How to Search the Web

vExplore the Internet

is an excellent site offered by the Library of Congress that offers an overview of what the Internet is and its various capabilities; how to search; resource lists provided by Library of Congress subject specialists and links to government resources. http://lcweb.loc.gov/global/explore.html

vBibliography on evaluating internet resources

is maintained by Nicole J. Auer, Librarian for First-Year and Outreach Programs, University Libraries at Virginia Tech. This comprehensive list offers links to evaluation materials on the web. http://www.lib.vt.edu/research/libinst/evalbiblio.html

vGood starting points:

• EServer - "a unique website where 226 scholars, readers, artists and writers gather to share and discuss their works," currently being sponsored by the University of Washington. http://eserver.org/
• Academic Info - from the Mission statement, "Academic Info aims to be the premier educational gateway to online college and research level Internet resources...the target audience is the college and university community...Academic Info is the "white pages" to the academic community. Browse by subject or search by keywords. http://www.academicinfo.net/
• Pinakes: A Subject Launchpad - Created and maintained by the librarians of the Heriot-Watt University Library, Edinburgh, Scotland. Taking its name from the catalog to the ancient Library of Alexandria, Pinakes is a growing compilation of links to gateway sites of materials of scholarly value in all disciplines. An excellent starting point for any web search. http://www.hw.ac.uk/libWWW/irn/pinakes/pinakes.html
• Argus Clearinghouse - Resources are reviewed and compiled by professional librarians. To avoid duplication in resources, the focus of materials selected is narrow. Though limited in some subject areas, resources offered are of a very high quality for academic research. http://www.clearinghouse.net/
• Caveat Lector - This site was primarily created for the blind and visually handicapped (supports speech-synthesis and/or refreshable-braille technology), it is a meta-index with links to etexts, virtual libraries, searchable standard reference works (dictionaries, directories, encyclopedias, thesauri, etc.). http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/etext.html
• The WWW Virtual Library - "The VL is the oldest catalog of the web, started by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of html and the web itself. Unlike commercial catalogs, it is run by a loose confederation of volunteers, who compile pages of key links for particular areas in which they are expert; even though it isn't the biggest index of the web, the VL pages are widely recognised as being amongst the highest-quality guides to particular sections of the web." http://vlib.org/
• Electronic Journal Miner - Online database of journals searchable for citations only of back issues available over the web created by the Alliance of Colorado Research Libraries. http://ejournal.coalliance.org//
• Scholarly Journals Distributed via the World Wide Web -"This directory provides links to established Web-based scholarly journals that offer access to English language article files without requiring user registration or fees." http://info.lib.uh.edu/wj/
• INFOMINE: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections - "INFOMINE is a unique Web resource featuring well organized access to important university level research and educational tools on the Internet. A virtual library, INFOMINE is notable for its collection of annotated and indexed links...INFOMINE contains over 22,000 links. Substantive databases, electronic journals, guides to the Internet for most disciplines, textbooks and conference proceedings are among the many types of resources included." http://infomine.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/search?liberal

vWeb Guide: Citing Internet Resources

Authored by Bennett Ponsford, Government Documents Librarian, West Texas A&M University, Cornette Library. Offers links to resources on all the major citation styles. http://www.wtamu.edu/library/webguides/citingweb.shtml

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Last modified September, 2006

Created and maintained by Prof. Annmarie.B.Singh, MLS - Communication Studies Reference Librarian

E-mail comments, suggestions, & recommendations to librfabs@hofstra.edu