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Stepping Through the Internet
Research Process
STEP 1: BROWSE THOSE VIRTUAL
LIBRARIES AND INTERNET DIRECTORIES
(VERY GENERAL)
Virtual libraries and internet
directories are large collections of information
arranged by broad topics. Because
they cover many subjects, they act as general
guides to the Internet morass.
They are useful for identifying the best terms for
searching and to begin finding
helpful resources. Start out by browsing their
main categories, and then use
their search feature, scanning the resulting list
for ideas.
Try this: Search education
or finance in the following libraries and directories to
find information on these topics.
Make a note of employers you find and topics
you discover.
| Yahoo! |
http://www.yahoo.com |
| Galaxy |
http://galaxy.tradewave.com |
| Snap
|
http://www.snap.com |
| W30
Virtual Library |
http://vlib.org/0verview.html |
| Librarian's
Index to the Internet |
http://www.lii.org/lnternetlndex/ |
| LookSmart |
http://www.looksmart.com |
| Magellan
Internet Guide |
http://magellan.excite.com/ |
| About.com |
http://www.about.com |
| The
Scout Report |
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ |
STEP 2: BROWSE AND SEARCH
ONLINE RESOURCE GUIDES
(BECOMING MORE SPECIFIC)
Online resource guides are sites
or online documents dedicated to a specific
topic or industry. Like print
directories or encyclopedias that focus on only one
topic, they are much more specific
in identifying industry and employer infor-
mation and are usually more inclusive
of resources. The virtual libraries and
Internet directories will begin
pointing you toward online resource guides
(look for the indexes or directories
under any topic). Also, some virtual
libraries, such as The Argus
Clearinghouse and Britannica, are dedicated to
maintaining pointers to these
highly useful resources.
When you are looking for online
resource guides, remember that organizations
or specialists in a particular
subject or topic usually compile the best ones.
Many of the most respected reference
books found in libraries are now online,
so these will be particularly
useful. To help evaluate a resource guide you find
for the topic that interests
you, look for information on who has compiled it,
what his or her background is
(or the organization's background), and why the
guide was created.
Try this: Search education
or finance in the following guides to find websites
and sources dedicated to these
topics. Note any employers or associations you
come across.
Libraries of Online Resource
Guides
| Argus
Clearinghouse |
http://www.clearinghouse.net |
| Britannica |
http://www.britannica.com/ |
| University
of Delaware Accessto Internet and Subject Resources |
http://www2.1ib.udel.edu/subj/ |
Sample List of Online Resource
Guides
| Hoover's
Online (business information) |
http://www.hoovers.com |
|
Scholarly Societies Project
(professional and scholarly associations)
|
http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/society/overview.html |
|
The Riley Guide (employment
information)
|
http://www.rileyguide.com |
|
Editor & Publisher
Interactive (newspapers worldwide)
|
http://www.mediainfo.com |
STEP 3: SEARCH THOSE SEARCH
ENGINES (VERY SPECIFIC)
Search engines are searchable
databases of keywords retrieved from Internet
documents, and these databases
are huge. For this reason, it's best to not use
the search engines until you
are very specific about what you want to find. Use
search engines to locate hidden
information on any topic (occupation or
industry) or employer. You can
find these through the virtual libraries and
Internet directories; in fact,
many of the directories are associated with certain
search engines, such as Excite
and Lycos.
One thing to be aware of is that
each search engine is different in how it works
and what it indexes, so you should
use two or three in your search and
compare the results. Try them
all, but choose the ones you like best to use as a
real part of your search. Don't
feel obliged to use the ones that your friends,
the local librarians, or even
this book might recommend. It's a personal choice.
Then, once you select the ones
you like the best, learn all the advanced
commands so you can improve your
searching even more.
We've included some metacrawlers
in our list of search engines. These are like
search engines on steroids, going
out and searching four or five engines with
the click of a single button.
They can help you combine and compare the
results of many stand-alone search
engines, but when you really want to dig up
some nitty-gritty, you should
go directly to a stand-alone search engine and
use its advanced features to
target your desired data.
Try this: Use the following
engines to search the names of employers you've
found in your previous searches
or specific topics and occupations you found.
Search Engines
| AltaVista |
http://www.altavista.com |
| HotBot |
http://www.hotbot.com |
| Excite |
http://www.excite.com |
| Lycos |
http://www.lycos.com |
| InfoSeek |
http://infoseek.go.com |
| AskJeeves |
http://www.ask.com |
| Northern
Light |
http://www.northernlight.com |
| Webcrawler |
http://www.webcrawler.com |
MetaCrawlers
| InFind |
http://www.infind.com |
| MetaCrawler |
http://www.g02net.com/search.html |
| MetaFind |
http://www.metafind.com |
| Dogpile |
http://www.dogpile.com |
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