background preloader

The Best Reference Sites

Whether you're looking for the average rainfall in the Amazon rainforest, researching Roman history, or just having fun learning to find information, you'll get some great help using my list of the best research and reference sites on the Web. About.com: I've found many answers to some pretty obscure questions right here at About.Reference.com.Extremely simple to use, very basically laid out.Refdesk.com.Includes in-depth research links to breaking news, Word of the Day,and Daily Pictures. A fun site with a ton of information.Encyclopedia.com. As stated on their site, Encyclopedia.com provides users with more than 57,000 frequently updated articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition.Encyclopedia Brittanica. One of the world's oldest encyclopedias online.Encarta.Put together by Microsoft.

10 Search Engines to Explore the Invisible Web Not everything on the web will show up in a list of search results on Google or Bing; there are lots of places that their web crawlers cannot access. To explore the invisible web, you need to use specialist search engines. Here are our top 12 services to perform a deep internet search. What Is the Invisible Web? Before we begin, let's establish what does the term "invisible web" refer to? Simply, it's a catch-all term for online content that will not appear in search results or web directories. There are no official data available, but most experts agree that the invisible web is several times larger than the visible web. The content on the invisible web can be roughly divided into the deep web and the dark web. The Deep Web The deep web made up of content that typically needs some form of accreditation to access. If you have the correct details, you can access the content through a regular web browser. The Dark Web The dark web is a sub-section of the deep web. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

99 Resources to Research & Mine the Invisible Web College researchers often need more than Google and Wikipedia to get the job done. To find what you're looking for, it may be necessary to tap into the invisible web, the sites that don't get indexed by broad search engines. The following resources were designed to help you do just that, offering specialized search engines, directories, and more places to find the complex and obscure. Search Engines Whether you're looking for specific science research or business data, these search engines will point you in the right direction. Turbo10: On Turbo10, you'll be able to search more than 800 deep web search engines at a time. Databases Tap into these databases to access government information, business data, demographics, and beyond. GPOAccess: If you're looking for US government information, tap into this tool that searches multiple databases at a time. Catalogs If you're looking for something specific, but just don't know where to find it, these catalogs will offer some assistance. Directories

Invisible Web Gets Deeper By Danny Sullivan From The Search Engine Report Aug. 2, 2000 I've written before about the "invisible web," information that search engines cannot or refuse to index because it is locked up within databases. Now a new survey has made an attempt to measure how much information exists outside of the search engines' reach. The study, conducted by search company BrightPlanet, estimates that the inaccessible part of the web is about 500 times larger than what search engines already provide access to. That sounds terrible, but as I've commented numerous times before, the size of a search engine does not necessarily equate to its relevancy or usefulness. For example, assume you wanted to do a trademark search against databases in various parts of the world. To date, meta search tools like this have been few and far between. BrightPlanet now has its own resource locator tool called CompletePlanet. Don't expect a web based version of LexiBot to be coming. Now let me make one final distinction.

Database search engine There are several categories of search engine software: Web search or full-text search (example: Lucene), database or structured data search (example: Dieselpoint), and mixed or enterprise search (example: Google Search Appliance). The largest web search engines such as Google and Yahoo! utilize tens or hundreds of thousands of computers to process billions of web pages and return results for thousands of searches per second. High volume of queries and text processing requires the software to run in highly distributed environment with high degree of redundancy. Searching for text-based content in databases or other structured data formats (XML, CSV, etc.) presents some special challenges and opportunities which a number of specialized search engines resolve. Database search engines were initially (and still usually are) included with major database software products. See also[edit] External links[edit] Searching for Text Information in Databases

Finding Evidence for Comparing Medical Interventions - Methods Guide – Chapter Methods Guide – Chapter – Jan. 5, 2011 Formats This is a chapter from the methods guide, "Methods Guide for Effectiveness and Comparative Effectiveness Reviews." This report has also been published in edited form: Relevo R, Balshem H. Finding evidence for comparing medical interventions: AHRQ and the Effective Health Care Program. Table of Contents Comparative Effectiveness Reviews are systematic reviews of existing research on the effectiveness, comparative effectiveness, and harms of different health care interventions. The Methods Guide for Effectiveness and Comparative Effectiveness Reviews is a living document, and will be updated as further empiric evidence develops and our understanding of better methods improves. This document was written with support from the Effective Health Care Program at AHRQ None of the authors has a financial interest in any of the products discussed in this document. Suggested citation: Relevo R, Balshem H. Authors Rose Relevo, M.L.I.S., M.S., AHIP1 Key Points

The Ultimate Guide to the Invisible Web Search engines are, in a sense, the heartbeat of the internet; “Googling” has become a part of everyday speech and is even recognized by Merriam-Webster as a grammatically correct verb. It’s a common misconception, however, that Googling a search term will reveal every site out there that addresses your search. Typical search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing actually access only a tiny fraction — estimated at 0.03% — of the internet. The sites that traditional searches yield are part of what’s known as the Surface Web, which is comprised of indexed pages that a search engine’s web crawlers are programmed to retrieve. "As much as 90 percent of the internet is only accessible through deb web websites." So where’s the rest? So what is the Deep Web, exactly? Search Engines and the Surface Web Understanding how surface pages are indexed by search engines can help you understand what the Deep Web is all about. How is the Deep Web Invisible to Search Engines? Reasons a Page is Invisible Art

Recommended Gateway Sites for the Deep Web Recommended Gateway Sites for the Deep Web And Specialized and Limited-Area Search Engines This portion of the Internet consists of information that requires interaction to display such as dynamically-created pages, real-time information and databases. Currently estimated to be over 100 times larger than the surface web, the Deep Web houses billions of documents in databases and other sources, over 95% of which are available to the public. As crawler-based search engines cannot access these documents, specialized sources such as these currently provide our only access. General Gateways | Humanities | Social Sciences Science and Technology | Health Sciences Business and Government | Reference, Popular Culture | Other General Gateways: Invisible Web Directory (highly recommended) An excellent gateway to some of the best research-oriented invisible web resources available. ALTIS - Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Artifact - Arts and Creative Industries Other:

KMLE Medical Dictionary - Online medical dictionary, terminology, abbreviations, drugs Invisible Web: What it is, Why it exists, How to find it, and Its inherent ambiguity What is the "Invisible Web", a.k.a. the "Deep Web"? The "visible web" is what you can find using general web search engines. It's also what you see in almost all subject directories. The "invisible web" is what you cannot find using these types of tools. The first version of this web page was written in 2000, when this topic was new and baffling to many web searchers. These types of pages used to be invisible but can now be found in most search engine results: Pages in non-HTML formats (pdf, Word, Excel, PowerPoint), now converted into HTML. Why isn't everything visible? There are still some hurdles search engine crawlers cannot leap. The Contents of Searchable Databases. How to Find the Invisible Web Simply think "databases" and keep your eyes open. Use Google and other search engines to locate searchable databases by searching a subject term and the word "database". Examples: plane crash database languages database toxic chemicals database Remember that the Invisible Web exists.

100 Amazing How-To Sites at Rated Colleges Posted by Site Administrator in Online Learning May 7th, 2009 Learning new skills and expanding your knowledge doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. There are loads of free resources on the Web that can help you find instructional videos, tutorials and classes to learn a wide variety of skills from fixing basic car problems to speaking another language. With 100 sites to choose from, you’re bound to find something here that will help you learn just about anything you could want. General Tutorials These sites offer a wide range of tutorials and videos. Around the House Want to know how to fix that broken cabinet or hang up some great wallpaper? Business and Management If you feel like you’re seriously lacking on business and management skills at work, no need to worry. KnowThis? Language and Writing Those who want to learn a new language, improve their writing skills or just learn more about literature will be well-served by these instructional sites. Technology Math S.O.S. Science Creativity

Union of Intelligible Associations Top 40 Useful Sites To Learn New Skills The web is a powerful resource that can easily help you learn new skills. You just have to know where to look. Sure, you can use Google, Yahoo, or Bing to search for sites where you can learn new skills , but I figured I’d save you some time. Here are the top 40 sites I have personally used over the last few years when I want to learn something new. Hack a Day - Hack a Day serves up fresh hacks (short tutorials) every day from around the web and one in-depth ‘How-To hack’ guide each week.eHow - eHow is an online community dedicated to providing visitors the ability to research, share, and discuss solutions and tips for completing day-to-day tasks and projects.Wired How-To Wiki - Collaborate with Wired editors and help them build their extensive library of projects, hacks, tricks and tips.

UNdata

Related: