|
Information need |
Search strategy |
| I
need a few good hits fast.
|
Google returns
important, relevant hits quickly with bold terms; pages
cached in case the site's down. Weighs
"collective judgement"1 of links
in highly ranked pages.
Meta search engines
2
1. Vivismo can phrase or
boolean search major engines, then clusters documents
into a hierarchy. No paid listings.
2. Ixquick uses refined searching (phrases, boolean,
wildcards, capitals) and returns results ranked in the
engines' top ten. About 10% paid listings. |
| I have a general broad
academic subject and need to focus it. |
Infomine high-quality directory; librarian-selected with
flexible search options
Librarians'
Index to the Internet -
"thinking person's Yahoo"3 frequently
updated
Teoma organizes results by grouping into topic
folders at the top, as well as listings of relevant
authoritative sites and expert or "hub" links.
Northern Light
4 an
engine that catagorizes results into folders by concept,
document and site type.
Encyclopaedia Britannica has a topic article and selectiveWeb links, as
does the more concise Encarta Online
Encyclopedia. |
| I have a general popular
or commercial topic and need to focus it. |
Yahoo a
"tree" of unreviewed user submissions, thus has
a commercial focus
dmoz "tree" maintained by volunteer
editors (AOL owns)
GO focuses on entertainment, recreation,
leisure and lifestyle (Disney owns) |
| I have general
keyword(s) and need help refining my
search strategy. |
HotBot SuperSearch's
template helps you create a Boolean or phrase search, or
limit by media type, date, domain, etc.
FAST Search Advance Search
² template casts a
fast, wide net.
Surf
Wax "Focus" to
refines term before you search; "SiteSnap"
abstract to review content before you go
Excite suggests word lists to refine your first search
term; identify a successful hit to bring up other
on-target results.
Altavista suggests phrase search terms on your results
page. |
| I need a better idea of what
is available. |
Start by searching a term
in
Researchville.
The results page, which looks just like the previous
page, pre-configures the search for each link. Click on a
link to perform the search, then return to the page to
repeat the process. |
| I bet this search has
been done before. |
Ask Jeeves! database
of answers to natural language questions
Direct
Hit a "popularity
engine" which ranks your hits based on other
searchers' behaviors. |
| I need quality,
evaluated pathfinders prepared by a subject
expert. |
About.com popular/commercial subject guides
AlphaSearch points to
gateways for a subject, discipline or idea
WWW Virtual Library search or
browse subject-organized full-text documents, databases
and gateways
Argus Clearinghouse
librarian/academic subject guides
BUBL LINK- organized
by Dewey number (European focus)
Scirus is a specialized Science search engine |
| I need balanced
information from verified sources for a school
research project to take home. |
Nueva's Library catalog is geared to the school's curriculum |
| I want to search on often-ignored
words in a phrase (e.g. "Vitamin A" or
"to be or not to be"). |
Infoseek and AltaVista includes little words (such as a, to, be, not
)in the search |
| I need a pinpoint
search using a unique phrase or word. |
AltaVista works best
for needle-in-the-haystack search for unique word or
phrase (Himalayan cat not cat) |
| I need information on a proper
name (a place, person, or object). |
AltaVista and
Infoseek search with
capital letters to force an exact case match on the
entire word (e.g. Al Gore and NeXT)
A person search on
HotBot SuperSearch will
retrieve the name in both reversed and normal order (e.g.
Picasso, Pablo and Pablo Picasso) |
| I need biographical
information. |
Biographical Dictionary
- quick identification of a name
Biography.com -
paragraph-length biographies
Lives links to biographies, autobiographies, memoirs,
diaries, letters, narratives and oral histories |
| I need US
government information. |
First Gov is the
portal for the U.S. Government, with links to state and
local government. |
| I need hard-to-find
or late-breaking news. |
1st Headlines searches
current news headlines and can be refined by topic,
country, breaking news.
YahooNews updates
continuously from newswires
Moreover gathers
headlines from 1,800 online news sources
Northern Light Current News updates headlines, weather, and sports
continuously; can search two weeks archive
News
Index refreshes hourly |
| I need fuller coverage
of news from magazine or newspaper articles. |
Yahoo Full Coverage
gains you expertise through selection and organization by
editors
AJR NewsLink links to
US/Canada newspapers and magazines
News Directory links to
worldwide English language media
BBC Advanced Search Archive
PBS
Online NewsHour
TotalNEWS and Northern Light search
current news
UnCover free search of
large current multidisciplinary journal index, but
full-text delivery is fee-based |
| I need accurate,
objective information on hot topics. |
Social Issues -
Multnomah County Library's Homework Center
BIOTN compiled by
Catholic university librarians about controversial
current events issues (e.g. gun control, human rights,
censorship) |
| I want perspectives
from other countries and regions. |
Regional and local search engines and country-specific Web directories located
around the world. |
| I need statistical
data. |
Statistical Information
help page at Nueva |
| I need almanac-type
information. |
Information Please
(almanac facts)
CIA World Factbook
(country facts) |
| I need a short reference
information. |
xrefer searches and
interlinks encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, books
of quotations and reference works. |
| I need primary
sources. |
Online
Digital Library links
US focus:
American Memory,
U.S. History, California Heritage
Ancient Greece: Perseus
Project, |
| I need images and
sounds (photos, art, designs, logos, videos,
music, noises), media types (Java, VRML) or file
extensions (.gif) |
Google Image Search
over 150 million digital images.
Amazing Picture Machine
(NCREL)
ClassroomClipart suitable
for K-12
American Memory US
historical images and sounds; search by formats (maps,
motion pictures, photos and prints, sound recordings)
Fine arts: ADAM, FAMSF,
SILS
Lycos MultiMedia or
AltaVista
images,
audio,
video
FindSounds locates
sound effects and sample sounds
HotBot SuperSearch
template for media types and technologies
WebSEEk at Columbia
catalogues images and videos
Jacob Richman has compiled an list of quality picture/art sites. |
| I need free or
inexpensive software. |
SoftCrawler is a
metasearch of shareware sites. |
| I need a map. |
TIGER Map Service maps
for Web pages from U.S.Census
National Geographic
Map Machine -
printable country, physical and political maps, star
charts
MapQuest interactive service for driving directions
Cartography Links |
| I need a quotation. |
The
Quotations Page Quoteland Quotations Archive,
Search Creative Quotations,
Bartlett (1901) |
| I want to get advice
and opinions from others. |
Opinion-Pages
editorials and columnists from newspapers and magazines
Ask Kids' Connect
question answering and referral by librarians
AskA+ authoritative,
non-commercial experts, suitable for K-12
Pitsco's Ask an Expert
volunteers with varying levels of expertise
Liszt catalogs discussion groups by topics
Google Usenet Advanced Search
searches newsgroups |
| I need a virtual
librarian. |
KidsConnect,
Internet Public Library Reference,
Debbie, Marilyn |
| I want notice of new
sites as they're announced. |
Scout
Report Signpost reviews of new
sites not yet listed on expert sites |
| I've got a good
search to rerun automatically. |
Informant repeats your search, sends e-mail when hits
change.
Excite's
NewsTracker tracks your news
topic, refining search based on results
Northern Light Search Alert Service runs your search on large database |
| I want to see sites just
for kids. |
KidsClick! Yahooligans!
Ithaki metasearches
Dmoz Kids, Yahooligans, and others. |