Adelaide High School Intranet



~ Search Tools ~

Many schools, colleges and universities already provide online assistance with the various search tools available. For example......

Searching the Internet : Subject indexes and Search Engines

 

To find the latest and most up-to-date search tools, simply type "internet search engines and directories" into a metasearch engine like www.askjeeves.com or www.ixquick.com

There are significant differences between the search capabilities of individual search engines. If you are not sure which engine to use for a particular type of search it can be useful to check reviews which compare the features of those currently available.

As the Internet grows so does the number and range of search tools. It is now possible to subscribe to your own personalised subject directory service! There are also a growing number of 'lists of other lists'. These are sometimes referred to as Internet 'portals' or meta-directories.

Choose the right search tool for the job! For example......

  • If you are looking for information only about Australia, use an Australian search engine or directory.
  • If you are looking for current information from newspapers and magazines check directories of online newspapers and journals rather than searching the whole Internet with a search engine that returns thousands of hits, most of which are not current articles on the topic.
Make the most of the tool you select! For example..... 

Directories

Subject Indexes or Subject Directories are created by human beings rather than software programmes. Web sites are organised into categories and subcategories, usually with comments on the contents of the sites. Most provide a searchable index. You can quickly narrow your search by searching only within a specific category, resulting in far fewer but more relevant hits compared to basic searches with a search engine. Always consult any Search Help or FAQs (frequently asked questions) features if searching the index. 
Useful Directories
Yahoo  or Yahoo! Australia
A catalogue of Internet resources arranged according to broad subject areas, with each area divided into more specific subcategories. The catalogue is both browsable and searchable. A Search Options section is available which includes Help on Basic and Advanced Searching.
The Argus Clearinghouse
Selected guides to resources available on the Internet. The collection is both browsable and searchable. Includes a FAQs section.
Australian WWW Servers
A browsable catalogue of Australian sites. Users have a choice of lists arranged according to topic, state or type of site. (The catalogue is maintained by Charles Sturt University.)
EdNA Education Network of Australia. 
Searchable directory of recommended and reviewed sites aimed at Australian students and teachers.
WWW Virtual Library
A browsable catalogue of world wide web (www) resources arranged alphabetically by broad topic. Includes links to other virtual libraries.
Top

Search Engines

Search engines create, index and maintain their databases of web sites by automated processes (ie. robots, often referred to as spiders, crawlers  or worms ) rather than people. Search engines vary a great deal in the way they search. Some engines will search for your search terms only in the address or the first twenty lines, others will search the entire text of each site. With a simple search using just one or two search terms you will be presented with literally thousands of 'hits', many of which will be irrelevant. Rather than spend a lot of time sifting through all those hits you should make use of any Search Help, Advanced Search function or FAQs (frequently asked questions) features a search engine provides, when preparing your search query. Alternatively, use a multi-search engine.
Useful Search Engines
AAA - Matilda Australian Announce Archive, a huge database of sites, searchable by keyword, category, popularity and newness.
Allthe web Supposed to be extra-fast; perhaps because there are few graphics and little or no advertising.
AltaVista (Australian mirror)offers Simple and Advanced search query options. Search Help is provided for both levels.
ANZWERS A useful search engine for locating web sites in Australia and New Zealand. Includes Search Help and a FAQs section.
Excite states that it searches not just for keywords but also for concepts closely linked to those keywords. Offers Basic and Power Search query options. A Search Tips feature is available which includes Search Help for both levels.
Google
Hotbot one of the largest search engines and allows you to search for file types
InfoSeek provides basic search query level only, however it does include advanced search options for refining queries. A Tips feature is available which includes Search Help.
Lycos offers Basic and Custom search query options. Search Help is provided for both levels.
Northern Light a large database which organises results into folders
Web Wombat Australian Search Engine is a searchable index of Australian web pages.
 
 

Multisearch Engines

Multisearch engines are useful when a quick, broad search is all that is wanted. They send the query out to multiple search engines at the same time. However the full searching capabilities of the individual engines being accessed may not be utilised by the meta-engine carrying out the overall search and the resulting 'hits' will vary depending on the default search options provided by each engine.
Useful Multisearch Engines
AskJeeves a search engine and multi-search or metasearch engine that uses natural language 
Dogpile ProFusion 37.com compiles results from 37 different engines. 
Google a search engine or browsable directory. Google only produces results (ranked by relevance) that match all of your search terms, either in the text of the page or in the link anchors pointing to the page.Instead of web page summaries that never change, Google excerpts the text that matches your query -- with your search terms highlighted -- right in the search results. 

 

Help on Searching & Search Engines


Adelaide High School © 2000, revised 2001, 2002, 2003, revised 2004, revised 2008
Last updated 17 June, 2008