What to look for
Find quality web sites on the free web by using your favorite search engine (e.g. Google)
- Use advanced search features to make your search more effective.
- Use more than one search engine to find a wider variety of information, as search engines index different web sites.
- Monitor search engine pros and cons by checking sites like Search Engine Watch.
- Evaluate information you find on the free web! It's easy to find almost anything online, but read it with a critical eye.
The free web vs. the fee web
The "free" web is the part of the web that you browse or surf all the time via commercial search engines like Google or Yahoo. Most of the information found there is free and accessible to anyone with a web connection and web browser.
The "fee-based" web is hidden or invisible from commercial search engines for various reasons. Usually information in the hidden web is accessible only to those who register, pay or license the information. But that means the information is of high quality and more valuable than what you typically find on the free web. Examples of the fee-based web are included in Vera (library databases for journal articles).
Library databases vs. Google video
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Finding quality web sites
Good sources of free web sites include those found in expert subject directories, where web sites are selected by people who know the subject. These can help you target a specific category of information quickly and accurately without having to wade through many irrelevant sites.
Expert Subject Directories:
- Librarians' Internet Index A searchable directory of annotated web sites by category - "a well-organized point of access for reliable, trustworthy, librarian-selected Internet resources."
- INFOMINE: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections A virtual library, a "unique Web resource featuring well organized access to important university level research and educational tools on the Internet".
- Intute: Best of the Web A searchable database of quality web resources, which are "evaluated and selected by a network of subject specialists to create the Intute database."
- WWW Virtual Library Volunteers "compile pages of key links for particular areas in which they are expert."
- MIT Libraries Research Guides Created by subject specialists, these can help you identify web sites, book, and other resources on your topic.
- MIT Libraries Virtual Reference Collection Find links to dictionaries, encyclopedias and other reference materials on the web (includes links to MIT-only resources).
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