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Internet Subject Directories
What is a Subject Directory?
Subject directories are searchable indexes organized by subject, and are usually maintained by humans instead of software. Sites are typically organized in a series of categories and menus. In a directory, you search the broader concept, or what your topic/research question is "about." **
When should I use a Subject Directory?
- When you have a broad idea or topic to research.
- When you want to see a list of sites on your topic that are recommended and annotated by experts.
- When you want to retrieve a list of sites relevant to your topic, rather than numerous individual pages contained within these sites.
- When you want to search for a site by title, annotation, and (if available) assigned keywords (subjects) to retrieve relevant material.
- When you want to avoid viewing low-content (or irrelevant) documents that often turn up on search engines.*
ipl2: Information you can trust
"In January 2010, the website "ipl2: information you can trust" was launched, merging the collections of resources from the Internet Public Library (IPL) and the Librarians' Internet Index (LII) websites. The site is hosted by Drexel University's College of Information Science & Technology, and a consortium of colleges and universities with programs in information science are involved in developing and maintaining the ipl2."
BUBL LINK
BUBL (BUlletin Board for Libraries) is an Internet-based information service for the United Kingdom higher education community, and is based in the Centre for Digital Library Research, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland. BUBL LINK provides links to authoritative sites, and provides numerous ways to access the directory, depending on user needs and search strategy.
INFOMINE
"INFOMINE is a virtual library of Internet resources relevant to faculty, students, and research staff at the university level. It contains useful Internet resources such as databases, electronic journals, electronic books, bulletin boards, mailing lists, online library card catalogs, articles, directories of researchers, and many other types of information."
FirstGov
FirstGov is the United States Government's official search site. The U.S. government is the biggest publisher in the world, covering topics like art, medicine, astronomy, business, geography, weather, law, travel, census data, and tax information. There are four main gateways for frequent visitors: Citizens, Businesses & Nonprofits, Federal Employees, and Goverment-to-Government. There are alternative directories for Federal, State, Local, and Tribal Agencies, or a Topical Directory. Or, you may choose to use the FirstGov search engine.
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Internet Search Engines
What is a Search Engine?
Search engines collect information using computer programs. These programs collect web information such as text and titles of pages. This information is then pulled into a search engine database. When you search the web using a search engine, your keywords are matched against that database, enabling fast results.*
When should I use a Search Engine?
- When you have a narrow or obscure topic or idea to research.
- When you are looking for a specific site.
- When you want to search the full text of millions of Web pages.
- When you want to retrieve a large number of documents on your topic.
- When you want to search for particular types of documents, file types, source locations, languages, dates last modified, etc.
- When you want to take advantage of newer retrieval technologies such as concept clustering, ranking by popularity, link ranking, etc. *
Google
Google ranks pages based on how many of their top rated sites link to that page, providing somewhat of a "peer-review." Google has a number of special searches and features available including an Image search, a Video search, a Phonebook, and more.
Use the Advanced Search for a more focused search experience, and for help weeding out more irrelevant sites.
See the Google Help: Cheat Sheet for more tricks and tools.
Ask.com
Ask.com uses major search technology based upon the clustering concept of subject-specific popularity: ExpertRank. Using this subject specific ranking technology, Ask.com can "cluster" results into topic areas. Like Google, Ask.com provides many specialized searches: Image, Local, Maps & Directions, News, Stocks, Movies, Weather, Encyclopedia, etc.
Boolean: assumes AND (use plus [+] to absolutely require), use minus (-) for NOT. OR must be capitalized. The advanced search uses the filters, "Must have", "Must Not Have", and "Should Have".
Phrase: double quotes ("rules of the game")
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