Search Engines for Student Use

WEB RESOURCES Search Engines for Student Use

Yahooligans: this directory lists information by broad category, then by specific topic, at a child’s level of comprehension http://www.yahooligans.com

Ask Jeeves for Kids: this search engine is especially easy for students to use; it allows students to ask a question in plain English and, after asking a series of follow-up confirmation questions, directs students to the website that best answers it http://www.ajkids.com

Kid’s Tools for Searching the Internet: Netscape’s directory lists several child-friendly search engines in categories such as “Screened,” “Selected,” and “Just for Fun”; search engines include, Scholastic Web Guide, Berit’s Best Sites, and many others http://www.rcls.org/ksearch.htm

All-in-One Search: this site alphabetically lists over 500 of the Internet’s best search engines, databases, indexes, and directories; students can learn the different features and performance of search engines by entering the same search words in several engines’ entry fields and comparing the results http://www.allonesearch.com

Google: Google provides search results ranked on site popularity; by automatically assessing and ranking a page’s importance by evaluating the types of pages that link to it, Google claims that its results are the most objective because they are completely Internet-driven; Google offers a SafeSearch On/Off option for sites to limit students’ searches http://www.google.com

HotBot: HotBot’s advantage is its exact word search, which helps to focus results; also, it lists results with the dates they were found or created, which help’s evaluate their relevance http://www.hotbot.com

Ask an Expert: lists preselected experts and related sites to answer questions on a variety of subjects such as health, science, and technology, animals, careers, and art; students can perform a keyword search that results in a listing of related site links, or can select a category listing of site links http://www.askanexpert.com