INTERNET SEARCHING

Research Help (Big 6) » Internet Searching Information

Internet Searching Information

Instructions

Read below about how different kinds of Internet searching engines are set up.

Make a choice:
Use the most approprite kind for your Internet research needs.

Go directly to: Directory
                                 Search engines
                                 Metasearch engines
                         Alternative search engines

Directory

Definition: a site that organizes and lists Web sites by categories, subcategories, etc., using real people to assign the categories.
Characteristics: selective; may have fewer sites; sites may be more relevant

Note: directories are selective in what sites they give you

Recommendations: use when subject is broad or when keywords are ambiguous

Google Directory     http://www.google.com/dirhp

Yahoo     www.yahoo.com

BUBL Link     http://bubl.ac.uk/link

LookSmart (has both directory and Web search lists – see tabs)     www.looksmart.com

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Search Engines

Definition: site that uses a special piece of software, like a “spider,” crawls the web and mechanically indexes the sites it comes to.

Characteristics: more sites; sites may be less relevant

Note: There are differences in search engines regarding how they decide which sites are most relevant to list for the user.

Cautions: They do not categorize sites by content; they can be slow to update their indexes; they can include inappropriate sites, such as money making come-ons or pornography

Recommendations: Use with narrower topics and keywords that are not ambiguous

AltaVista www.altavista.com
Excite   www.excite.com

FastSearch     www.alltheweb.com

Google     www.google.com

HotBot     www.hotbot.com

Go (formerly Infoseek)     www.go.com

Lycos     www.lycos.com

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Metasearch Engines

Definition: a search engine that searches other search engines

Characteristics: searches a larger portion of the Web; searches cannot be as focused or sophisticated

Note: each metasearch engine searches a different set of search engines

Recommendations: use when subject is obscure or when you need to cover as much of the Web as possible; do not use when you need to use advanced search features

Dogpile     www.dogpile.com

MetaCrawler     www.metacrawler.com

Profusion     www.profusion.com

Search     www.search.com

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Alternative Search Engines

Definition: search engines that are set up differently

Note: each one has different, unique characteristics

AskJeeves www.askjeeves.com (you can type www.aj.com)

It has catalogued millions of the most common questions, then locates sites that are most likely to answer those questions. When you input a question, it lists those that most closely match yours.

NorthernLight www.northernlight.com

It bills itself as a research engine – sites are categorized and grouped into relevant “folders,” which are labeled by topic and subtopic; is also includes published articles of major trade magazines.

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