Search the Web

• Big search engines
• Meta-search engines
• Subject indexes & directories
• Special search tools
• News search tools

Big search engines

These large, full-text search engines are very general, and can be used when you're looking for information on any topic. If you're really looking for all the information on a topic, you should try all four of these major search engines, because they search different places and often have different results. These Big search engines also provide other services — local telephone and address directories, shopping sites, maps, travel information, recent news, image searching, and more.

Exalead | images | video

http://www.exalead.com/

Do you want to search for a word beginning with "collect" without having to type (collect or collecting or collections or collectibles or collectors)? This is the search tool for you! Exalead's advanced search allows you to search for "words starting with. . ." Plus, images of your results show at the right hand side of the screen, there are great tips for better searching on the upper left, and Exalead suggests different search terms that you can add and subtract while you're looking at the list of results, and allows you to narrow your search to webpages from specific countries or in a certain language.

Ask.com | images | video | news | blog search | special searches

http://www.ask.com

Also known as AskJeeves, Ask.com suggests topics that may be related to your search – on the left side of your screen, you'll see ways to narrow and expand your search, or look for things related to your subject. On the right, you'll see special results like video and audio files, encyclopedia and dictionary entries, and more. Click on the little binoculars icon to see previews of webpages in your results list.

Google | advanced | images | video | news | blog search | special searches

http://www.google.com

Google is the favorite of many searchers and with good reason; the ranking system based upon site linkages works! Google maintains its own copy (the "cached" version) of most pages, so if links don't work you can still read the information.

Live Search | advanced | images | video | news | maps

http://search.msn.com

Live Search (formerly MSN Search) has what's called "natural language" searching built right in. This means that if you type in a simple question, like "How tall is Mt. Hood?," Live Search will give you the answer right at the top of the results screen. Most of these answers are from the Encarta Encyclopedia. For advanced searching, click on the link "Search Builder," and some additional search options will appear at the bottom of the page.

Yahoo Search | advanced | images | video | news | creative commons

http://search.yahoo.com

One search brings up websites, images, shopping possibilities and takes you to any Yahoo directory sites related to your topic. One bonus – Yahoo now looks for your topic in blogs. Yahoo maintains its own copy (the "cached" version) of most pages, so if links don't work you can still read the information.

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Meta-search engines

Meta-search engines allow you to do your search in many search engines at once. This can be very handy, because no search engine is perfect, and they each return unique results. With a meta-search engine, you can take advantage of several tools in one step!

Clusty | advanced | images | news | blog search | job search

http://www.clusty.com/

Clusty's Clustering Engine organizes search engine results from any of dozens of searchable repositories, including the results from several big search engines. Customize your search as you go: results appear arranged by subject for easy navigation.

Dogpile | advanced | audio | video | news

http://www.dogpile.com/

Dogpile searches more than ten search engines at once. Results are displayed by relevancy, but if you want to see the top results from different search engines compared, you can click on the orange buttons at the top of the results screen. This is a great way to see how differently the Big search engines work!

Zuula | advanced | images | video | news | blog search | job search

http://www.zuula.com/

A search with Zuula combines results from several search tools at once, with a focus on newer search tools that emphasize dynamic content like blogs, video, and news stories.

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Subject indexes & directories

Directories work like a phone book; they list websites by topic. They are created by public libraries, academic libraries, individuals and commercial companies.

About.com

http://www.about.com

Websites are selected and featured by expert "Guides" whose pictures, qualifications and e-mail addresses are readily available. Very comprehensive and user friendly.

Homework Center

http://www.multcolib.org/homework/

Multnomah County Library Youth Services' directory of websites that help with homework questions. Are you working on finding information about U.S. history, algebra, ecology, literature, or geography? This directory will give you a place to start on these and many other homework-oriented topics.

Internet Public Library

http://www.ipl.org/

A directory produced by the University of Michigan School of Information.

Librarians' Index to the Internet

http://lii.org/

Over 10,000 websites that have been added by librarians. This directory is unusual in that it catalogs each website with Library of Congress Subject Headings (the same system used by most libraries for their online public access catalogs).

Open Directory Project | kids and teens

http://www.dmoz.com/

A large, comprehensive subject directory built and maintained by volunteer subject specialists from around the globe. Features a special collection for kids and teens.

Yahoo Directory

http://dir.yahoo.com/

Yahoo has been a leader in organizing web information and categorizing thousands of websites.

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Special search tools

Some search tools are geared to help you find things on a specific topic (like sports or news), or from a particular kind of source (websites from government agencies, or university publications, for example). There are many subject-specific search tools; the list below is just a sample.

Healthline

http://www.healthline.com/

This web search tool focuses on health information. Do a search, and you'll see suggestions for related keywords to broaden or narrow your search. Healthline also allows you to search for the latest health news, and includes a health encyclopedia with information on diseases, conditions, and other health topics.

Google Uncle Sam

http://www.google.com/unclesam

A search tool for finding United States and state websites.

USA.gov | Gov Gab blog | rss/xml feeds

http://www.usa.gov/

This directory provides comprehensive listings of U.S. federal government websites, and telephone numbers. Special sections list information for specific interest groups, like parents, military veterans, librarians and researchers, nonprofit groups, visitors to the United States, and more. You can also use it to find government information about current issues in the news, or you can email or IM your questions about the U.S. government.

Infomine - Scholarly Internet Resource Collections

http://infomine.ucr.edu/

An academic search tool, which allows you to search more than 125,000 academically-oriented websites. Browse by subject, or search for keywords.

Search Engines for Kids

http://www.multcolib.org/kids/searchengines.html

Multnomah County Library Youth Services' list of search tools that select kid-friendly content.

Yahoo Creative Commons Search

http://search.yahoo.com/cc/

This tool allows you to search for websites that are licensed under the Creative Commons license, rather than with traditional copyright. Creative Commons licenses allow users to modify, copy, and/or distribute licensed work more freely than is legally permissible with copyrighted work – use this search tool to find Creative Commons-licensed webpages!

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News search tools

News search tools let you search for current news on any topic – and your results will be limited to news stories from print, television, radio, weblogs and other sources. (The Big search engines and Meta-search engines have news searching tools, too.)

NewsNow

http://www.newsnow.co.uk/

NewsNow is a British news search tool that organizes results by how recently they were published – from a few minutes ago to last month.

Topix.net | Gresham news | Fairview news | Portland news | Troutdale news | blogs

http://www.topix.net/

Topix.net allows you to search for any news topic, but also provides "channels" that have news on specific subjects (everything from extreme sports to agriculture to news from different countries). This news search tool also allows you to look at the latest news from US towns and cities, Gresham, Portland and other local cities included! You can also use it to search blogs.

News / Media

http://www.multcolib.org/ref/mags.html

Multnomah County Library's directory of electronic resources in news and media information. Lots of links to newspapers, television news sites, Internet news sites, and much more!

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