Search Engines: Recommended Sources for Finding Information

MAJOR SEARCH ENGINES

Competition is fierce among the major search engines. No one search engine indexes the entire World Wide Web. No two search engines retrieve identical results. For important comprehensive searches, it is essential to access more than one of these navigational tools.

QUICK JUMP: Alta Vista | Excite! | HotBot InfoSeek | Lycos, Inc. |Northern Light | WebCrawler

• Alta Vista (http://www.altavista.digital.com/ ): A prominent leader in this race to index the Web. Large, fast, good search features. A favorite of many--and deservedly so. Advanced search feature: Advanced Search
• Excite! (http://www.excite.com/ ): A medium-sized database that provides concept searching along with keyword capability. For similar or related sources, choose the "more like this" feature. Sort by relevance or by site. Advanced search feature: Power Search
• Google!
• HotBot (http://www.hotbot.com/): Can search by by page title, person, and media type as well as limit by date. Advanced search feature: SuperSearch
• InfoSeek (http://www.infoseek.com/): A popular portal. In addition to the WWW, InfoSeek can also search Companies, News, Usenet, Maps.
• Lycos, Inc. (http://lycos.cs.cmu.edu/): One of the oldest search engines still in the hunt. Has specialized information and finding tools, e.g., Companies On-line, Pictures and Sounds, City Guides, Road Maps. Advanced search feature: Lycos Pro with Power Panel.
• Northern Light (http://www.northernlight.com/) The newest major search engine with an added difference. Searches not only WWW but also a special collection of approximately 5,400 publications, including some scholarly journals. To view full-text articles from special collection, one must pay $1-$4 per article; many seem to be $1. Results of searches are categorized in custom search folders.
• WebCrawler (http://webcrawler.com/ ): Formerly America Online's search engine, this smaller database remains a popular choice.

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SUBJECT DIRECTORIES: GENERAL

Browse by subject or search by keyword in these smaller databases, which are selected and organized by persons instead of by spiders and crawlers. Also referred to as subject trees, i.e., hierarchical arrangement with main categories and sub-categories, these directories are not intended for extensive or comprehensive searches but are excellent starting points and frequently lead to good sites. Yahoo is the largest and declared leader.

• Channels (Excite!): http://www.excite.com/Reviews/
• Channels (InfoSeek): http://www.infoseek.com/
• Galaxy (TradeWave): http://www.einet.net/
• LookSmart (http://www.looksmart.com/): Easy-to-use arrangement with brief reviews. Good topic and subtopic break-down. Categories: 12 major divisions.
• Mining Company: http://home.miningco.com/mbody.htm
• Top 5% Sites (Lycos) (http://point.lycos.com/ ): Formerly known as Point, Lycos' reviewing service allows browsing by subject or searching by keyword. Sort by date reviewed (although the date is never displayed), content, presentation, experience. Categories: 18 classified subjects. Ratings: 0-50 points.
• Web Guides (Lycos): http://www.lycos.com/
• Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com/): The most popular subject directory on the Web. Also functions as the primary search engine for many. Just remember Yahoo is selective, but not complete. Browsing or keyword searching available. Can also do customized searches; click on "Options." Yahoo is indeed a pioneer, and its hierarchical arrangement has been copied by many. Categories: 14 major headings.

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SUBJECT DIRECTORIES: ACADEMIC

• Argus Clearinghouse for Subject-Oriented Internet Resources (http://www.clearinghouse.net/): Bibliographies of Internet sources arranged by broad subject. Search by key word. Each guide evaluated as one entity. Categories: 12 topical divisions. Ratings: 1-4 checks.
• eBLAST (http://www.ebig.com/)
• NetFirst (OCLC): (http://www.library.csustan.edu/restricted/fs_go.htm) For the use of CSUS faculty, students, and staff only. OCLC FirstSearch database of Internet resources.
• Yahoo Internet Life Reviews: http://www.zdnet.com/yil/

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META-SEARCH ENGINES

If you want to search more than one search engine at the same time, this category is for you. One request is simultaneously conducted in several search engines. Beware, though, of limitations. The search may be slower, and the search cannot be customized to a specific search engine. For "quick" results, this can be helpful. Also good for distinctive words or phrases.

Would you like to have forms for some or all of your favorite search engines on one Web page, with the capability to search each separately? Then here are some definitely worth exploring. Remember, though, drawbacks may exist. The full search strategies are not always available, and you may end up going to the original site for more precise results. This category really has more value for its grouping of specialized search engines than the general Web tools.

• Cyber 411 http://www.cyber411.com/
  
  

• Debriefing http://www.debriefing.com/
  
  
• goHip! http://www.gohip.com/
  
  
• HuskySearch http://huskysearch.cs.washington.edu/
  
  
• InferenceFind http://www.infind.com/
  
  
• Mamma
  
  

• MetaBug http://www.metabug.com/
  
  
• MetaFind http://www.metafind.com/
  
  
• ProFusion
  
  
• SavvySearch http://www.savvysearch.com/
  
  
• Search Spaniel http://www.searchspaniel.com/

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PEOPLE

People finders represent a popular segment on the WWW, especially among commercial organizations. Access e-mail addresses as well as telephone directory information (white and yellow pages). Some of the phone directories are domestic only; others are international in scope.

E-MAIL ADDRESSES

• Bigfoot http://bigfoot.com/
  
  
• InfoSpace: Email Search http://in-110.infospace.com/info/email1.htm
  
  
• Internet Address Finder - Email Directory http://www.aif.net/
  
  
• Switchboard.Find an Email Address
  http://www.switchboard.com/bin/cgiemail.dll?MEM=1
  
  
• WhoWhere: E-mail Addresses (Lycos) http://www.whowhere.lycos.com/Email
  
  
• WorldPages Email Find http://www.worldpages.com/email/
  
  
• World Email Directory (WED) http://worldemail.com/
  
  
• Yahoo! People Search:Email http://people.yahoo.com/

TELEPHONE NUMBERS: INTERNATIONAL PAGES

• BigYellow: Global Directories http://s15.bigyellow.com/g_home.html
  
  
• Telephone Directories on the Web http://www.teldir.com/
  
  
• WhoWhere? International Directory Links (Lycos) http://www.whowhere.lycos.com/wwphone/world.html
  
  
• WorldPages:Global Find http://www.worldpages.com/global/wpglobal.whtml

TELEPHONE NUMBERS: WHITE PAGES

• AnyWho http://www.anywho.com/ (Can do reverse lookup)
  
  
• InfoSpace.com: White Pages http://in-100.infospace.com/info/index_ppl.htm (Reverse look-up available)
• People Finder (Excite) http://www.excite.com/reference/people_finder/
  
  
• PeopleSearch (W3Com) http://www.w3com.com/psearch/
  
  
• Switchboard:Find a Person http://www.switchboard.com/bin/cgiqa.dll?MEM=1
  
  
• Telephone Directories on the Web http://www.teldir.com/
  
  
• US West Dex: Business White Pages http://yp.uswest.com/cgi/search.fcg?form=BusSearch&from=
  
  
• US West Dex: Residential White Pages http://wp.uswestdex.com/?from=
  
  
• WhoWhere: People Finder (Lycos) http://www.whowhere.lycos.com/ (Reverse capability present)
  
  
• WorldPages: People Find http://www.worldpages.com/whitepages/
  
  
• Yahoo! People Search http://people.yahoo.com/

TELEPHONE NUMBERS: YELLOW PAGES

• AnyWho: Business Search :Yellow Pages http://www.anywho.com/bgq.html
  
  
• At Hand Network Yellow Pages http://www.athand.com/
  
  
• BigYellow: Your Yellow Pages on the Web http://s15.bigyellow.com/
  
  
• GTE SuperPagesÆ: Yellow Pages http://yp.gte.net/
  
  
• InfoSpace.com: Yellow Pages http://in-115.infospace.com/info/index_ylw.htm
  
  
• Switchboard:Find a Business http://www.switchboard.com/bin/cgidir.dll?MEM=1
  
  
• US West Dex: Yellow Pages http://yp.uswest.com/cgi/search.fcg?form=AdvSearch&from=
  
  
• WhoWhere: Yellow Pages (Lycos) http://www.whowhere.lycos.com/YellowPages/yp.html
  
  
• WorldPages:Business http://www.worldpages.com/
  
  
• Yahoo! Yellow Pages http://yp.yahoo.com/

TELEPHONE NUMBERS: TOLL FREE

• Internet 800 Directory http://www.inter800.com/

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DISCUSSION GROUPS, NEWSGROUPS, AND MAILING LISTS

The exchange of information among those with common interests is the focus of this category. If you want to locate a mailing list on a given subject, consult directories. If you want to read the full text of what others are saying, consult Usenet and Web forum search engines.

Directories

• Directory of Scholarly an Professional E-Conferences: http://n2h2.com/
• Liszt (http://www.liszt.com/): Most popular directory of e-mail discussion groups. Over 66,000 listserv, listproc, majordomo, and independent mailing lists. Has search capabilities with good description of each group.
• Tile.net/News (http://www.tile.net/tile/news/index.html): Search by word or browse alphabetically by descriptor, by name, by subject (36 categories), by host country, by sponsoring organization. A popular directory.

Usenet and Web Forums

• Deja News (http://www.dejanews.com/): Powerful navigator designed specifically to retrieve full-text Usenet News. Excellent advanced search options available. Good response time. Comprehensive, specialized site.
• Forum One: http://www.forumone.com/
• Reference.com (http://www.reference.com/): Both a directory and a repository. Search directory for newsgroups, mailing lists, or Web forums. Search repository for full text of Usenet and mailing list messages. Over 150,000 groups listed. Plan to add full-text archives to electronic forums at a future date.

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Compiled 1/31/97 (Updated 4/29/99) by Laura Boyer (CSU Stanislaus, Reference Coordinator) technical assistance by Rick Dietz and Loretta Blakeley.