GENERAL SEARCH Google: This has become the favorite of many in the nation, and one of particular controversy because of the revelation that people who's numbers were listed in phone books could have maps generated due to a google search. In any case, this is an engine that is extremely powerful for general information, images, and even directories (though not as extensive as Yahoo, for this category). Altavista: This is an old favorite, typically pretty extensive, though not as extensive as google for certain categories of information. Image searches are good...I actually like the set-up better than google for this category. It appears, at least to me, to be a neater image set-up.
	DIRECTORIES Yahoo: This is a very familiar directory, particularly for younger web searchers. It contains a number of categories, with a fair number of entries, at least a good number for student searches. But, more important, it contains a listing of other powerful search indexes based on specific categories. Infomine: This is an extremely extensive site that, though intended for collegiate searchers, can also be used by younger viewers (high school level) who are searching for relevant and credible sources of information. A search for the U.S. Patriot Act not only gave me a number of good sources of information, but also the actual act in .pdf format! It, also, allows you to release the robots to extend the search.
	IMAGE SEARCH Google: Once again, google is a powerful search for images and materials. I have used this for at least a year and a half, and have found good images for every subject, even for racist political cartoons from the 19th and 20th centuries! Altavista: This engine provides a number of images for subjects searched. But, once again, I enjoy the format they present them in, ie.--giving you the actual page, rather than a split screen ala google.
	MISCELLANEOUS: Refdesk.com: If you want to find just about anything, from email sites, to dictionary and thesaurus sites, to search engines, to zip codes, to time zones, to news references, to weather resources, to calculators, to headlines, to images from various sources, to maps, to white and yellow pages, to who's alive and who's dead…you get the point.