Finding Your Topic
Picking a Topic
| RefDesk | Free and family friendly web site reviewing high quality internet resources. |
| RefSeek | Search academic sites and documents for a variety of subjects. |
| AcademicInfo | Browse a long list of relevant sites and guides for any topic of interest. |
Related topics
| Google | Use google’s related searches to find more hidden topics within your topic. |
| Bing | Find your topic and click related searches for more ideas on what to look for. |
Narrow My Topic
| SurfWax | Find the latest news and feeds for your topic within the past 7 days. |
| iSeek | Narrow down your search by result type, grade level, subject, subtopic, sources and file types. |
| Wikipedia | Find an article on your topic, then check the table of contents for more ideas. |
Controversial Topics
| Google Trends | Check the latest news, data and trends people are searching for. |
| Idebate | Use the search bar and get all the “Points For” and “Against for” of a topic. |
| ProCon | Get the Pros & Cons for a wide variety of subjects. |
Background for my Topic
| SweetSearch | Get information about your topic from academic articles and websites only. |
| Wikipedia | Find an article and check the resources and links pointing out for more information. |
| Britannica | An encyclopedia to get related articles and accurate information about your topic of interest. |
High Quality Results
Chosen by Experts
| Libguides | Find guides for your topic coming from university and educational related websites only. |
| Infotopia | A search engine for students and a resource website for multiple subjects. |
Personal Help
| AllExperts | Get answers for your questions from many volunteering experts. |
| Ask a librarian | Get research advice from a professional librarian. May take a few days for a reply |
Quality Sites
| Google.com | Top of the results on google have high quality content and popularity. |
| Quora.com | Top answers are written by experts with their credentials listed. You can find high quality links from their answers as well. |
Primary Sources
Peer-Reviewed Journals
By Discipline
Official Government Information
| USA.gov | Get official information from the US Government. |
| Foreign Governments | Alphabetical list of the official websites of national governments worldwide. |
| UK Government | Information and services from the UK’s government website |
In depth Information about a Country or Territory
Science & Engineering
| Scopus | Subscription based search engine for books, journals and conference proceedings. |
| Google Scholar | Find research papers, articles, patents and journals from any scientific discipline. |
| National Science Digital Library | Refine your search based on your education level and subject. |
Health
| MedlinePlus | Find everything about diseases and other any other health topic. |
| Mayo Clinic | Use the search bar to find anything related to health. |
| Kids Health | Health related information for kids and parents. |
Legal Documents, Agencies & News
| FindLaw | Learn about the law, search cases and find news or specific cases across the US. |
| Legal Information Institute | Worldwide information about the law including legal primary resources and law related articles organized by topics. |
| State Legislative Websites Directory | A database of all U.S state legislatures and territories’ home page, statutes, bills, issues, legislators and more. |
Creative & Performing Arts
| Intute Resource Archive | Use drop down menu and select arts or humanities for a detailed and organized list of resources. |
| Art History on the Web | Resources for every timeline of art history. |
| JURN | A customer search of thousands of e-journals and articles. Contains 3,000 links to selected to free journals in the arts & humanities. |
By Timeline
Last Hour
| Google | Use google’s advanced search settings and select past hour. |
| Google Trends | Find topics & pictures within the past hours. |
Today
| Google News | Get the latest news and topics. Refine your search any category and location. |
| NewsNow | Breaking global news & headlines as seen by the UK |
| Newseum | Browse today’s front page treatment of news from nearly 780 newspapers across the country. |
Recent
| Google | Limit your search by any timeline you wish. |
| Yahoo News | Similarly, search for news and filter by time period. |
Recent & Detailed
| BBC Special Reports | In-depth coverage of current worldwide topics. |
| New York Times Topics | Collected news, reference, photos, graphics, audio and video files for every topic listed. |
| PolitiFact | Search news by using a keyword and browse facts & statements made by Congressmen, the White Houses and other political groups. |
Long term studies & reports
Particular Period ( era, decade or century)
| HistoryWorld | Enter a starting year and a topic . Then get a timeline with information and images for each period. |
| Wikipedia List of Timelines | A complete list of timelines for any topic. Ex: human activity, film industry, Universe Timeline. |
Historical
| American Memory | The United States’ primary source of documents and images. Browse by topic, period, medium and place. |
| ipl2 | Go to the history section or use the search to find your topic |
| Digital History | High quality resources including primary resources, historical documents, multimedia and guides. |
.Ancient
| Ancient History Sourcebook | A search bar for online resources which include ancient-texts, images, audio and more. You can also browse by regions. |
| ipl2 | Go to the the ancient history section or use the search bar for broad topics (Ex: Greece, Egypt). |
Facts
People
| Biography.com | Get biographies, videos and articles of the most famous people in history. Search by name, profession or any other keyword. |
| Who2 | A search engine for famous people. Each biography includes four links related to their work and other profiles. |
| Dictionary of Canadian Biography | Biographies for famous Canadians throughout history. |
Place
| CIA World Factbook | Get facts & current issues from every country. |
| Country Studies | Get text documents containing historical, social, economic, political and national security data of every country. |
| Stately Knowledge | Get facts, links and encyclopedia articles of every state in the US. |
Company
Quick Answers for References
| Ask.com | Get basic answers for facts, statistic, biographies, etc. |
| Britannica Encyclopedia | Get the basics for any topic. |
Opinion and Perspectives
Opinions on Current Issues
| Yahoo News | Get opinions from anchors, columnists and cartoonists for current issues. |
| Headline Spot | Headlines from every state in the USA and from international newspapers. |
| Polling Report | Browse results of U.S. public opinion surveys. |
News from other Countries Perspectives
| World Press | Get summaries and views coming from outside the USA. |
| Newspaperindex | A list of newspapers from around the world. |
| ABYZ News Links | Get broadcasts, news websites, newspapers, magazines and press agencies from every country. |
Multiple perspectives on hot social and political topics
| ProCons | Pro/con on current social issues written by experts. Links to related articles. |
| Public Agenda | An overview by the public of current social issues with pros and cons. |
| UN News Centre | Get News & issues as seen by the UN from each region and country |
Compare news treatment
| Newseum | Front pages of U.S. newspapers to compare |
| PressReader | Get news & reports from +100 countries and in +60 languages. |
Specific Type of Media
Maps
Photographs and Visual Images
| Google Image | Use the search bar to find an image and advanced settings to filter results by size, resolution & more. |
| Yahoo Images | Same as google |
| Flickr | Search user submitted photos by topic then filter out your results. |
Fine Art
| Artcyclopedia | Search by artists, subject, location or browse by Name, Medium, Subject. Filter results by images, articles, books, museums,etc. |
Video
| Google | Search by keywords and filter your results by using the Tools menu. |
| Aol Video | Browse videos by categories and subcategories. |
| Internet Archive | Get access to films, documentaries, news, series and other cultural videos. Filter results by topics and different sources. |
Radio
Music
| Google | For lyrics search for title/performer + “song lyrics”. For song’s history search for title + “origin”. |
Sounds
| FindSounds | Get sound effects and music samples. Select a category and filter your results by file format, resolution, sample rate and file size. |
Speeches
Quotations
| Bartleby.com | Quotations Find classic passages, phrases and proverbs. |
| Quotations Page | Search for quotations organized by the categories: author, motivational and subject. |
| Quoteland | Type a keyword or search by categories. |
Statistical data
| World Statistics | Links to worldwide websites containing statistics from every country. |
Dictionary or TheSaurus
Encyclopedias
| Wikipedia | Volunteer-created and collaboratively edited. Useful for references and current topics. Information can easily be altered but quickly repaired. |
| Britannica Encyclopedia | Information reviewed by experts. More reliable |
Almanac Data
Books and Other Printed Works
| WorldCat | Find Books and Reviews. Check your local library’s catalog |
| Google Scholar | View Free and Paid scholarly articles and journals. Locate more information by checking citations. Use advanced search to filter results by author, title, date and subject area. |
| Google Books | Search books by title, author or any keywords found inside books. |
Special Requirements
Periodic search with Notifications of new results sent to you
| Giga Alert | Get notifications of new search results sent to your email everyday (Up to 3 search queries for free subscriptions). |
| Google Alerts | Get an email notification by google itself send to your email whenever new results are found for your topic. (No limit in number of queries) |
Results by Country of Origin
| Google | Use advanced search to find websites of different countries by domain name or by language used. |
Search Engine outside the U.S
Locate Resources by File Type
| Google | Use advanced search and select file type (.pdf, .ps, .doc, .xls, .ppt, .rtf) |
| Yahoo | Click on File Format to limit results by file type (.html, .pdf, .doc, .xls, .ppt, .xml, .txt) |
Are you a…
Kid
| Kids Click | Shows only kid friendly sites with educational content (grades K-7). Selected by librarians. |
| ipl2 for Kids | Kid friendly search engine. |
| Kiddle | Visual and safe search engine for kids. |
Newbie to the Internet
| Google | Largest general purpose search engine |
| Yahoo | Large, general purpose search engine |
Research Expert
