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Research Skills & Source Evaluation
Did you know that the majority of the internet is invisible to Google?
'Paid-for' research databases and encyclopaedias, statistics from governments, private collections, research for corporations, papers written by large organisations and social networks - you may need the sources for your essay - and many are invisible to Google, Yahoo, et al.
The following resources are mostly compiled by experts, so the quality is usually high. They are available on the internet but many are 'hidden' on secure servers. The content available is partially invisible to search engines, so you must go to them directly to search them.
For those who really want to know more - there is an excellent (long) document from the NSA (yes, that NSA!) that explains the nature of the internet, and describes many different techniques for mining the internet for information - Untangling the Web (35Mb PDF file)
The best for History, Economics, Geography - it collects academic journals on the Humanities. Kinda like EBSCO, but open and free. It has Sciences & Maths too, but Humanities is its strength.
Database of academic journals of all types. It searches 2500 free academic journals online.
The sister site to DOAJ. It searches university repositories for collections of theses, articles, and other web stuff.
Australian & New Zealand digital theses online for free. Check that the Available Online box is ticked. A thesis is like a mega EE done at university.
A digital archive - European museums have joined forces to scan and store Europe's cultural heritage. Heaps of books, articles, art, objects, etc - for free.
Specialist search engines
Specialist search engines
These search engines are designed to find one thing well.
A Visual arts & Design database. Contains pictures, web-links and articles.
A Science & Maths database from Cornell university.
Video search engine that checks YouTube, Hulu, & TV websites, for the best videos.
Finds downloadable sounds. Anything from animal to vehicle.
Really good for finding free images. Anything you find using this engine is free from copyright (but don't forget the citation).
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