The Hidden Internet

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Helpful Information for Online Searching

Bernie Dodge

Step Zero: Four Steps to Better Searching

Four Steps to Better Searching

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/searching/fournets.htm

Specialized Search Engines and Directories

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/searching/specialized.html

Rockwell Schrock’s Boolean Machine

http://kathyschrock.net/rbs3k/boolean/

Two Essential Directories

Librarians’ Index to the Internet

http://lii.org

Subject Directories—Popular

Yahoo! Directory http://dir.yahoo.com

Both Yahoo! and Google offer popular directories. They are not very selective, but they offer some wonderful subject collections.

Subject Directories

About.com http://www.about.com  
Offers a surprising number of guide pages, maintained by paid experts. Not scholarly but very handy for everyday, practical topics

Academic Info: Your Gateway to Quality Educational Resources http://www.academicinfo.net/  
Great for high school and college research

BUBL Link http://bubl.ac.uk/link/ 
This UK project leads to carefully selected and annotated resources

WWW Virtual Library http://www.vlib.org/

The first subject directory on the Web. Features comprehensive, 
well-annotated subject collections maintained by experts around  
the world

Specialized Search Tools

Biography Center (profile aggregator) http://www.biography-center.com/

SearchEric.org (education) http://searcheric.org/

SOSIG (Social Sciences) http://www.sosig.ac.uk/

Tools for seeing the Invisible Web

Librarian’s Index to the Internet http://lii.org

Pinakes http://www.hw.ac.uk/libWWW/irn/pinakes/pinakes.html

OAIster http://oaister.umdl.umich.edu

Examples of Free Databases

Find Articles http://www.findarticles.com

MagPortal http://magportal.com

ERIC http://searcheric.org

American Memory Collection Finder http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/collections/finder.html

NARA http://www.archives.gov/search/index.html

Perry Casteñeda Map Collection http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/index.html

**Colegio Bolivar’s ONLINE DATABASE**

EbscoHost http://search.epnet.com

Tools to help you make search engine choices

Debbie Abilock’s Choosing the Best Search for Your Purpose http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/information/5locate/adviceengine.html

For more information (and for people who love searching):

Search Engine Watch http://searchenginewatch.com

Meta Search Engines

Retrieve Collated Results (limited number with duplicates removed)

·         C4 - search a large number of search engines and directories and configure useful customization options available with free registration; formerly known as Cyber411

·         Chubba - search the Web, a dictionary/thesaurus and encyclopedia

·         Copernic - client software that searches multiple engines and directories, removes duplicates and dead links, highlights search terms in your results, and offers a variety of search and retrieval options

·        GenieKnows - searches 25+ engines and directories and ranks results based on the number of sources listing a page; chooses sources to search based on consumer input; also offers searches of multimedia types

·         InfoGrid - offers meta and news searching; portal interface also features the Open Directory, topical InfoGrids, with additional customization of topics available in a free download

·         Infonetware - categorizes search results into component subtopics with options to select multiple topics for a new set of topics and a filtered results list

·         Ixquick - search engines, directories, news and MP3 files; ranks results based on top ten rankings from the source sites; allows any type of search syntax and will translate and direct your search accordingly

·       Mamma - retrieve results in relevancy ranked order; power search offers a user-friendly template for building a query

·         MetaCrawler - retrieve results in relevancy ranked order; useful power search available with a template of search options

·         METAEUREKA - barebones interface for an engine that sorts results by relevancy and offers a "Site info" link that returns information on the server, date last modified, size, and descriptive information if available

·         Pandia Search Central - searches multiple engines and directories and also offers searches of news, books, music, videos and other specialty databases; includes a searchable version of the Open Directory

·         SearchTurtle.com - offers navigation of the retrieved Web sites from within the search results window; also offers searches for news and multimedia

·         SurfWax - offers options to see a quick view of sites in the search results list to determine relevancy and choose alternative search terms for a subsequent search from a thesaurus; offers personalization options

·         Virtual Learning Resources Center - searches several high quality directories; also offers its own directory

·         Vivisimo - searches multiple engines and directories and organizes results into topical categories

Web page designed and updated by Thomas David Rompf, Head of Information Services.  Last updated 08/16/2010