Kim Prati

SLM -521

Last updated 2/24/06

http://www.google.com

Google is generally acknowledged as having the largest database and one of the best reputations for general search engines. Google is very user friendly. There is an extensive Google Help Center with tips about choosing search terms, phase searches, "and" queries, as well as advanced and personalized services. There is even a help page on how to read the search results page. You may also choose to set your preferences to safe filter your searches and choose language options. Google is favorite search engine, in fact, I have it as my home page on my computer.

http://www.teoma.com

Since a "second opinion" is advisable, I also use Teoma frequently. Teoma brags about Subject-Specific Personality(SM) — which means they rank relevance in terms of the number of same-subject pages that reference it. Teoma provides threes responses to each inquiry: relevant web pates, suggestions to refine your search and other resources.

http://www.kidsclick.org

KidsClick is a web search site created by a group of librarians. There are 600 subjects to choose from including Science and Math, The Arts, Health and Family, Literature. Each category has subcategories to help kids find the information they are looking for. The creators are quick to point out that it is not an internet filter but an attempt to guide kids to age and subject-appropriate sites. Content is safe and rich.

http://yahooligans.yahoo.com

This site is graphically kid-friendly! It’s not just a search engine - it’s a web guide that provides activities for kids, as well as kid news and information on a variety of subjects. Although they may get distracted from their web search, students can get proficient on the web as they navigate to watch a preview of a new movie, get their horoscope or play games. Yahooligans has teacher guide to help teach Internet literacy to children as young as Kindergarten.

http://news.google.com

Google News is easy-to-navigate and updates news from 4,500 English-language news sources every 15 minutes. The news stories are completely computer generated and which, according to Google, this process removes any human bias. The features that I find most useful are: 1) the ability to personalize the page to news subjects that I want to read about; and 2) the ability to trace the story history (by sorting by date); and 3) country-specific search (to show a particular perspective).

http://news.altavista.com

Altavista has a simple, user-friendly interface (no photos or graphics). Users have the option to search all topics (or subject specific), all regions (or by region), last 7 days (or date specific). The home page of top stories is organized by subject and you can easily access more. There is also a translation option — but I had trouble figuring out how to use it. Altavista has a history of innovation in the search engine industry and new advances may show up here first.

http://www.webmd.com

My favorite medical search engine and portal, WebMD is patient friendly, but a dangerous site for the hypochondriac (there’s a whole section of diseases and conditions!). Users can search content at once or search within the categories of News, Medical, Reference, Experts and Community. The search results will include a "Did you mean" section designed to help those who have misspelled a word. There’s a ton of information on this site — if you can ignore the advertisements and sponsorships.

http://www.medicinenet.com

This site is packed! The tagline is "We bring doctor’s knowledge to you" — and a network of over 70 doctors does. Users can search news and views through a general search or narrow the search to the fields of Diseases and Conditions, Symptoms and Signs, Procedures and Tests, Medications, and MedTerms Dictionary.

http://www.orbitz.com

Is it as quick as the commercials brag? Hmm. It’s pretty quick. Orbitz’s search engine is award-winning and includes 455 airlines, 12 rental car companies and thousands of hotels. The information is presented in an easy-to-read format and the Matrix display table of fares is really useful as a summary. The site claims a "Lowest Price Guarantee" on hotel rates.

http://www.travelocity.com

Another comprehensive and reputable travel site, Travelocity offers a guarantee that they won’t leave you stranded should you have a problem. The site provides prices, as well as travel ratings and reviews on hotels and packages. The interface is graphically pleasing and easy to navigate. There’s a section on Last Minute Packages - which is very intriguing (these are the kind of deals that are perfect for the Internet surfer!).