Internet Resources

Evaluating Internet Resources Subject Directories Other Helpful Sites

Using Search Engines Effectively Selected Search Engines

Web pages can be very useful for your paper. However, anyone who's used a search engine recently realizes that there is a lot of stuff out there; while some web pages are useful and accurate, others can be silly, malicious, erroneous, or just plain hard to use. How can you weed out the bad sites? There are several tools you can use, some of which are below.

Evaluating Internet Resources

The below sites can help you become Internet-savvy. Learn what to look for in a web site, and find out what the red flags are.

• Dissing the King ~ a cautionary tale detailing how websites are not always what they seem

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Subject Directories

A lot of people have been working to make the Internet a little more manageable to navigate. Librarians as well as professionals and other scholars have put together extensive listings of web sites that have been evaluated for their effectiveness and content. These listings, called subject directories, are organized by topic, and can also be searched.

• Librarians' Index to the Internet
  
  
• The Scout Report
  
  
• Voice of the Shuttle
  
  
• Internet Public Library

• The Best Information on the Net

• Digital Librarian

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Other Helpful Web Sites

The below sites can help you refine your topic, find useful polls, and learn what the hot-button issues are.

• Internet Resources ~ from College &Research Library News, a list of online resources on various topics

• Hot Paper Topics ~ also take a look at the Article Files and Indexes to Topics for inspiration and resources

• Read the help files for each search engine ~ different search engines work in different ways. Some respond to Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT), others use symbols (+, *). Also, some search engines automatically combine search terms with OR, while others use AND. You need to know what to expect.

• Know which search engine will best serve your needs ~ sometimes you're looking for a web page, other times you just want an image or an MP3 -- but which search engine should you use? Check out the University at Albany's How to Choose a Search Engine or Directory for help in deciding which tool to use.

• Search more than one search engine ~ no one search engine pulls up everything on the Web. Also be aware that because different search engines search different sources using different tools, you can get varying results from engine to engine.

• Know that the web is ever-changing ~ dead links can occur in any search tool. However, some sites may have more dead links than others.

Some helpful links:

• Important Things to Know Before You Begin Searching the Web ~ from the UC Berkeley library, a collection of tables, links, and other useful information to help you get started.

• Search Engines Quick Guide ~ from the InfoPeople Project, a handy chart detailing the different tools and operators used by a variety of search engines. Also check out the Search Tools Chart, which describes the sources and special features of many search tools.

• Conducting Research on the Internet ~ another page from the University at Albany Libraries, discussing how to find different types of information on the 'Net.

• Search Engine Showdown ~ librarian Greg Notess' rundown of statistics, search strategies, and search engine features.

When you feel comfortable evaluating web sites on your own, you can use any of the numerous search engines to find sites on your topic. Here are some popular engines.

• Hotbot