Wellesley College Library - Searching the Internet

Wellesley College Library

Search the Web

Directories and General Search Engines	Search Tools Comparison Chart
Information from the US Government	Evaluation/Critical Thinking About Information
Metasearch Engines	More Information About Searching

This page contains links to various search tools freely available on the World Wide Web. Since many of these search tools do not screen Web sites for quality (i.e. it could be written by a school-aged child), you must evaluate all the information you find. More information about this is available in the Evaluation/Critical Thinking About Information section of this page.

NOTE: Before searching the WWW, we recommend that you begin your research with one of the high-quality databases to which Wellesley College subscribes. These databases provide access to an enormous amount of scholarly information which cannot be found by any of the search tools on this page. See our e-Resources A-Z and Research Resources: Organized by Subject pages for these databases.

Please read any usage agreement associated with information contained within a database (except those listed on the e-Resources A-Z list) that you may find searching the Internet.

- Indicates site recommended by Wellesley College Library's Research and Instruction Group staff

DIRECTORIES and SEARCH ENGINES - Directories have results clustered by category and can be browsed; Search engines have lists of results.
Tips: Use quotes around phrases / minus sign to exclude a word / (often) to truncate a word* - indicates that sites are selected by people for quality, rather than indexed by machine
	AltaVista	Help with AltaVista
	Argus Clearinghouse	Help with Argus
	Britannica.com	Help with Britannica
	Excite	Help with Excite
	Google	Help with Google
	Google Directory	Help with Google Directory
	HotBot	Help with HotBot
	Infomine	For help, click on Search Tips
	Librarians' Index to the Internet	Help with Index
	Scout Report Archives	Help with Scout Report Archives
	WWW Virtual Libraries Catalog	Category index
	Yahoo!	Help with Yahoo

INFORMATION FROM THE U.S. GOVERNMENT - Search engines that specifically search government Web sites.
	FirstGov	Help with FirstGov
	Google Uncle Sam	Help with Google Uncle Sam

METASEARCH ENGINES - Sites that run your search in several search engines simultaneously.
	ixquick	Help with ixquick
	Metacrawler	Help with Metacrawler
	Query Server	Help with Query Server
	Vivisimo	Help with Vivisimo

Search Tools Comparison Chart - part of the InfoPeople Project

EVALUATION/CRITICAL THINKING ABOUT INFORMATION- Sites with guidelines for evaluating information on Web pages
	The ICYouSee Guide to Critical Thinking About What You See on the Web (Ithaca College Library)
	Evaluating Web Resources (Wolfgram Memorial Library, Widener University)
	Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources (UCLA College Library)
	Tips for Evaluating a World Wide Web Search (University of Florida)
	Evaluating Information (Purdue University Libraries) - includes information about evaluating books, periodical articles, and Web sites

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT INTERNET SEARCHING - Reviews, lists of search engines, searching tips, and more.
	Search Engine Watch by Danny Sullivan
	Search Engine Showdown by Greg Notess
	ResearchBuzz by Tara Calishain

e-Resources A-Z
Subject Pages: Browse by Subject

Site map | Privacy information | Send us your comments

Return to top

Leslie Lapham
Wellesley College Library
Date created: September, 1998
Last modified: February 27, 2003
Expires: September 1, 2003