Here are brief reports on useful search tools for the profession. Though there are many resources for a journalist to choose from, I almost always start with subject directories or search engines (general and special) and databases. Recently, I've added news aggregators to that list.
Subject directories/search engines:Yahoo! http://www.yahoo.com (general/commercial portal)
Yahoo! Media Relations
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/misc/overview.html says their product is “the only place anyone needs to go find anything, communicate with anyone, or buy anything.” It provides a comprehensive network of essential services for Web users around the globe as well as businesses of all sizes. They also claim that Yahoo! was the first online navigational guide to the Web; regardless of that fact, seniority does not mean that Yahoo! is the best tool for searching. Yahoo! Search is great for general searching; I won’t deny them that. A person can search the Web, retrieve images or video, or search for local or global news. Yahoo! offers an advanced Web search where a person can specify their search by exact phrasing or Boolean logic, update, site/domain, file format, country, or language.
Dogpile http://www.dogpile.comAs its slogan states, Dogpile offers “all the best search engines piled into one.” This includes Google (had to mention it), Yahoo! Search, MSN Search, and Ask Jeeves. You type in your search terms, and Dogpile “fetches” your answer from the “best of breed” search engines. The results are listed as expected, and the user is able to see from where the results came. It works just like those other general search engines with all the advanced features and whistles.
Clusty http://clusty.comWhen my searching turns more to research and I need good, organized results, this is where I go. It uses a Clustering Engine to organize search results into folders grouping similar items together. It goes beyond search and combines clustering with meta-search to provide a productive and flexible user search experience. Search tips: When browsing the clusters, clicking on the label will open that cluster. The results list will change to the search results in that cluster. These are hierarchial and can contain sub-clusters that break down info. Syntax can also be used to help you in your search. Clusty supports the most advanced features of the major search engines using a unified syntax that follows standard conventions. Your query is translated into the corresponding syntax of each underlying search engine. For example, you can use AND or + or and or nothing, OR , or, AND NOT, not, -, or search by domain or host names.
INFOMINE http://http://infomine.ucr.edu/ (academic directory/scholarly resource collection)
This resource provides info in subject areas including but not limited to biological, agricultural, and medical sciences, business & ecoonomics, cultural diversity, Ejournals, government, maps, engineering, math, social sciences & humanities, and visual & performing arts. Search tips: for basic searching, searches retrieve terms in: a) Most assigned fields including title, subject, author, keyword, and description. b) and three or four pages of rich text from the Website. Features include advanced search modes, browsing, searching within full-text descriptions and text from the resource, truncation to expand word endings and results, limiting search results, limiting results by record origin, and combining boolean and proximity operators.
The Librarians' Index to the Internet http://www.lii.org (academic)
At the top of the page, it reads "Websites you can trust." This is of the utmostimportance to any journalist researching online. There are 14 main categories (and 300 related topics) to choose from including business, computers, government, health, home and housing, law, media, reference, regional, and society. LII has tens of thousands of entries contributed by professionals, and which are maintained by librarians. LII has "weeders," who constantly review older entries in LIII. Websites change and die all the time, but LII almost never hasmore than 100 "dead" sites. You can use advanced search techniques as you would with a general search engine; subscription to the email newsletter and RSS are available.
Find.com http://www.find.com/ (special search)
Find.com is a business search and aims to improve the quality of business professionals’ work. Find.com’s results are “targeted to business needs and are presented in a manner that speeds navigation.” The search retrieves documents from all major consumer search engines and combines them with access to Premium Research content from leading Business Information sources. Find.com’s results page is a bit different from that of Yahoo! The default view will show results related to your query from Premium Research providers in the top panel and the open Web in the lower panel. You may click on any of the Tabs at the top of the results page to view Web-only, Research-only, related Directory results or related News results. What I like best about Find.com is that the results have been “handpicked” by Find.com for their information reliability. You can click on the original source or choose a functional view which shows keyword highlighting. Find.com also provides a cluster bar that organizes information by Topic, Format, Site (the web site URLs) or Source (Premium Research, Search Engines). If you still can’t find the info you’re looking for, you can start a new search by subcategory or refine your original search.
When I was an undergrad in the Technical and Professional Communication program at East Carolina http://core.ecu.edu/engl/tpc/tekkom/tpc.htm, I researched issues in technical writing (ad nauseam). I had access to general search engines, but at the time, I was unaware of special search tools such as Find.com. To prove their usefulness, I decided to relive those days. Upon searching for the phrase “technical writing rules” using Yahoo!, my result page listed around 257 results. Many on the first and second page were useful, but after the third page, my excitement diminished (as it usually does with general search engines). Many of the results were irrelevant or advertising-related. The same search using Find.com produced only ten results (some repeats), which I have to admit was a little disappointing, but they were ALL relevant and reliable. In hindsight, this would have saved me time seven years ago.
Databases:
The UNC Library System http://www.lib.unc.edu/ provides many valuable resources, two of which are databases: ABI/Inform Complete (via ProQuest) and Academic Search Elite (via EBSCO Host). Both provide access and in-depth coverage of a wide range of subjects, most of which cannot be accessed on the open Web.
ABI/Inform Complete (via ProQuest) http://www.proquest.com/
When my research turns strictly professional, I always use ProQuest which is available from the UNC Library System. I used this resource in college when I was getting my MA in Technical Communication; it was great for articles in my field (which is all I looked for at the time). After graduation, I rarely thought to use ProQuest to find information. Now, I have a renewed respect for this database. ProQuest provides access to thousands of current periodicals and newspapers (archived back to 1986) including scholarly journals. These are updated regularly, and many articles are peer reviewed and available in full-text. Articles can be searched by topic or publication, and results can be limited by database or date range. Abstracts are a plus. Advanced search options are available, so you can exercise the same search methods you use with Yahoo. The results are almost always relevant; you can’t say that about a general search engine.
Academic Search Elite (via EBSCO Host) http://www.epnet.com/
EBSCO offers full text databases offer access to full text articles from peer-reviewed journals published by many of the world's most recognized academic publishers. Academic Search Elite contains full text for more than 2,000 serials. More than 100 journals have PDF images back to 1985. The database includes PDF images for the great majority of journals; many of these PDFs are searchable and scanned-in-color. Much like ProQuest, there are a variety of simple and advanced search options. It's user-friendly and customizable.
News Aggregators:
For those of you that spend entirely too much time searching for online news that matters to you, consider using a news aggregator to get the latest headlines and stories. Aggregators do not simply list headlines; they collect news that caters to YOU, like a personal newspaper. Aggregators are a type of computer program that collects syndicated Web content, such as RSS and other XML feeds from weblogs, podcasts, vlogs, and mainstream mass media websites.
Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/
Any avid Internet user has heard of Yahoo! It’s reliable and notable. Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/ is extremely user-friendly and provides headlines on subjects in the following categories: top stories, most popular, world, US National, politics, business, science, technology, health, entertainment, sports, opinion, and even odd news. The homepage can be customized by changing the layout or adding or removing these news categories. The reader can save time if he or she chooses by clicking on the most viewed/emailed or most recommended stories.Aside from choosing content and customizing the homepage, the reader can do a basic search for news or conduct an advanced Web search. The search results page is based on the look and feel of the standard front page of Yahoo! The reader can easily toggle through general and targeted results as well as view “breadcrumbs,” which show where a story was found. Yahoo! News crawls over 7,000 news sources in 35 languages and provides access to archived articles via Reuters and the Associated Press. These archives are stored for two weeks; some other sources are stored for varying lengths of time, anywhere from seven days to one month. Additional archives can be purchased as part of Yahoo! News Premium from $1.50-2.50 per article.For confident searchers, Yahoo! offers advanced search options; the reader can limit results by exact phrases, update, site or domain, file format, filtered, location, language, or subscription.
Topix.net http://www.topix.net/
Another useful, but not as well known aggregator, is Topix.net http://www.topix.net/. The fact that the average surfer may be unaware of Topix is surprising because it is the largest news site on the Internet. If you like living on the wild side or would simply like a break from the same old searching routine, try Topix. The interface is user-friendly though a bit “busier” than that of Yahoo! It offers many of the same news features and additional subcategories including arts, autos, business, companies, medication, food, gadgets, hobbies, and law—just to name some. The list seems endless, with up to 300,000 topics available. Top stories cover the page, but the news can be searched by zip code, city, or subject. Advanced search methods include time range, source (for example: CNN, Newsday, Fox Sports, etc.), category, or location.For the Internet savvy, Topix offers free news feed to other webmasters as well as commercial news feeds for a subscription fee (price dependent on customization). The top nine headlines from any Topix page are available for those who prefer to read their news via RSS.There is really no downside to using news aggregators. You subscribe and view at your leisure; you unsubscribe when you choose. Whether it’s Yahoo!, Topix.net, or one of the many others, take the plunge! Let go of some of that burden! Let aggregators do the work for you.
