Step Four: Find Internet Resources
Use a variety of search engines (e.g., Google, Yahoo! Search, and Ask.com) to locate information on your topic. Learn to refine your Google search and yield better results; read the Google Search Strategies guide and experiment with your key words. You can also use metasearch engines that allow you to simultaneously search many online engines (e.g., Dogpile, Mamma, and Surf Wax).
Search Engines
All search engines are not created equal and will not yield the same results! It is important to use different search engines (e.g., Google, Yahoo! Search, and Ask.com) to locate resources. Interested in learning more about the differences between Google, Yahoo! Search, and Exalead? Check out the University of California Berkeley's
Recommended Search Engines & Comparison Table.
Google | Yahoo! Search | Ask.com | Altavista
Metasearch Engines
What is a metasearch engine?
"In a meta-search engine, you submit keywords in its search box, and it transmits your search simultaneously to several individual search engines and their databases of web pages. Within a few seconds, you get back results from all the search engines queried. Meta-search engines do not own a database of Web pages; they send your search terms to the databases maintained by search engine companies" (University of California Berkeley, 2008).
Web Guides
INFOMINE
Librarian built, INFOMINE is a virtual library of Internet resources. These resources are selected for their relevance to faculty, students, and research staff at a university level.
ipl2: Information You can Trust
This site combines the power of two highly respected resources -- Internet Public Library and the Librarians' Internet Index; it is currently hosted by iSchool at Drexel University. Internet Public Library is a collection of over 40,000 Internet resources, hand picked, organized and described by librarians and library students. Librarians' Index to the Internet is a directory of Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries.
Scout Report Archives
"Scout Report Archives is from the editors of the Scout Report at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Librarians and educators have selected more than 10,000 Web sites for their value to the education community."