About
Search Engines |
Search Engines |
Directories | MetaSearch
Engines |
Specialized
Search Engines |
Evaluating
Information Found on the Internet
Quick links to
search
engines
About Search
Engines
The search engines and directories listed below are only a small part
of what is available. To find other search engines, as well as to learn
how to more effectively search the web, check out either Search Engine
Showdown or
Search Engine Watch. Both contain reviews, links, how-to
articles and more. Please keep in mind that search engines differ from
each other and change often. Reading their on-screen help can help you
find what you want. Remember too that different search engines will
produce different results - if you can't find what you're looking for
with one search engine, try another or use a meta-search engine.
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Search Engines
- Ask.com
- Includes both general searches and such
specific searches as images, maps, local, shopping and many more. Also
offers a desktop search program.
- Exalead
- Relatively new, this French search
engine has
received acclaim from reviewers. Offers a desktop search program.
- Google
- Google is fast, easy to use and has
received
wide acclaim among reviewers for its accuracy. It has advanced
searching options and language, display and filtering options.
- GigaBlast
- Recently began answering 'natural
language
queries'. For example, you can type in a question such as "How tall is
Mt. Everest?"
- MSN
Search
-
- Yahoo
Search
-
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Directories
Directories, or
subject
indexes, feature lists of links compiled by people and arranged by
subject. Frequently there are brief summaries or capsule reviews.
Directories are good places to begin a search if you are investigating
a broad topic or don't know much about your subject.
- Librarian's
Index to the Internet
- A searchable database,
created for
public library users and librarians by
other librarians. The sites included are both described and evaluated.
- Open
Directory Project
- A subject index to the Internet which
relies on
volunteers (at last count, over 34,000), the Open Directory contains
over 2,000,000 sites in over 300,000 categories. A number of other
search engines use Open Directory data.
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MetaSearch Engines
These search engines send your queries to several
search engines at
once. Your search results
are organized into one list.
- Clusty
- Clusty organizes search results into
related
groups (or clusters). Clusty gets its results from Looksmart, Lycos,
MSN, Open Directory, Teoma, Gigablast, and Wisenut.
- Dogpile
- Searches many different search engines,
including Google, Yahoo, Ask and MSN Search. A free toolbar
(chosen by PC Magazine in 2004 as the best metasearch toolbar) is
available.
- Jux2
- Get results from Google, Yahoo and MSN Search
with one search. Winner
of the 2005 Best Meta Search Engine award from SearchEngineWatch.
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Specialized Search
Engines
Some search
engines restrict themselves to a particular topic. Using this
type
of search engine can often reduce the number of irrelevant results.
There are
many more such specialized search engines; visit Search Engine
Showdown or
Search Engine Watch
(described above) to learn more.
- Google
Groups
- Allows the search of Usenet postings
dating back to
1981.
- CataList
- Browse over 66,000 publicly accessible
mailing
lists. Searchable by list name and title.
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Evaluating
information
found on the Internet
The Internet
contains vast
amounts of useful and accurate information, but
unfortunately also contains vast amounts of inaccurate information. The
following two sites offer some tips on separating the good from the bad.
- ICYouSee,
A Guide to the World Wide Web
- A six part tutorial including a
glossary, a
guide to search tools, and a guide to academic resources. The section
most useful for evaluating web site content is the ICYouSee Guide to
Critical Thinking About What You See on the Web.
- University
of California at Berkeley tutorial on finding information on
the Internet
- This tutorial starts with basic
vocabulary and
progresses to advanced search techniques. Also contains a section on
evaluating information.
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