Search Engines

Search Engines, FAQs & Search Sites

Effective Searches - Search Tools - Search Engines - Other Search Sites

Effective Searches

Use Help Pages & FAQs

When searching for information on the Internet using Search Engines spend a few moments checking the help pages and FAQs you find there. It will enhance you search time by avoiding some common errors.

Be Selective

Choose your search terms to obtain the best results. You might need to experiment a bit to find what works best for you.

Don't make your search too broad or too narrow.
Use lower case instead of upper or mixed case.
Specify exactly what it is you want. (Use copyright instead of law).
State what search terms must be on a page to be selected.
Refine your search terms if you get too many responses.

Know Your Search Engine

Not all search engines use the same methods to catalogue pages and search results may vary by search engine.

Not all search engines catalogue the same items or search in the same manner. Try another search engine if you don't get the results you need or if you feel uncomfortable with the interface.
Use modifiers (i.e. +, -, NOT, OR...) only if you understand what effect they will have in the search engine you are using.

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Search Tools

Try these tools to help you:

Internet research for writers by Charlie Harris.
http://www.immt.pwr.wroc.pl/faq/msg00083.html

TracerLock can monitor search engines for you and notify you by e-mail when a new instance of a search term is found.
http://www.tracerlock.com

Google Desktop Search your own computer..
http://desktop.google.com

Copernic is software that interfaces with multiple search engines to search many at one time. It requires installation and is available for the Windows and Mac platforms only.
http://www.copernic.com

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Web Search Engines

Google Canada.
http://www.google.ca

Yahoo! Canada.
http://ca.yahoo.com

Alta Vista.
http://www.altavista.com

DogPile.
http://www.dogpile.com

HotSheet - the easy way to the best of the Web.
http://www.hotsheet.com

Needle in a CyberStack—the InfoFinder.
http://albeej.home.mchsi.com

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Other Search Sites

Web Lens—Pam Blackstone's Bringing the Web into Focus.
http://www.weblens.org

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Submitting Link Suggestions

We only link to sites relevant to our site content. We do not do link exchanges for SEO, but to enhance the content on this site. See our guidelines, particularly regarding the relevance of your link.

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