Search Resources & Other Useful Miscellany

A really cool World Clock!
Academic Index is a meta-search engine that includes results from mega-information indexes and includes only research-quality reference and information sources selected by professional educators, and educational and library consortia.
Digital Earth: GeoWeb is "a vision for making all geographically referenced, or georeferenced, data available on the Web."
Research Beyond Google - the name says it all!. A quite comprehensive collection of research sites.
The Visual Dictionary Online connects words with images.
The Literacy Project "is a resource for teachers, literacy organizations and anyone interested in reading and education, created in collaboration with LitCam, Google, and UNESCO’s Institute for Lifelong Learning."
News archive search provides an easy way to search and explore historical archives.
Google Scholar is the search tool for academic journals and papers.
WikiLeaks.org exposes the darkest secrets of world governments, financial institutions, the military, religious groups, and everyone else who would rather we not know the truth behind the powers that be.
Online Newspapers provides links to most of the online newspapers worldwide.
ZABA Search is a free public information search engine.
Gumshoe Librarian represents a timely broad but selective range of resources on topics that include business and corporate data, global news, search engines, guides to international and comparative law, country profiles and statistics, locating people, businesses, places and useful services around the world, banking resources, and data on terrorism and security issues.
Scholars Resource is a great search tool for great art!

Search, Etc.

tree roots searching for water as constantly as strong and open minds search for the truth Yes, we all know that the Internet is about information and certainly technology has increased our ability to research any subject quickly and easily. However the ability to assess the reliability of the information that we find has become a skill that has been lost just as quickly and in equal proportion to the new information we have gained so easily. It is always a good idea and the sign of a strong and healthy intellect to have an open and questioning mind about everything. And remember - opinion, whether it is your own or someone else's, is not to be confused with fact.

Here are a few simple rules that will help you in assessing the reliability of any information - regardless of whether it is found on the Internet, read in a book, a newspaper or magazine, heard on the radio or television, learned in the classroom or passed on from friends and/or family:

1. How current is the information?
2. Who is the source? (this may require going back quite a long way in the case of information that is sent out and passed on via e-mail)
3. Does the source have an agenda?
4. Is the source an expert in this particular field?
5. Is the information based on researchable and documented fact or is it based on opinion and/or speculation?

This page is a collection of useful search tools and other helpful resources that I hope you will find both useful and convenient. We all know and love Google but there are a number of other sources such targeted search engines and focused interest sites that we hope you will also find helpful.