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Search Engine and Internet Directory Links

Search engines provide access to Web pages by seeking out and indexing keywords in Web page content. Search engines do not provide evaluations of sites but rather notices of location and links. Search engines are better suited for finding narrow or obscure topics or searching for a particular Web site.

Directories are collections of Web sites categorized by subject which are located and evaluated by librarians and/or subject specialists. Directories are better suited when the topic is a broad category or for finding collections of Web sites on a topic rather than simply a grouping of Web pages.

Search Engines

Searching requires some forethought. Decide specifically what information is desired and then decide upon what keywords to search for.

In general, type all desired keywords in lower case.

Use the plus symbol (+) before all keyword or phrases to be retrieved. Use the minus symbol (-) to exclude keywords not to be searched.

For instance, if "england" is desired but not "new england," type +england -new.

Enclose all phrases in double quotation marks ("), such as "graphic design".

To search for graphic designers in England, therefore, the search would look something like: +"graphic designers" +england -new.

For more information on Internet directories, look at the searching tutorials by Greg Notess on Search Engine Showdown: Basic Internet Searching and Advanced Internet Searching or ask one of the librarians.

To use a search engine, click on one of the links below.

AltaVista - http://www.altavista.com/

Traditionally, the search engine with the largest database. A very flexible search engine which allows for basic and advanced search techniques, as well as a "related searches" feature and a translator for foreign language Web sites.

Ask Jeeves - http://www.ask.com/

Another large database with a very flexible search engine. Includes the popular Excite, iWon, and Bloglines databases. Particular topics--such as movies, people, dictionaries, weather, etc.--may be easily retrieved using Smart Search.

Google - http://www.google.com/

A database with a particular reputation for accuracy.

Go.com - http://infoseek.go.com/

A smaller but very accurate search engine. It has an easy-to-use search engine and search links for finding similar pages.

Internet Directories

Internet directories are categorized by subject and so may be searched either by following the subject links or by using the search engine for the directory's database. To use the search engine, follow the same search guidelines outlined above.

To search an Internet directory, click on one of the links below.

Librarians' Index to the Internet - http://www.lii.org/

A very large collection of selected and annotated links developed by librarians and subject specialists.

Internet Public Library - http://www.ipl.org/

A collection of links selected and annotated by information professionals. In addition to Web sites on discreet topics, the IPL includes ready reference resources, magazine and newspapers, blogs, and links to many other useful sites.

INFOMINE - http://infomine.ucr.edu/

A more scholarly collection of Internet resources maintained by the University of California system.

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

A comprehensive and well-annotated collection of Internet links on a wide-variety of subjects.

About.com - http://www.about.com/

A somewhat less academic, more popular collection of links but developed and updated by subject specialists.