Internet Search Tools

Search engines, subject directories, and meta-search tools are three types of resources available for locating information on the Internet.

Search engines return Internet documents to you that contain the key words that you enter.  Google, Ask.com and HotBot are search engines.

Subject directories can often search for key words as well, but they also allow for browsing the Internet by providing subject areas for you to choose from.  Yahoo! is a subject directory.

Meta-search tools transmit your search to several different search engines and directories at the same time and return the combined results, eliminating duplicates and the need to check several different search tools individually. Vivisimo and Dogpile are meta-search tools.

For more information on Internet search engines and links to some additional subject directories, see our Webliography of Recommended Search Engines and Web Directories.

For further information about Internet searching, see Bare Bones 101: A Basic Tutorial on Searching the Web -- an instructional web site created by a librarian at the University of South Carolina Beaufort campus.

For assistance in evaluating the authority or reliability of information you may find on the Internet, see Some Hints to Evaluating Internet Information.

For assistance with properly citing Internet resources in your research assignments, see the citation guides at our How to Cite Resources page.