World
Wide Web Research
Tools
Robert
Harris + May 7, 2010
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.
E n g i n
e s
==================
| 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. | Search Engines Index | Index listing of hundreds of search engines worldwide | |
| SweetSearch.com | A search engine for students. | 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. | |||
| Finding Dulcinea | Directory for students. | 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. | . | ||
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 to find out how to find out! |
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. |
G
r a p
h i c s
| Audio and film archive. | |||
| Image search from Google. | Marine Art Information Center. Paintings, photographs, and more. | ||
| Huge, excellent, free photo site. |
More than 100,000 art images. | ||
| Stock image photography. | Thousands of art images. | ||
| Art Find | Posters of art and photography | 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. | Findarticles.com | Search hundreds of journals. | |
| EasyNewspapers.com | Huge list of newspapers worldwide. | Keeps an eye on the news media. | |
| News | News and archives. | ||
| Magportal | Full text magazine articles. |
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). | Bookase.com | Shopping bot for finding best price. | |
| The University of California Library catalog. | Books and other items. | ||
| Book shopping bot. Compare prices. | Shopping bot to compare prices. | ||
| LibriVox | Free audio books |
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. |
Search
Tips | Evaluating
Research | Information
Biases | Search
Engine
Watch
Search
Engine Showdown | Citing Web
Pages MLA Style
| APA
Citation Style