Search Tools Defined:

Search Engines
A search engine is a searchable database of Internet files collected by a computer program (called a crawler, robot, worm, spider). Indexing is automatically created from the collected files. There are no selection criteria for the collection of files.
(Tip: Besides Google, try AlltheWeb or Teoma. Don’t forget to explore and use the "advanced search" features.)

Subject Directories
Subject directories are collections of many links on a topic. They are compiled with human input and can help locate "the best" on a topic.
(Tip: Two popular subject directories for law are Findlaw and Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute. Also click here for a good list of academic-oriented subject directories.)

Invisible (or Deep) Web
The "visible Web" is what you can retrieve or "see" in the search results of search engines. The "invisible (or deep) Web" is the information that you cannot retrieve ("see"). Searchable databases make up a large part of the invisible Web. The invisible Web is estimated to offer two to three times as many pages as the visible Web.
(Tip: Click here for information on the Invisible Web.)

Sample Searches: Search Engines

Example: Google

Basic search: agricultural law bibliography
Select: Bibliography -- The AALA AgLaw Article Database
Select: AgLaw Bibliography
You can search the contents of the bibliography or browse the categories.
Tip: including the terms bibliography, research guide, or pathfinder in your search terms may help you find a list of resources in your area of interest.

Advanced search: "property law" -intellectual site:edu
Tip: Use advanced search techniques to focus your search by:

• Enclosing phrases in quotation marks
• Using a minus sign ("-") immediately in front of a term you want to exclude from the search. (Be sure to include a space before the minus sign.)
• Restricting your search to educational Web sites by using the "site" operator to search only for "edu" domains. (You can also use this operator to search only a particular Web site, e.g. www.law.drake.edu.)

Sample Searches: Subject Directories

Example: AllLearn: Academic Directories
(Guides to high quality resources on the Internet in the academic disciplines maintained for distance learners by Oxford, Stanford, and Yale Universities.)
Select: Political Science
Select: U.S. Politics and Government
Select: Topics
Select: American Political Development
Sample record: Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Papers

Example: SOSIG (Social Science Information Gateway)
(Provides high quality Internet resources selected by the SOSIG team for researchers and practitioners in the social sciences, business and law." Has UK focus but includes many helpful resources from other jurisdictions.)
Select: Law
Select: Law by Subject Area
Select: Criminal Law and Procedure (Lists resources by type of document)
Select: Penal Law (Under "Documents-Digests")
Sample record: Penal Law: A Web

Searching the Invisible (or Deep) Web

Searchable databases and other invisible Web material can be found by searching in most general Web subject directories (see examples above).
(Tip: adding database to your search terms in Google may help you find searchable databases in your area of interest.)

Two useful sites for exploring what the invisible Web has to offer are:

• The Invisible Web Directory

• direct search

Examples of searchable databases:

• Federal District-Court Civil Trials
  Provides a database of about 3.7 million federal district-court civil cases terminated over 17 fiscal years. The data were gathered by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, assembled by the Federal Judicial Center, and disseminated by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. The database is made available to the public for performing certain statistical analyses.

• Federal Justice Statistics Database
  The FJSP database is constructed from data files provided by the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA), the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC), the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC), and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The AOUSC provides criminal court data, as well as data collected by the Pretrial Services Administration (PSA), the U.S. courts of appeals (APPEALS), and the Federal Probation Supervision Information System (FPSIS).

Helpful Sites:

• Recommended Search Tools
  This resource (part of the Teaching Library Internet Workshops of the University of California-Berkeley) aids users in choosing the best tools to use for different kinds of searches. It defines search engines, search directories, and the "invisible Web" and offers tips on when to use what. Highlight of the site is a detailed features table that explains Boolean syntax, phrase searching, truncation, and field searching, among other features, for several services.

  Search Engine Showdown: The Users' Guide to Web Searching
  Greg Notess (librarian at Montana State University) summarizes, reviews, and compares the search features and database scope of Internet search engines and finding aids.

• Searching the Internet: Recommended Sites and Search Techniques
  Written by Laura Cohen (librarian at the State University of New York at Albany), this tutorial explores search engines, subject directories, and the "invisible Web" to help you gain skills in conducting research on the Internet.

• Google Guide
  Produced by Nancy Blachman, this is a handy Web guide to using Google. The site is designed for searchers who want to understand how Google actually does its job. Coverage focuses on functionality and features.

• Searchability
  A list of multi-subject guides (with descriptions) to thousands of search engines covering hundreds of subjects. Listed in approximate order of size, specificity of subject categories, and some aspects of search engine collection quality.

• Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask
  This page is organized to combine the two techniques into a process that begins with looking at your search results from a search engine or other source, follows through by investigating the content of page, and extends beyond the page to what others may say about the page or its author(s). (Prepared by University of California-Berkeley Libraries)

• Helpful Book:Web of Deception: Misinformation on the Internet, ed. by Anne P. Mintz. Medford, N.J : CyberAge Books, 2002. Call Number: ZA4201 .W43 2002