Search Engines

Search smarter and not harder. Make an informed choice and find the resources you need quickly and efficiently
How to Choose a Search Engine or Directory
Choose the best search for your information need

DECIDE WHAT YOU NEED	SEARCH ENGINES and GATEWAYS
A few good hits fast	Google -  definitely top of the list
Organizes/categorizes hits	Ask.com Vivisimo Clusty Factbites - cross between a search engine and an encyclopaedia Alta Vista  Answers.com Mooter - an interesting visual approach Quintura - try this one for a different way of categorising hits
Multisearch interfaces	Multi-Search-Engine - Choose 4 from dozens of popular search engines Jux2 - searches Google, MSN and Yahoo Googleguy - results from Google and Yahoo Hotbot - access to Ask, Google and MSN SearchWax
Biographical information	Biographical Dictionary - quick identification of a name Biography.com - database of 20,000 short biographies
Explore and focus a general topic	Yahoo! a 'tree'  structure Google directory
This must be a common search	Ask.com answers common questions asked in plain English and guides your search - formerly AskJeeves!
For the randomly creative!	BananaSlug
Information on countries	CIA World Factbook (country facts) Yahoo (Countries) Netscout WoYaa! for Africa
Australian information	Sensis Information on many ethnic groups Google - select 'Australian sites' Australia's Cultural Network is another very rich site PictureAustralia - a huge and useful database
South Australian information	South Australia Central - many very useful links
Balanced information on hot topics	Social issues (IC Library) Environmental issues (IC Library)
Images and sounds	PictureAustralia HotBot:SuperSearch template has options for media type Ditto.com FindSounds.com Clip Art Searcher
Maps	National Geographic Map Machine - country, physical and political maps, star charts  CIA World Factbook MapQuest interactive service for driving directions Cartography Links.  See also the IC Library Home page - Atlases
Quotations	The Quotations Page QuotelandQuotations Archive Bartlett
Advice and opinions from others	AskA+ authoritative, non-commercial experts, suitable for K-12 Pitsco's Ask an Expert volunteers with varying levels of expertise
A virtual librarian	Ask Us
Scientific information	Search4Science Scirus - these cover all fields of science
Health information	Healia: Health topics search engine
Art and design	ADAM - the Art, design, Architecture and Media Gateway Artcyclopedia
Magazine articles	FindArticles.com MagPortal.com
Current information and the latest news	Yahoo! (Australian) gives you Australian headlines YahooNews updates continuously from newswires and covers hot topics
Multiple search engines	Everyone's favourite is Dogpile
One-stop shops	Search the Internet and Find Websites
I want to be led by the hand	NoodleTools - Smart Tools for Smart Research  Brain Boost
New ones to test!	CompletePlanet Fossick.com - Thumbshots.com -- Ranking 100 Alternative search engines Wikipedia and all its links

 

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©2000 -2007Immanuel College Library Resource Centre
Last revised 21st November  2007
URL for this page is http://intranet.immanuel.sa.edu.au/Library/htm/search.htm

Jenni van Wageningen jvanwageningen@immanuel.sa.edu.au