Searching the Web

Also see: Tips for Searching the Internet

General Search Engines
Medical Search Engines
Meta Search Engines

General Search Engines

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

Searches the entire full-text of web pages and Usenet articles. Advanced query allows you to use Boolean operators (AND, OR, AND NOT, NEAR) and limit searches to date. One of major general search engines to support truncation. Has added "phrase detection" feature that recognizes commonly used phrases even without quote marks. For other phrases, it is still recommended that quotes be used. Offers a search box as well as category divisions, such as Music, Travel, Health and Fitness, and Library and Resources.

All the Web
http://www.alltheweb.com/

This site offers searching of the Web, MP3's, FTP, etc. by keywords and exact phrase. It also claims to have the largest Multimedia search.

Google
http://www.google.com

Offers two ways to search. The "Google Search" works like other search engines, returning a list of results for your query, while the "I'm Feeling Lucky" search automatically takes you to the first site resulting from your query, making your search quick and simple. Also offers a Web directory where you can search by various topics (Business, Computers, Reference, etc).

Wisenut
http://www.wisenut.com/

This site bills itself as "searchwise, search wiser" and allows the user to do a simple keyword search or, by using "WISEsearch," limit to Exact Phrase, All Words or Any words. It also has an option to set your preferences for the search such as language, result clustering, and turning certain features on or off.

Yahoo
http://www.yahoo.com/

The front page provides an alphabetically arranged hierarchical list of subject categories (ie Arts and Humanities, Business and Economy, Recreation and Sports, etc) and a search box. Other features include email, What's New, an Auction, Shopping, News, Marketplace, and much more.

Medical Search Engines

Hardin Meta Directory
http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/

Maintained by the Hardin Library for Health Sciences at the University of Iowa, Hardin MD's purpose is to provide easy access to comprehensive resource lists in health related subjects. Lists that are in Hardin MD are checked regularly to see that they are being well maintained. Access to the database is arranged by subjects and links to lists are provided under the subject headings. This site subscribes to the HONcode principles of the Health on the Net Foundation.

Health A to Z
http://www.HealthAtoZ.com/

Maintained by MNI, the makers of Achoo, this commercial site claims to be a comprehensive, well integrated health and medical resource developed by healthcare professionals. Users must go through a free registration process to access the database. Health A to Z is aimed at consumers and includes a search engine, a chat with experts section and several categories with health advice and news such as Health A to Z Exclusive, Cool Tools, Health Trackers, Health Headlines, Healthy Lifestyles, Women's Health, Men's Health, and Healthy Eating. A sidebar features a Community chat with experts and sections on your family, condition forums, wellness centers, healthy lifestyles, and resources.

healthfinder
http://www.healthfinder.gov/

The healthfinder Web site has been developed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in collaboration with other federal agencies. A free gateway to reliable consumer health and human services information, healthfinder can lead you to selected online publications, databases, Web sites, and support and self help groups, as well as the government agencies and not-for-profit organizations that produce reliable information for the public. Featured are sections on hot topics, news, smart choices, more tools, just for you, and about us.

MDLinx.com
http://www.mdlinx.com

This is a network of medical web sites, with links to articles in over 1000 medical and specialty journals.

HONselect/MedHunt
http://www.hon.ch/

This Web site is provided by the Health on the Net Foundation, a non-profit organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It offers search engines such as Medhunt, which performs free text searches for Web sites and categorizes the results as either HONoured or sites that did not meet HON's criteria, and HONselect, which searches Web sites using MESH subject headings for faster, richer search results. Other features include HONmedia, which has over 2000 illustrations on various topics, conference and events schedules, surveys, and news. The Health on the Net Foundation is the originator of the HONCode for evaluating medical resources on the Internet.

MedBioWorld
http://www.medbioworld.com

For researchers, physicians, medical students, and the general public, Medbioworld offers 25,000 6,000 medical journals in 80 subspecialties, and the home pages of 4,000 medical associations. Other research tools include medical glossaries, disease databases, clinical trials and guidelines, and medical journals offering full-text articles.

MedlinePlus
http://medlineplus.gov/

MedlinePlus was developed by the National Library of Medicine to provide consumer health information. It includes guides by health topics, as well as dictionaries, directories, and information on organizations.

Medscape
http://www.medscape.com/

Medscape is a site that allows users (consumer or professional) to search its many database options such as Medical Images, News, Information for Patients, Clinical Content, MEDLINE, AIDSLINE, and Drug Info. A "Today's Headlines " section is updated daily to provide fresh news for users. Also included is a Medscape Network (for Med Students, Pharmacists, Nurses, etc) and a Specialty Spotlight with and index to medical specialty sites and current articles. Users must register to use the site, but there is no charge for registration or access.

Scirus
http://www.scirus.com

This site "collects, indexes, and retrieves information pertaining to agricultural and biological sciences, biosciences, chemistry, Earth and planetary sciences, environmental sciences, life sciences, medicine, pharmacology, social and behavioral sciences, and more." Users can search by exact phrase or keywords as well as limit by the specific scientific area they are looking for. The engine searches both general Web sources as well as Membership sources, based on subscription services. If the user subscribes to Science Direct, peer reviewed articles can be retrieved and accessed from Scirus.

Meta Search Engines

DogPile
http://www.dogpile.com/

Dogpile Meta-Search Engine allows you to send your query to 25 search engines that they support. Offers the option of limiting the search to such things as the Web, Images, Auctions, and News. The site also has a "Favorite Fetches" section with information on Careers, Health, Legal, and Travel, Search Tools, and a Web Directory with categories for Auto, Reference, Sports, and Shopping.

Metacrawler
http://www.metacrawler.com/

This meta search engine searches 9 engines and allows you to limit to the Web, Directory, Audio files, Images, Newsgroups, etc. There is also a Popular Searches list of topics and a Resources list with things such as Classifieds, People Search, and Yellow Pages. The results can be shown by relevance, source (which engine), or site.

Vivisimo
http://vivisimo.com

Considered a "cluster engine", this site organizes the outputs of other search engines and places documents together into meaningful groups. It looks through pages from these engines and extracts titles, short descriptions, and URLs from them, then places the sites in hierarchical categories.