Ashley’s Favorite
Search Engines
Note to the user/reader: a significant degree of pre-screening went into my
selections of possible favorite
search engines. By this I mean that I carefully combed through UC
Berkeley’s Teaching Library Internet Workshops information as
well as information on all types of search engines, both major and specialized,
contained in SearchEngineWatch prior to testing out a number of search
engines myself. Based on the advice of those both more highly informed and
technologically savvy than myself, I excluded meta-search engines altogether as
a category for “favorites,” as well as limiting my explorations to
search engines that are recommended as distinguished or excellent by the
sources mentioned above. That said,
and after much searching on my own, here are my favorites in the following five
categories: major, shopping, kid-friendly, medical and legal.
Major Search Engines:
http://www.google.com
This search engine provides
extensive coverage of the worldwide web and is extremely fast and relevant in
its delivery of search results. The search feature I value most as an educator
is that of “Scholar” under the link “More…” on
Google’s homepage. The “Scholar” designation or search tool
allows the searcher to limit his or her inquiry to scholarly articles and books
on a wide variety of academic subjects. When seeking reliable, authoritative
opinions on academic topics, this is a great tool to filter out the frivolous,
the unreliable, the commercial, and other
wastes-of-time.
http://www.yahoo.com
This search engine also
provides excellent coverage of the worldwide web along with speed and relevance
in its delivery of search results. While it lacks the “Scholar”
feature of Google, it does have a menu of search tools under the link Advanced
Web Search that enables the searcher to tailor his or her search
precisely. For instance, the
searcher can specify exclusions; recentness of results; file format;
site/domains, and many other requirements.
While ultimately not as powerful a search engine as Google, Yahoo rates
very high in terms of its ease of use for the novice surfer.
Shopping Search Engines:
http://www.froogle.com
This search engine allows
the searcher to lay out detailed specifications for products under the Advanced
Search option. For instance, the searcher can specify price, product and/or
model name, and location. One can also specify viewing preferences such as view
by grid or list, and Froogle allows one to sort
results by price, product rating, or relevance. For these reasons, Froogle is a very convenient and user-friendly search
engine for the consumer interested in comparing products in a variety of
categories before spending his or her hard-earned cash.
http://www.dealtime.com
This search engine allows
the consumer to obtain quotes on products from several competing dealers, and has
the added advantage of including extensive customer reviews and ratings of
listed products. Like Froogle, DealTime
also allows the searcher to specify price range and other factors, but its
format is not as straightforward or user-friendly as Froogle’s.
*These two search engines
would best be used in conjunction with one another for consumers looking for
the best products at the best prices.
They are both vastly superior to the other shopping search engines I tried,
including the popular Yahoo Shopping search engine.
Kid-Friendly (and Kid-Safe!) Search Engines:
http://www.kidsclick.org/
In terms of both
organization and content, KidsClick is the clear winner
in the category of good search engines for kids. As might be expected since it
was founded and is still organized by librarians, KidsClick
is very logically organized into easy-to-understand categories and
subcategories of mostly academic information. It has the added benefit of
identifying the intended reading levels of most of the information it
catalogues and/or recommends. The only criticism of KidsClick
that I have is its boring, monochromatic layout. Much could and should be done
to improve this search engine’s visual appeal, especially considering the
ages and generation of its intended audience/users.
http://www.yahooligans.com/
While not as logically
organized, extensive, or intellectually highbrow as KidsClick,
Yahooligans has it all over KidsClick in terms of its
great layout and user-friendly features. This search engine is colorful, fun,
and inviting as any search engine for kids should be. Including features like “Joke of
the Day,” and “Ask Earl,” Yahooligans is designed to attract
and retain kids’ attention. It also includes excellent parental resources
on keeping internet use safe for kids, computer ethics, and other important
information for parents in an increasingly technological age.
Medical Search Engines:
http://www.medlineplus.gov
For authoritative, reliable
medical information, Medline Plus is the mother of all medical search engines.
Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. National Library of
Medicine, this search engine is not unduly influenced by the commercial aspects
or interests of the
http://medicinenet.com/script/main/hp.asp
Written by a network of 50+
U.S. Board Certified Physicians and Allied Health Professionals, MedicineNet is a user-friendly search engine with lots of
links to advice and good articles on medical topics of interest. MedlinePlus (described above) uses many articles written by
the same physicians who contribute to MedicineNet.
This search engine has been rated excellent by Consumer Reports Webwatch for topical, easy-to-read, reliable health
information and is the second stop I would recommend in any search for medical
information.
Legal Search Engines:
http://www.lawcrawler.findlaw.com/
A kind of legal meta-search
engine, LawCrawler offers links not only to
individual attorneys, law firms and their websites, but also to many other
law-related websites and law databases (e.g., U.S. Federal Case Law, U.S. State
Case Law,
http://www.findlaw.com
This very user-friendly
search engine has links from its homepage to directories for attorneys and
firms who specialize in areas from Accidents & Injuries to Traffic
Violations. A subdirectory found under a link called More… gives more
detailed breakdowns of each major category. A link called Tips & Tools
guides the searcher in hiring a lawyer and provides forms and sample contracts
for one’s perusal. Finally, a search tool on the homepage allows us to
search for attorneys locally and provides detailed information on their
educational backgrounds, as well as providing links to their websites.