Most freely available research information can be found using a search engine or a subject directory.
Search Engines
| Examples |
- General, comprehensive search engines: Google or AlltheWeb
- Specialized search engines (search specific kinds of information or subjects).
|
| What they do |
- Search Web resources and bring back results.
|
| Most useful for |
- Finding a very specific piece of information (e.g. an organization Web site, a person, or a very narrow topic).
|
| Limitations |
- No search engine is large enough to search everything freely available on the Web: on average, they search 10-30% of what is out there.
- Search results match the words you type in; most engines do not select for quality.
- Search engines have different criteria for ordering their results. Google, for example, considers how often other pages link to each site and puts the most popular sites first (though they may not always be the best!). Companies often pay search engines to display their Web sites at the top; these may or may not be labelled "sponsored," so be cautious of the sites that appear first.
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| Where to find |
- OPAC list of recommended general and specialized
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