Best Search Tools Chart
Adobe Acrobat PDF version - prints on 2 pages
| Selected Internet Search Engines | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Search Engine | Database | Boolean | Other search options | Miscellaneous |
| Google
google.com Advanced Search. Ranks based on popularity (# of pages linked from). |
Full text of web pages and other documents on the web (.pdf,
.doc, .xls, blog posts, wiki pages, others
(Huge, probably largest web search engine). Plus: News (4500 sources); Images; Groups (Usenet posts 1981)-, Local (yellow pages+maps), Froogle (shopping), Scholar (articles), Book Search, Video Search, Blog Search, and more |
AND (default) OR (capitalized) - to remove words or phrases. + to include common words |
* wildcard to replace word(s) (e.g.,
to * or * * *) No truncation. Quotes for phrase. Stems some words (+ to turn off). Fields: intitle:, site:, inurl:, filetype: more. US Gov Srch Similar pages - finds related sites. |
50+ languages. Translates to/from some European and 3 Asian languages and Arabic. International Searches. ~ searches synonyms (~food) define: finds definitions Tools: math/equivalents calculator, phone book, maps, stocks.- more |
|
Ask.com
|
Full text of web pages and other documents on the web, (over
2 billion). |
AND (default). OR (capitalized). - to remove words or phrases. + or quotes to include stop (common) words |
No truncation. Quotes for phrase. Fields: intitle:, inurl:, site:, geoloc:, lang:, last:, afterdate:, beforedate:, betweendate: |
In right panel, suggests Narrower and Broader searches. Ask.comTools: Weather, Stock quotes, Conversions calculator, Blog/feed search, and more. |
| Yahoo! search
search.yahoo.com Advanced Search. Yahoo! Directory. Ranks based on relevancy (occurrence of terms). |
Full text of web pages and other documents on the web (also
huge), Some content pay-for-position or from Yahoo! community. Plus: News (7000 sources), Images, Maps, People, Local, Travel, Shopping, Video, Audio, Podcasts, and more. |
AND (default) Accepts: AND, OR, AND NOT, NOT and ( ) for nesting. Operators must be capitalized. - to remove words or phrases if not using Boolean. + to include common words |
No truncation. Quotes for phrase. Limit by date, language, domain, file type, and country in Adv Srch. Fields: intitle:, inurl:, link:, site:, url:, hostname: |
Translates
similar to Google. Shortcuts give quick access to dictionary, synonyms, ISBNs, patents, traffic, stocks, encyclopedia, & more. Creative Commons search in Adv. Srch. |
| Ask for Kids.
www.ajkids.com |
Good answers for simple questions. Also safe, entertaining games for kids; news by age groups. | Natural language questions, not Boolean searches. | Provides links to other resources. | Links to Study Tools (Dictionary, Biography, Science, Atlas, Math Help, History, and more). |
| Selected Internet Meta-Search Engines | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta-Search Engine | Database | Boolean | Other search options | Miscellaneous |
| Ixquick
ixquick.com |
Searches Ask, most Yahoo thru Inktomi, most Google thru Netscape, MSN Live, WiseNut, Gigablast, EntireWeb, Open Directory, Wikipedia. Customizable. | AND (default), OR, - to exclude. "Translates" complex searches to fit what each search engine "understands." | Lowest Price comparison product search, based on zip code. Picture search. Internatl Phone Directory. | Star rankings tell how many search engines include a match
among their top 10 results. Refine search results by clicking check mark to find more like, and X to exclude pages like a result. |
| Clusty clusty.com |
Searches Ask, Gigablast, MSN Live, NY Times,
Open Directory, Shopzilla, Wikipedia, Yahoo! News. Selection varies. |
AND (default), OR, -
to exclude. Clusters on left of search result allow zooming in on subsets of results. |
News, Images, Wikipedia, Blogs, Jobs, Shopping, Gov sites. | Public search site from Vivisimo (vivisimo.com). |
| Selected Internet Subject Directories | ||||
| Subject Directory | Database | Boolean | Other search options | Miscellaneous |
| Librarians'
Internet Index lii.org Advanced Search. |
Resources useful to public library users, evaluated & annotated by librarians (about 20K). | AND (default), OR, NOT, Nesting ( ). | Quotes for phrase. Stems automatically. Can turn off in Adv. Srch * to truncate Searchable Fields (Advanced Search only): LII topic, LC subject; title; description; URL; author; publisher. |
Browse topics hierarchically. "Topics" are LII subjects. For LC Subj Headings, click magnifying glass icon by each result. Easy icons to email or comment on a record. |
| Google
Directory directory.google.com |
Open Directory Project selected websites, enhanced by Google popularity ranking (about 5 million). | AND (default) OR (capitalize) - to remove. |
Search like Google. | Use hierarchical subject organization to locate sites on a topic. Good to narrow down web searches with too many results. |
| Infomine
infomine.ucr.edu Advanced Search and Browse. |
Scholarly Internet resources, selected and annotated by (mostly)
UC librarians. (over 100K). |
AND (default), OR, NEAR, Nesting ( ).
|
Quotes for phrase; pipes (|term|)
for exact word or words; Stemming (can turn on or off in Advanced); * to truncate. Fields: subject; title; author; keyword; description. |
Can search all databases or individually. Can browse by subjects in each database. |
© 2008 Infopeople Project, http://infopeople.org/search/chart.html. Last updated September 10, 2007 by Joe Barker (search at infopeople dot org) for the Infopeople Project, supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. This document may be printed or copied for non-commercial use without further permission of the author, provided this notice is present.