Jacquelyn C. Olson

SLM 521 – Search Engines

Best of Search Engines

General Search Engines:

1) Google – http://www.google.com

Google is my favorite general search engine. It is an immense, easy to navigate, search engine with clear features that enable the user to search for virtually any category of information. Separate hyperlinks allow the user to only search for images, maps, news, shopping and use Gmail. Google ranks its pages based upon popularity and the number of links to it from other pages. I highly recommend this source.

2) Yahoo – http://www.searchyahoo.com

Yahoo is a huge search engine that produces quick results ranked automatically Fuzzy AND. Users can search by keyword or phrase, and by selecting links to categories such as images, shopping, news, video, Answers, directory and jobs. Suggestions for additional ways to search subject appear above results. Easy to use and well organized.

Directory Search Engines:

1) Google Directory – http://directory.google.com

Google Directory is a huge directory. I find that it is a good place to start a search. Google Directory leads the user to other search engines containing the topic. Since it is a part of Google.com, it shares many of the useful features of its parent website, including its system of ranking which sorts the results by popularity and number of links to it from other pages. I often achieve more on-point results using this source than others.

2) Yahoo Directory – http://dir.yahoo.com

Although not as large as Google Directory, I find this site just as easy to navigate and obtain satisfactory results. Yahoo Directory’s main page is organized and visually appealing with a variety of everyday topics to choose from. The user can select a subject and the result will include categories relating to the topic to choose from. Once a category is chosen, site listings and their descriptions will appear. The pages in this directory are very clear, and uncluttered. Good source of information.

3) About.com – http://www.about.com

Large search engine organized by Channels (general topics), Topics (narrower keywords or phrases) and What’s Hot (in the news, current areas of interest). Users can search the sight additionally by entering a keyword or phrase. The site lists additional sources for related topics and the user can access them through hyperlinks within the text of each document. About.com can be used by children under the age of 13, but parental supervision is strongly recommended. Although filters are in place to illuminate offensive, inappropriate material, parents should monitor their child’s site usage. About.com is attractively arranged, easy to use and read. Many of the pages have colorful images or graphics. Good search engine for everyday interests.

4) Snopes.com – http://www.snopes.com

Google Directory led me to this site. I recommend this site because of its unique method of result delivery and abundance of information. The variety of information on myths and legends is amazing. A search can be entered by Boolean phrase or chosen from the category list on the Home page. Once results of the original search are complete, new choices appear along with a key that is used to visually confirm whether the legend is true or false. Selecting the legend will bring additional sources of information on the topic. For example, if you would like to know whether it is harmful for dogs to consume grapes, you could select ‘Pet Health’ from the list of choices, and then search for the legend. You would find that the legend is true, and by clicking on the links within the legend you would be taken to an article on this topic. Easy to use, and informative, this engine provides the user with a large quantity of resources to access.

Academic Subject Directories:

1) Librarians’ Internet Index – http://lii.org

Compiled by librarians, Librarians’ Internet Index is a large, manageable database providing highly reputable resources. This is a good site to search for legal and government issues. General topics lead to specific subjects, and are based upon the user’s initial selections. Results are listed by subject and include the number of additional resources available. Each topic also suggests a list of additional subjects to investigate. This site is very organized and easy to navigate.

2) Infomine – http://infomine.ucr.edu

Infomine provides scholarly internet resource collections relevant to faculty, students and research staff at the university level. Collections include: databases, electronic journals, electronic books, bulletin boards, mailing lists and online library card catalogues, articles, directories of researchers, and more. On the Abut Infomine page, you can see what sources they use to collect their information, and learn what internet search engines and finding tools they recommend. For example, by choosing the metasearch engine button, the user can look at what metasearch engines were used and are recommended. Subject indexes, general search engines, mailing lists and newsgroups are also listed. This directory is excellent source for academic research.

Meta Search Engines:

1) Metacrawler – http://www.metacrawler.com

Metacrawler’s logo is ‘Search the Search Engines.’ Metacrawler utilizes Google, Yahoo, MSN Search and Ask to produce results. Search by selecting which search engines to include, or by allowing Metacrawler to use all its search engines. Search areas include: video, images, news media, yellow pages and white pages. By selecting yellow pages, searches for maps and directions can be completed. By selecting Preferences, the search filter can be adjusted to heavy to block out as much explicit content as possible. This filter will also apply to web and media search results. In addition, preferences can be set to track recent searches, and select how results are displayed. Preferences can be set to show results by either relevance to subject or by source, and by how many per page will be displayed.

2) Clusty – http://www.clusty.com

Clusty utilizes Google, Yahoo, Amazon, Answers, CreativeCommons, eBay and Wikipedia to obtain results. To reduce explicit results, the adult filter can be turned on. However, the site states that choosing this option may not completely eliminate explicit material. In addition to turning the filter on, the user must also select all the tabs (such as web, news, and images) to which the filter will apply. Custom tab preferences can be set to apply to only to certain search engines. Clusty delivers search results in an ordered list based on ranking and groups results into clusters by topic. The user chooses the content they are looking for and can see relationships between topics. Search categories include: news, images, Wikipedia, blogs, jobs, shopping, government and labs.

Kid Safe Search Engines:

1) Ask Jeeves for Kids – http://www.ajkids.com

If you ask Jeeves a question, he will try to point you in the right direction for an answer. His result will be a web page supplying the answer. If he cannot answer the question, he will look beyond his own search engine to find one. All the sites within this engine have been hand-picked, and further filtered to eliminate adult content. Fun and easy to navigate, children can browse topics or enter their own search to obtain results.

2) KidsClick – http://www.kidsclick.org

KidsClick is maintained by the School of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University with funding from the Juniper Networks foundation. KidsClick was created by librarians whose goal is to provide a safe search engine for young people. Categories and subcategories are listed by link with accompanying icons. Subjects can also be searched alphabetically using the bar at the top of the search page. The child can limit his/her results to web addresses only. Results include a handy key below the response which includes three things: (1) number of illustrations if there are any, (2) the child’s reading level suggested for the site, and (3) confirmation of the subject searched. KidsClick is extremely user friendly and visually appealing.

3) Yahooligans – http://www.yahooligans.com

Yahooligans is colorful, busy, animated, fun to play on and search. Designed for kids 7-12 years old, the search engine’s sites have been hand-picked and are appropriate for their minor audience. Should a search performed by Yahooligans not produce results from its sites, Yahooligans will not extend its search to other areas of the web and bring back results. By doing this, Yahooligans eliminates the possibility of showing inappropriate material. Banner advertising is not permitted on this site. Filter control options are available for parents to set.

Children can play games, watch video clips and listen to music. One unique feature on this site is Ask Earl. Children ask Earl a question, or they can select a question from a list of pre-existing ones. There are six subjects of questions to choose from. For example, they may want to know what plagiarism is. They would select the question, and the answer will pop up in a dialogue box. The language is age-appropriate for 7-12 year olds, and an example of the term is provided. A box on the page exists to select one of the terms listed to view its meaning. More subjects are available by selecting the Study Zone option. The amount of information and activities seem endless. Yahooligans is an excellent search engine for kids.

News Search Engines:

1) Google News – http://www.news.google.com

Google News provides keyword searches for a seemingly endless ocean of news items and locates its information by crawling the web. Users can view news categories to select an article or search by subject. Each article gives and elapsed time of when the news item was posted, and offers links to other news media on the subject.

2) Yahoo News – http://www.news.yahoo.com

Users choose their subject from the information bar at the top of the page or can search by keyword. The most recent article is displayed first with additional article selections listed below it. Yahoo News is easy to view and navigate. The pages on this site are uncluttered and nicely organized offering a large amount of subjects to search within. Utilizing, Moreover, Yahoo’s news crawler and wire services, Yahoo News is able to bring the most current up-to-date news to its viewers.

Legal Search Engines:

1) Lawcrawler – http://lawcrawler.findlaw.com

Lawcrawler is a Google powered search engine. Search by keyword or choose a selection from categories listed. Questions regarding the specific laws within states can be researched. Users can access legal precedent and statutory laws with this search engine. Two categories, Professional Searches and Search for Lawyers, make this engine quite powerful in the professional legal community. Lawcrawler also provides legal information for consumers, and boasts the largest legal directory available. Features include: The Law Guide which contains more than 50,000 human-edited site listings with descriptions, The LawCrawler search engine for legal research, and Findlaw Cases and Codes which are updated continuously and free. Lastly, Findlaw Newsletters and Opinion Summaries can be searched.

2) Law.com – http://www.law.com

Law.com provides current headline legal news. Browse through National and Regional news. Search by selecting one of the news categories such as Legal Technology, International News, Small and Large Law Firms, or search by entering a keyword. Consumers can also check the news wire or search for jobs. Law.com features an online store to purchase professional legal products and business information. Law.com differs from LawCrawler in that its primary focus is to provide current legal news. LawCrawler focuses on providing legal precedent and codes.