Academic Resources.Net online research and reference

Ranked in order of preference:

1. Google
     Now indexing over 1 billion web pages, Google is one of the fastest and most efficient search engines on the Net.

2. Yahoo
     Yahoo is the largest and oldest subject directory.  It is perfect for browsing because broad subjects are broken down into narrower categories.  This is an excellent, full-service site.

3. Alta Vista
     Alta Vista is an excellent search engine with over 100 million pages.  This is a good choice for hard to find items.   Features include advanced searches, refine options, subject directories, translations, people, science, business searches, etc.  Try basic searching first.  A common complaint with Alta Vista is the large number of low-quality hits.   This can be minimized by using carefully worded search phrases, date restrictions, and other features which are explained on their Help page.

4. HotBot
     This engine has the highest overall rating from industry reviews. Includes subject directories, "super search" options, limit search by date, news, etc.

5. Excite
     This is the second largest search engine with features that include "power search", subject directory "channels", "more like this button", news, etc.

6. Infoseek
     Infoseek is another good, full-service engine with subject directory "channels", advanced search capability, similar page command, and the ability to personalize the site.

7. Dogpile
     Dogpile performs a simultaneous search of 25 search engines ("meta search") and newsgroups.  Good choice for exhaustive searches of a subject.  Features include a custom page to rearrange the sequence of the engines, adjustable time constraints, etc.

8. Lycos
     Lycos is a full-service engine with subject directory "webguides", "LycosPro" advanced searches, ranking of results, and image, sound, and movie searches.

9. Northern Light
     Northern Light features a collection of over 6,700 journals and magazine databases.  Results are arranged in folders to narrow the search.   Abstracts are free and full text articles cost from $1 to $4.

10. WebCrawler
     This is another good, fast, search engine with directory "channels", music search, personalized home page for stock portfolios, memos, favorite links, news, classifieds, and TV listings by zip code.