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Need additional search ideas? Try
NoodleQuest
(interactive version)
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I need help to define my topic...
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I need a topic |
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| I need to understand the scope of my topic | | Intute |
Investigate annotated academic sites | |
INFOMINE |
Browse
annotated research and educational sites enhanced by second-tier
"robot-selected" results |
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| I need to investigate alternative or related topics | | Clusty |
Uncover buried sites by choosing a
related cluster | |
Ask.com |
See
"Related Searches" |
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| I need to refine and narrow my topic | | Clusty |
Drill down into a cluster of results | |
SurfWax |
Click
"Focus" to identify similar, broader, and narrower topics | |
Wikipedia |
Drill
down to subtopics using links in the "Introduction" and "Outline"
sections at the top of many articles |
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I
need to find quality results...
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| authoritative and scholarly sites chosen
by a subject expert | |
ipl2 |
Search the
selective database or drill down into the well-organized subject tree | |
Virtual LRC |
Select
a subject category, then search on term(s) or a phrase | |
Google Scholar |
Find
scholarly, peer-reviewed subject-specific results with advanced search |
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| personal help from experts |
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| sites ranked or tagged as valuable or relevant | | Google |
High PageRank means popular, relevant
sites link to the page | |
Technorati |
Browse or
search user-identified subjects ("tags") for blog advice or opinions | |
Ask.com |
High
ExpertRank indicates subject-specific popularity |
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| primary sources |
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I
need to do research in a specific discipline...
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government |
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| science, engineering and technology |
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| health and life sciences |
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| law |
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| arts and humanities |
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The
timeliness of information that I need is...
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today | | Google News |
Top news stories auto-generated
every 15 minutes | |
NewsNow |
Worldwide
news auto-generated every 5 minutes | |
10x10 |
Explore
machine-compiled single image composed hourly of 100 words and pictures
that "matter most" on a global scale |
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| recent | |
Yahoo News |
One
month archive with editor-created "roundups" in
Full Coverage | | World News Network |
Click
a category (below news item) to gather related news or images, select
Mon-Sun to track story's development | |
Google
News | Click on "related" (below news item) to see story's
development |
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| historical | |
American
Memory | Search America's primary source documents and images,
browse by topic, time period, medium or place | | ipl2 |
Drill down into the
history section or search fewer, broader terms
(e.g., "terrorists" not "Righteous Path") | |
Digital
History | High-quality historical resources, primary sources,
multimedia, subject guides |
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| ancient | | Ancient History Sourcebook |
Search online
ancient-history texts, images, audio, or browse by region, period (e.g.,
Persia, Late Antiquity) | |
ipl2 |
Drill
down into ancient history section or search fewer, broader
terms (e.g., "Greece" not "Spartan women") |
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I
need facts...
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| a person |
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| a place | | CIA World Factbook |
Select country for basic
profile and transnational issues | |
Country
Studies | Cross-search or view a country (last update 1998) -
historical, social, economic, political and national security data | |
Stately
Knowledge | Basic U.S. state facts, links to state government
site and encyclopedia (IPL KidSpace) |
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| a company |
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| general reference answers |
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| news background (facts, people, and documents) |
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I
need opinions and perspectives...
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| I want opinions on current issues |
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| I need news from other countries' perspectives |
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| I want multiple perspectives on hot social and political
topics |
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| I want to compare news treatment | |
Newseum |
Compare
news reporting on U.S. front pages | | PressDisplay |
Compare news reporting from 55
countries |
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I
need a specific type of media...
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| maps | |
Google
Maps | Search and view satellite and street-level maps (repeat
in
Yahoo Maps) | |
MapMachine |
Search,
browse and print country, physical and political maps | | American FactFinder Maps |
See
trends/patterns when you superimpose chosen geographical features and
census data on U.S. maps |
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| photographs and visual images |
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| fine art |
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| videos | |
Yahoo Video Search |
Search
by keyword or phrase, use
advanced
search to limit by file format, size, duration and domain | |
Truveo |
Video-only
search engine, advanced search limits by title, description, actor,
director, genre, duration, quality | |
Internet
Archive: Moving Image Archive | Search public domain films,
newsreels, ads, documentaries, television series and other “cultural
artifacts” |
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| radio |
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| music | |
Google |
To find
song lyrics, search (in quotes) title or performer (plus) "song
lyrics," to find information about the song's history search title (in
quotes) and "origin" |
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| sounds | |
FindSounds |
Get
sound effects and music samples: select a keyword or search a term
limited by file format, quality and size | | Soundsnap |
Free, user-contributed sounds can
be browsed or searched by category, keyword or tag |
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| speeches |
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| quotations |
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| statistical data |
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| dictionary or thesaurus (for definitions, etymology,
pronunciation, synonyms) |
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| encyclopedia | | Columbia Encyclopedia |
Factual information
(updated 6/05) | |
Wikipedia |
Volunteer-created
and collaboratively edited: valuable for current topics (e.g., people
in the news), technology (e.g., podcasting) -- information quality
uneven |
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| almanac data |
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| books and other printed works | |
WorldCat |
Search
for books and reviews, options to refine results, check your local
library's holdings | |
Google Scholar |
Search
(free and fee) scholarly works, locate related information using "cited
by" links, use
advanced
search to limit (author, date, phrase, in title, subject area) | |
A9 OpenSearch |
Search
for books by keyword, then "Search Inside!" to see keyword-in-context |
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I
have special search requirements...
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| run my search periodically and be
notified of new results | |
Giga Alert |
Run
Google search of 3 interests and get e-mail or RSS notification of new
results | |
Google Alerts |
Run
periodic Google searches and get e-mail (no RSS) notification of new
results |
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| specify a country where my search results are located |
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| use a search engine outside the U.S. |
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| find sites organized by the Dewey Decimal System or Library
of Congress Classification |
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| locate resources by file type | | Google |
Limit
search by file type (.pdf, .ps, .doc, .xls, .ppt, .rtf) | | Yahoo |
Limit search
by file type (.html, .pdf, .doc, .xls, .ppt, .xml, .txt) |
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I
am...
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| a kid | |
KidsClick! |
Find
kid-friendly sites with educational content (grades K-7) selected by
librarians | |
Ask Kids |
Search
by keyword, then select the best-match question for answers and links | |
Yahoo Kids |
Select
from kid-safe sites (grades 2- 7) organized by topic |
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| pretty new to the Internet | |
Google |
Largest
general purpose search engine | |
Yahoo |
Large,
general purpose search engine | |
ipl2 |
Easy-to-navigate,
well-annotated directory of librarian-selected Web sites |
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| an Internet wizard | |
Exalead |
Configure
highly-specific searches including proximity ("folk tales NEAR sun"),
but smaller index than Google or Yahoo | |
INFOMINE |
Configure a
narrow search of a large, comprehensive academic virtual library
(Web sites, databases, electronic journals, electronic books, bulletin
boards, directories of researchers) | |
JUX2 |
Compare
results to Identify the strengths of Google, Yahoo and MSN for your
search |
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