.:VirtualSalt

World Wide Web Research Tools
Robert Harris + December 13, 2009

This is a list of search tools I use when I want to look something up. Whether you want to buy a car, find a personal fitness trainer, comparison shop for the best price on an iPod or iPhone or television, this page offers the tools you need. I try to respond to user requests, so if you have found a nifty site that performs searches or is specific to a popular subect, please let me know. I have just added a new category of Shopping to facilitate finding products at the best price.

E n g i n e s
 

Custom Search

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info Online Bible by Logos

Collaborative filtering, huge database. Excellent. Natural language search engine.
Large database, good results.  Search engine, vertical engines, directory.
    Visual search tool.
Web, Usenet. Speedy. Large database. Search engine from Microsoft.
Web, Usenet.  Directory. Large database.   .
Web, Usenet, news, maps, directory, yellow pages, company profiles. Metasearch tool. Site previews.
Search and directory, sports, news, weather, reviews. Deep Web metasearch tool.
Search and pictures, sound, news, software, rated sites. Performs metasearching on web, Usenet, FTP.
Web search and directory.  
  Clustering metasearch tool.
Search engine for university sites. Results from several engines, tabbed format.

 D i r e c t o r i e s
 
Most popular directory, image searches. Nicely set up directory from Reader's Digest.
Google rankings applied to Open Directory. Very Good.  
 Online Books Page Full text of more than 18,000 books. Directory created by volunteer editors.
Directory of expert guides, including Web searching. Excellent, easy to use directory.
Very nice directory, dozens of categories    
Directory plus links to search engines.  
  Directory by educational subject, with annotated entries.
Really cool graphic directory with good reference links. Directory of education related sites.
100 most popular web sites in many categories, including newspapers. Engine with links to companies and government pages.
   

 R e f e r e n c e   a n d  D a t a b a s e s
 
Encyclopedia Britannica & Internet Guide. Search or read several English and other versions of the Bible.
17,000 short articles (Concise Columbia Encyclopedia). Almanacs, Encyclopedia, Dictionary.


Reference and Library site.
Database of articles and reference materials.  Complete Planet Hundreds of databases by category.
Another encyclopedia.  All Academic Journals & other free academic content.
Excellent dictionary, multiple sources. More reference works. Good.
Links to facts, encyclopedias, dictionaries, news, much more. Dictionary of Computer Terms.
A global encyclopedia.  Dictionaries and Thesauruses
Several hundred searchable dictionaries. The meanings of acronyms.
Extensive index of scholarly Internet resources. Wonderful list of specific links.
Find a word if you know only part of it. Science sites.
Another dictionary. Search archived Web content.
Articles on philosophical topics. Community written encyclopedia.
Dictionary and resources.

 S h o p p i n g
Look here to find what you want at a great price.
 
 Edmunds.com Want to buy a car? Find out the invoice price. Compare features, etc.  
   
   Search hundreds of journals.


Full text magazine articles.


 
 


 G r a p h i c s
 

 Audio and film archive.
Image search from Google. Marine Art Information Center. Paintings, photographs, and more.

More than 100,000 art images.
Stock image photography. Thousands of art images.
  Many excellent art works.
  The U. S. National Gallery of Art.
Links to all the arts, including museums. Links to hundreds of online maps from library at U Texas.
National Gallery of London. Encyclopedia of art and artworks.

S p e c i a l t y
 
Search discussion groups. Directory and search for health and medicine.

 

 
Directory of people, business, government, cities, more. Ask real people questions.
Directories by AT&T of people, businesses, toll-free, more.
 
Find businesses, get maps and directions. Legal resources.
  Yellow pages from everywhere.
Info on health, disease, nutrition, medicines. White & yellow pages, reverse phone lookup.

P e r i o d i c a l s
 
Links to 100,000 newspapers worldwide. Abstracts and some full text of 200+ journals.
Links to all media.  
  Keeps an eye on the news media.
News News and archives.

G o v e r n m e n t
 
  Legislative information.
Gateway to many federal government sites. The U. S. Census Bureau.
Government info gateway. Gateway to statistics from many government agencies.
Links and search for U.S. federal, state, & local government. Foreign too. Hundreds of consumer information items.
  Library of Congress American Memory.
Lots of government links.    

B o o k s
 
Includes reviews of many titles. Used, new, hard-to-find, and out of print books.
Lots of books.   Affordabook.com Book shopping bot with results from 20 vendors.
Lots of Christian books. All kinds of book information.
Search for the best price from many bookstores at once. Book information, reviews, sites with reviews.
Books, bargain books (remainders).  
The University of California Library catalog. Books and other items.
Book shopping bot. Compare prices. Shopping bot to compare prices.

M e d i a
 
Internet Movie Database with reviews.
 
 

N e w s
 
General News.
News source, search engine, and gateway to news sites.
 
 
Emphasis on technical and computer news.
Media watchdog organization.
Links to 15,000 newspapers, TV stations, other news sources.
 
Cable channel news site.

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About the author:
Robert Harris is a writer and educator with more than 25 years of teaching experience at the college and university level. RHarris at virtualsalt.com