila Seaman's homepage.