Beyond Google

Top 5 Search Engine Searching Techniques

• Search for phrases or unique words as much as possible
• Add more words to fine-tune results
• Use Advanced Search features of your favorite search engine (see "More on Searching Techniques" section below)
• Limit domain to .edu, .gov, or .org
• Search for your subject term(s) along with the word "database" (example: early childhood education database)

More on Searching Techniques

Search Assistance Features (Search Engine Watch)

• http://searchenginewatch.com/facts/article.php/2155971
• http://searchenginewatch.com/facts/article.php/2155981

Both sites list and describe specific search features and indicate which search engines support them.

Search Engine Features Chart (Search Engine Showdown)

• http://searchengineshowdown.com/features/
• http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/features/byfeature.shtml

These charts are arranged either by search engine or by search feature and include information the search features supported by specific search engines.

Selected Search Tools that Include Some Deep Web Content

Complete Planet: The Deep Web Directory
Allows searching of deep web content found in 70,000+ databases and specialty search engines. Search by keyword or browse the list of topical headings.

ixQuick
Searches in any of 18 languages, including Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Optimizes power searches for the search engines it accesses. Returns fewer irrelevant pages.

Infomine: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections
A searchable database of deep web resources "relevant to faculty, students, and research staff at the university level. It contains useful Internet resources such as databases, electronic journals, electronic books, bulletin boards, mailing lists, online library card catalogs, articles, directories of researchers, and many other types of information."

Invisible-web.net (The Invisible Web Directory)
A subject directory of deep web sources. Select a category, then a sub-category to find high quality resources not indexed in search engines. This is the companion site to The Invisible Web: Finding Hidden Internet Resources Search Engines Can't See by Chris Sherman and Gary Price.

Librarians' Index to the Internet
A subject directory of "reliable, trustworthy, librarian-selected Internet resources."

Specialty Search Engines

CiteSeer: Scientific Literature Digital Library
Database of scientific research articles on the web that were created as Postscript or PDF files, often times excluded by search engines. CiteSeer indexes the full text of the entire articles and citations and allows for full Boolean, phrase and proximity searching.

Resource Discovery Network (RDN)
A collaboration of over seventy educational and research organizations that gathers scholarly resources which are carefully selected, indexed and described by specialists. Several separate search tools are available through RDN. Some include:

TechXtra
"The Internet Guide to Engineering, Mathematics, and Computing."

SOSIG
A search tool for the social sciences, business and law.

Scirus
Science-specific search engine that includes scientific, technical and medical data from mostly education web sites.

Learn More about the Deep Web

The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value
A white paper published in The Journal of Electronic Publishing by Michael K. Bergman of BrightPlanet Corporation. This paper provides excellent information on the deep web and on how search engines work.

The Invisible Web: What it is, Why it exists, How to find it, and Its inherent ambiguity
Describes the difference between the "visible" web and the "invisible" web. Part of "Finding Information on the Internet: A Tutorial" from UC Berkeley.