Searching a broad topic on the web

When several obvious words or a tight phrase do not define your topic, you have a broad topic that requires a directory rather than a search engine. Directories are sites that gather links to web pages under specific topics. These sites have human editors who screen out a fair amount of the junk and so ensure reasonably decent results. Directories come with search engines of their own that allow you to skip through several levels of hierarchy and find effective directory subject headings.

Usually a directory's search engine lists subject headings on top of the results page. Use these to find your topic.

Search topics that might work well with directories include:

• rainforests in the Amazon (Geography makes this topic slippery. "Amazon" can include Brazil, Peru, Amazonia, or Amazon. Rainforests can also be single or plural.);
• baseball players' salaries (Again words can be single or plural within this topic and earnings and compensation are synonyms for salaries. "Collective bargaining," is also a related topic to salaries since baseball players are unionized.);
• Cat breeds (There are probably a hundred different cat breeds, and breeding is not a synonym for breeds.).

Google Directory or Dmoz.org
The open directory project is one of the net's cleanest and most inclusive directories. It has its own search engine, and human editors select and maintain the directory.

Yahoo.com
One of the net's oldest directories. It too is still maintained by human editors and has Google and Lycos as back up search engines.

About.com
A collection of recommended web pages and articles sorted by subject. The search engine does not give directory topics, so it necessary to use the topic list in the lower lefthand corner or the channels on the leftside of the web page to gain access. About.com's human editors do especially well with nonacademic topics. Note: About is a commercial service with lots of sponsored links and ugly pop-ups, and pop-unders.

For more information on directories try Search Engines and Directories on Parade (from CSU) or the Search Engine Showdown (from Greg Notess).

Back to Searching for and Evaluating Internet Sources.

EHK -- January 2005