Search engines & mechanisms

A Guide to Electronic and Printed References

Search Engines &
Mechanisms

For other resources related to Search Engines & Mechanisms see also

http://www.abc123teacher.com/
ABC123Teacher.com is a source for Teachers, Students, References, Games, Dictionaries, etc.

Designed and managed by Richard G. Ley of Oak Park Elementary School at Titusville, FL, this website lists search engines by name and type, information sources by type, web information, music, teacher sites, student search tools, student sites, pictures, etc. literally on any subject.
(seen: 7/14/2002 last update: 7/2002)

http:/www.altavista.com
Altavista

One of the oldest search engines, it let's you customize your searches by date and geographic location; it also translates web pages and texts into dozens of languages. It also searches for black-and-white vs. color.

http://www.bigchalk.com/
bigchalk - The Education Network

For teachers, librarians, and students , this subscription service (available from schools and libraries) delivers information through online content. Maintains a free Homework Central for study and research help. Contains product advertising.

http://olt-bta.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/about/index_e.html
Canada Office of Learning Technologies

http://www.daypop.com

DAYPOP

Search 7000 News Sites and Weblogs for Current Events and Breaking News

hhttp://nt.excite.com
EXCITE NEWSTRACKER

Scans current and archived news articles. Registration is free but required.

http:www.firstgov.gov
FIRSTGOV

Provides access to local- and federal-agency web pages

http:www.google.com
Google

This is one of the best, most versatile, fastest, and easy to use search engines around today

http:/www.ixquick.com
IXQUICK

Queries 14 different search engines at once and ranks results based on how many times they appear in each one's Top 10 results. The 'stars' ratings make for easy-to-read results.

http://www.lasoo.com
LASOO

A combination of geographical maps and Yellow Pages, makes use of especially good interactive maps

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

Sponsored by the Library of California this index of more than 10,000 search engines arranged by major and minor subjects, is an attempt by librarians (for librarians) to list the most trustworthy and reliable databases on specific questions based on usage and experience.

http://www.libraryspot.com/
LibrarySpot

Acts like a big library with reference desk (ask an expert, maps, encyclopedias, genealogy, quotations, etc), reading room (books, journals, newspapers and -wires, magazines, poetry: connections to the Library of Congress, Infoplease, Refdesk.com, Britannica); shortcuts (ask homework questions); lists (science, literary prizes, college rankings, grammar lists, etc) and more. Related sources: BookSpot.com, GenealogySpot.com, HeadlineSpot.com, HomeworkSpot.com, MuseumSpot.com, PeopleSpot.com.

http://mathforum.org/dr.math/
The Math Forum - Ask Dr. Math

Maintained by Drexel University, this source will actually provide answers to math questions for students and teachers (Teacher2Teacher)

http://nuevaschool.org/~debbie/library/research/il/infolit1.html
Nueva

Even though designed for use in a K through 8 school, this guide to "The Building Blocks of Research: An Overview of Design, Process and Outcomes" describes in simple terms how to use computer technology to achieve meaningful outcome of an information search. Many suggestions (or reminders) given to students may equally well also serve adults, especially those with limited computer literacy.

http://dmoz.org/about.html
The Open Directory

The Open Directory is the most widely distributed data base of Web content classified by humans. Just as the Oxford English Dictionary became the definitive word on words through the efforts of a volunteers, the Open Directory follows in its footsteps to become the definitive catalog of the Web. The Open Directory powers the core directory services for the Web's largest and most popular search engines and portals, including Netscape Search, AOL Search, Google, Lycos, HotBot, DirectHit, and hundreds of others.

http:/www.queryserver.com
QUERYSERVER

Queries up to 10 search engines at once and organizes the results by automatically generating topic clusters. Collections include news, health, money and government sites.

http://www.sailor.lib.md.us/
SAILOR, Maryland's Public Information Network

Provides information on all aspects of Maryland, from arts & entertainment to business, education, government & law, history, libraries, science & technology, and society & culture. Lists and provides access to public libraries, the Baltimore Sun archives, as well as the Internet (some data bases may require your library card number).

http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/bones.html
University of South Carolina at Beaufort Library
Bare Bones 101: A Basic Tutorial on Searching the Web.

Created by Ellen Chamberlain, the librarian, the tutorial provides invaluable knowledge in 20 short but compact lessons on techniques and facts of Web searching. It can be downloaded in PDF format. (Last update: June 2001)

http://www.outreach.utk.edu/weblearning
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Web-based Learning Resources Library (Annotated at Distance & online education)

http://www.vivisimo.com/html/faq.html
Vivisimo

Rather than searching or indexing the web, Vivisimo organizes the outputs of other search engines into meaningful 'groups' - it is a 'clustering engine' rather than a (meta-)search engine, which selects documents based on their titles, URL's, and short descriptions rather than on the contents of their full web pages. It orders and displays the information thus obtained in a hierarchical way by groups and documents within them. Totally automated, the system can be adopted to any existing search engine and is best used when dealing with large amounts of information, or if a question cannot be formulated accurately.

http://www.wisenut.com
Wisenut

Organizes results by how many other pages link to it and ranks them by the quality of the links. Can be set to filter out adult content.

ttp://cui.unige.ch/meta-index.html
W3 Search Engines

Located at and maintained by the Centre Universitaire d'Informatique of the University of Geneva, Switzerland, this site collects the most useful search engines available on the WWW. It also offers a Search Engine Watch site which provides detailed information on how search engines work, along with tips on getting better results. (Last update: 2001)

Dertouzos, Michael L. The Unfinished Revolution. Human-Centered Computers and what they can do for us. New York NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001

The late director of MIT's Computer Laboratory 'sets forth a radically new direction for information technology, and the way it could be used to make computer systems serve people... rather than the other way around." Fascinating reading for the professional and the interested layperson alike.

Sherman, Chris and Gary Price. The Invisible Web: Uncovering Information Sources Search Engines Can't See. Cyber Age Books. Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc: 2001.

There are, literally, thousands of websites, maintained by and for Federal, State, and local Government agencies, public interest groups, societies and associations, etc., that contain information and data that is not accessible through the best public search engines, and yet, is available to anyone, anywhere, free.

After an exposition on the development of Internet and the Web, the authors show you how you can access this hidden treasure drove. They also provide an extensive catalog of websites just to introduce you to what you can discover when you take the time to crawl around the web. Needed by anyone who is in need of very specific information and data, this book helps you find a 'needle in a haystack'.

Back to Resource Center