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University Avenue West, Suite 324-S, St. Paul, MN 55104 Phone: 1-651-636-1989 or 1-800-652-9704 Fax: 1-651-636-9146 |
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| Information need | Search strategy |
| I need a few good hits fast. | Google
- largest index1 results
ranked by general popularity with "blind spots."2
Cached copy of page if site unavailable. All the Web - large, automatically adds phrases from its dictionary to improve relevance of results. |
| I have a broad academic subject and need pointers to quality sites. | Librarians'
Index to the Internet - "thinking person's Yahoo"3
with weekly updates. Infomine - librarian-selected directory with flexible search options. |
| I have a popular or commercial topic. | Yahoo - user-submitted, editor-categorized commercial "tree" entries are integrated with Google search results |
| I want to search on confusable (e.g. bush v. Bush) or ignored words (e.g. there v. There - a company) in a phrase (e.g., "Vitamin A" or "to be or not to be"). |
Alta Vista Advanced - use
capital letter Google - use quotes around phrase, or +word |
| I can't spell something (e.g. "Ku Klux Klan" or "Klu Klux Klan"). | Use a
dictionary for the correct
spelling. If an alternative spelling will generate better results Google asks you, "Did you mean: (more common spelling)?" |
| I need a template to focus my search. | AlltheWeb Advanced or AltaVista Advanced (full Boolean) template prompts you to include or exclude words and phrases, domain, format, date, etc. |
| I need to organize and refine my results. | Combined major engine results (metasearch)
clustered by topics. Select keywords to pinpoint your search further.
|
| I need to see relationships among ideas. | |
| I need a subject hub prepared by an expert. |
Virtual LRC - searches high-quality educational directories Pinakes - a subject launchpad to major academic gateways. WWW Virtual Library - worldwide volunteers maintain oldest academic subject-organized catalog of links to full-text, databases, and gateways. BUBL LINK / 5:15 - directory of 5-15 academic sites (European focus) also organized by Dewey number and subject terms. Teoma - ranks by subject-expert popularity (links from authority pages), suggests expert hub-sites About.com - screened and trained volunteers create general-interest subject guides. |
| I need balanced information from verified sources for a school research project to take home. | For certain types of research, useful books and magazines may only be available in print. Ask your local librarian. |
| I need biographical information. | Infoplease
Biography - search 30,000 people (encyclopedia, almanac, dictionary), or
browse categories. Biography.com - search 25,000 popular figures Lives - alphabetical directory of dead people only |
| I need US government information. | First Gov - search official site for U.S. government, state and local, or drill down topics in a directory. |
| I need the current buzz or breaking news. | Daypop
- receives daily feeds from 1000 news sources, online magazines, and 19,000
weblogs (subjective, personal) - can use +, -, "" Newsblaster - get a sense of day's major stories and images - automatically collects, categorizes, and summarizes news events, reflecting the media from a particular country. Hotbot (Inktomi) - freshest database4 |
| I need more complete news coverage. | Yahoo News -
unique depth and breadth +continuously updated, categorized news (7-30 days archive) +editor-selected "Full Coverage" provides background +"Op-Ed," "News Photos," "Video" (political) and "Local." Google News - 4500 news sources, automatically grouped, includes articles' leading sentences, 30 day archive. World News Network - world news organized by region, topic, industry. Country or regional hot-spots in "Special Reports." |
| I need to get a overview of the media in a region or industry. | Headline Spot - directory of established media by subject, industry or area (large cities, states, countries, regions). |
| I need fuller news coverage to develop background to understand an issue. | Behind the Headlines
- key resources related to the latest headlines; resources are carefully
selected, indexed and described by specialists in 60+ British educational
and research organizations. US News Briefings - editor-compiled overview, with links to stories, key biographies, relevant documents and Web sites. |
| I need accurate, objective information on hot topics (current and controversial). |
Social
Issues - K-12 topics from public library Homework Center. Hot Topics Supersites - sites which have resources on many controversial topics of current interest selected by public-university librarian. Public Agenda Online - background and analysis of social issues with public opinion studies |
| I want to get opinions on current issues. | Yahoo Op/Ed -
today, by
country Opinion-Pages - searches international editorials, opinions, commentaries and columnists. PollingReport - aggregates national surveys of the American public Google Usenet Advanced Search - searches newsgroups. Blogdex - "most contagious information currently spreading in the weblog community." |
| I need to see news from other countries' perspectives. |
All the Web News
advanced - search 7 days coverage, 3000+, multilingual Search Engine Colossus - links to search engines and directories worldwide Abyz News Links - links to international newspapers, news media, internet services, magazines, and press agencies. World Press Review - succinct overviews of issues from international perspectives, views of U.S. from abroad. |
| I need simple reference information (basic facts, current statistics, name identification). | Search
Reference - choose fact sites, then metasearch. CIA World Factbook by country or search data. InfoNation - compare data for (up to 5) UN countries. Wikipedia - volunteer-created encyclopedia. |
| I need statistical data depth. | Statistical Information help page |
| I need invisible web resources (access to databases not commonly indexed by search engines). | Invisible Web -
small, high-quality directory list. Resource Discovery Network - keyword search Direct Search - links and search (boolean, date, fields) Depth of Search: Choosing Invisible Web Databases - small list geared to K-12 |
| I need primary sources. | Online only: Library and Archival Exhibitions on the Web UNESCO Primary Sources Online Print and online: Repositories of Primary Sources - by country, region Ready, 'Net, Go - metaindex to worldwide archives |
| I need information found in presentations, spreadsheets and other formats [pdf] [doc] [xls] [ppt] [rtf] [ps]. | Google
Advanced - searches for Adobe Acrobat, Word documents, Excel
spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Rich Text Format and Postscript
documents. Search Adobe PDF Online - see summary before downloading. |
| I need images and sounds (photos, art, designs, logos, videos, music, noises), media types (Java, mp3) or file extensions [.gif]. |
Singingfish Advanced Audio Video - large index AlltheWeb- advanced pictures, video, simple audio Lycos MultiMedia - cross-search pictures, audio, mp3, video AltaVista- select format, size, etc - images, audio, video Google Image Search - indexes 425+ mill., advanced narrows by size or type. ClassroomClipart - browse categories suitable for K-12. Fine arts: ADAM, FAMSF, SILS, Richman's list of picture/art sites. American Memory US historical maps, motion pictures, photos and prints, sound recordings. FindSounds - locates sound effects and sample sounds. |
| I heard part of a radio program and want to hear all of it. | PublicRadioFan
- if you know the station or program, click through "tree" links. Design a
worldwide public radio programs list, check what's playing now. HP Speechbot - keyword audio search, results include audio link and transcript of words in context, sort by date |
| I need free or inexpensive software. | CNET - meta search engine for shareware. |
| I need a map. | National Geo.
MapMachine:
world physical, political
print. Cornell Digital Earth - world maps: choose layers of geological, geographical, and geophysical data (GIS), then download image (.ps, .jpg) TIGER Map Service - U.S. Census information maps Maptech MapServer - U.S. topographical, aerial and satellite, nautical maps - flexible searching, options for printing/e-mailing MapQuest - U.S. driving directions. |
| I need a quotation. | The Quotations Page Quoteland Quotations Archive, Search Creative Quotations, Bartlett (1901). |
| I want to get advice from experts. | Ask A+ Locator -
browse, or search by keyword or subject, a database of high-quality "AskA"
services. AllExperts - volunteer experts (read self-profile to assess expertise) SourceNet Experts - database of experts for journalists Sources and Experts - directory maintained by news researcher |
| I need a virtual librarian. |
24/7 -
live reference from public library system. Ask a Librarian - e-mail and live help from Library of Congress. Ask on NoodleBoard if you subscribe to NoodleBib. |
| I want notice of new sites as they're announced. | Scout Report review or weekly e-mail notification of new sites, often not yet listed elsewhere. |
| I need to periodically rerun a good search I've already composed. | GoogleAlert-
reruns your search periodically on its large index and sends alerts via
e-mail. HotSheet, AmphetaDesk, FeedDemon (beta) - desktop and RSS Headliner web page software to create custom pages with your own choice of news sources. |
| I need sites just for kids. | KidsClick!
- click through librarian selected and organized subject tree, or search
600+ high-quality sites. See
Dewey
classification of sites. Yahooligans! - results from directory, clustered by category, and kid-safe popular sites. Ithaki - metasearch engine (Dmoz Kids, Yahooligans, FactMonster, ArtKidsRule, AolKids, AppuKids, Discovery School) |
In case you did not know: A search engine is not a directory. Directories like Yahoo! or Pandia Plus are collections of links to websites reviewed and edited by human beings like you and me.
A search engine, on the other hand, uses a special program (called a spider or a crawler) to surf the Web automatically, copying all the data into a huge database (an index or list of information).
So when you are "searching" the Web using one of the best search engines, you are not searching the Web at all, but the information this engine has gathered on its computers.
Not one of the various search engines has information that covers the entire Web. Nor are all the results up to date. That is why you should use more than one of the best search engines.
A search directory is not a search engine. Do not let the similarity of the search fields fool you. When you search a search directory, you search an index hand picked by a living and breathing human being like you and me. When you use a search engine, on the other hand, you search a database inventory gathered by software based robots that travel the net, indexing the text of the webpages they find.
The indexes of directories like Yahoo and Pandia Plus do not contain the content of the webpages they link to. Instead they give you the title of the website and a short description. Furthermore, Yahoo and the Open Directory only contain some 2 million sites. That is nothing compared to giant search engines like Fast and AltaVista.
So why are the directories so popular? The key word is relevance. The search engines give you thousands of hits, including webpages of -- well -- dubious quality. The sites listed in the search directories on the other hand will normally hold a minimum standard.
Moreover, the directories are useful when you just have a general idea of what you are looking for. It is better to find the "renaissance art" category in Yahoo and explore the net from there, that to search for "renaissance art" with the Fast search engine. Fast will list any page that includes the term, even if its main topic is not Leonardo and Michelangelo.
In the directories, however, you are guaranteed to find websites with a lot of information in the field of your choice. These sites will in turn contain links to other sites specializing in this field. Below we list some of the best search directories
All Refer a great new directory with a great Health reference section.
About.com (formerly the mining co - great information site)
NEW! Hotrate
NEW! Xoron
The entire site and all contents:
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