Internet Search Engines — Specialized Search Engines — Evaluating Web Sites — Recommended Web Sites by Subject
INTERNET SEARCH TOOLS
When searching the internet, most search engines have a proprietary algorithm for ranking results. To get the most specific results, we recommend the following:
- Put phrases in quotation marks.
- Eliminate extraneous words like how, why, the, etc.
- Search on several specific keywords.
- Many search engines also have an advanced search feature.
INTERNET SEARCH ENGINES |
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| A very large and popular search engine that allows you to search the web, groups, images, directories and news. For the majority of searches, the best place to start. Partial Boolean. | |
Yahoo! |
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| The oldest of all the engines and directories. So why use it? Consider Yahoo anytime you want a human-reviewed web site. | |
Bing |
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| Microsoft’s search engine. Provides good, relevant results. Like Google, you can also search images, videos, maps, and news. Click on the More button for more options. | |
Ask.com |
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| “As the only Q&A service combining the power of search with the insight of a live user community, Ask.com’s innovative technology scours the web to find answers where they exist online, then turns to a qualified Ask.com user when they don’t.” (About Ask.com) The “Others are Asking” feature can help refine your search. | |
SPECIALIZED SEARCH ENGINES |
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Google Scholar |
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| Google Scholar searches scholarly sites and includes books, articles, theses, and court cases. If searching from on-campus, a link is provided to NMHU Journal Finder, enabling patrons to check for full-text seamlessly. | |
Science.govScience.gov searches over 55 databases and over 2100 selected websites from 13 federal agencies. |
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EVALUATING WEB SITES
| Evaluating the validity of information obtained from a web site, newspaper article, book and everything else in between is one of the most difficult tasks to perform. You need to ask yourself a variety of questions for which you often have no answers. Don’t despair. There are number of very good Internet resources that will help you look for the crucial elements to evaluate a site; and, don’t forget the Library, and the Writing Lab here on campus where you can talk to some real people. | |
Internet Resources for Evaluating Web Sites |
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| The Teaching Library, University of California, Berkeley | |
| The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: or, Why It’s a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources, New Mexico State University | |
RECOMMENDED WEB SITES BY SUBJECT
| These are web sites selected by our librarians. |
| Websites by Subject: Complete List of sites by subject |
| Business Web Sites |
| Education Web Sites |
| Social Work Web Sites |
| Reference Web Sites |
| Government Web Sites |