Chicago Urban Health Outreach Project

Internet Searching

Below you will find a list of internet sites that CUHOP recommends for Internet searching, at the request of many who took our Internet Basic Training course in the Fall of 2001. These webpages are not necessarily affiliated with, or endorsed by, the National Library of Medicine, the University of Illinois at Chicago, or anyone involved with CUHOP. They are simply good starting points for information on the open internet.

Search Engines

Traditional Search Engines

These sites gather information about available webpages, and allow you to search through their directory of that information using keywords. Remember that no one search engine covers all the information available. Even Google, that largest one as of the Fall of 2001, covers less than half of what's available. The point is, never count on one search engine for comprehensive results - try two or more.

Google

AltaVista

Portals

Portals operate much like traditional Search engines to gather information, but some (like Yahoo) are more careful in their selections, arrange the available sites into subject areas, and offer extra services like email, maps, yellow pages, weather, news, and even personal ads. These are great starting points for broad subjects, but keep in mind that many of these sell top spots on their lists to the highest bidder.

Yahoo

Lycos

Meta Search Engines

Meta Search Engines take your keywords and execute a search at several different search engines at once, and then assemble the results into one search. A great idea, but many Metasites are often inconsistent, returning different results than if you visited each search engine independently. Still, a great quick way to find a web page that you know exists out there, but can't remember the address.

Dogpile

Metacrawler

Of course, all of the above sites are put forth as examples of the type of search engines available. You are encouraged to try others and choose ones that you like, and try to resist relying on only one. In fact try to keep up on the state of the art of search engines by visiting a site such as Search Engine Watch, which reviews search engines and reports on new developments in the technology.