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Beyond
Websites and search engines recommended for locating quality information
"To the Google!" -- Everyone's response when looking up something on the internet.
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But is Google really your best bet?
Sure it's become part of our everyday vocabulary. Phrases like "Google it" or "Let me check Google" are commonplace. Google is a part of our everyday lives. But the Google search engine isn't the best place to start looking for your answers.
Google uses your history to generate results. For example, if you are an avid traveller, your results when searching up a country for a project will be vastly different than someone who doesn't look up travel companies but instead searches for sports results.
It's important to remember that there are other places you can search for information that are just as free and easy to use. Here are some other search engines where you can also find quality information:
Search Engines
SweetSearch
Getting poor results from your search engine? SweetSearch quickly searches through over 35,000 websites that have been hand-selected by experts for students.
Wolfram|Alpha
WolframAlpha is a computational search engine that actually works to figure out the answer to your questions by searching through reliable data sources. Normal search engines bring you back thousands of sites that you then have to filter through. WolframAlpha works differently and can help you with your Science, Math, History and Technology questions.
Creative Commons Images
Flickr's Creative Commons
Flickr contains thousands of images that can be used for free! The different copyright licenses are explained on the page, so you can know to what extent you can use each image.
CopyrightFriendly/Creative Commons/Fair Use - Springfield Township High School
The library at Springfield Township High School (not THAT Springfield!) has created a great list of Fair Use websites hosting images that are free for you to use.
Creative Commons Search
Find images, media, music, and more that you can use, adapt, and remix. Creative Commons Search hunts through sites like Google, Flickr, and Pixabay to find free content that you can use legally online.
Smithsonian Open Access
The Smithsonian is one of America's oldest museums. Known as "the nation's attic" the Smithsonian has open access to all museums and galleries free to the public. Their online holdings are free as well. You can download, share, and reuse the nearly 3 million two-dimensional and three-dimensional images which includes images from the Smithsonian's 19 museums, 9 research centres, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo.
Other Resources
Snopes
Possibly Ms. Caines' favourite website for debunking rumours, Facebook shares, and fake news. Snopes provides fact-checking for many different popular news articles, memes, and other online information. If you come across something weird or just too good to be true, try putting it into Snopes. Chances are it's fake.
Debatepedia
The Wikipedia of debates! Create and build a credible argument with this encyclopedia of pros and cons on thousands of topics and critical issues.
NationMaster
This website offers current global statistics and facts on cost of living, crime, education, government, and much more for over 180 different countries.
OneLook
Look up definitions, find synonyms, and browse different languages in over 1000 dictionaries at once.
PoemHunter
Search for poems by hundreds of authors, genres, and topics. You can even create a personalized list of your favourites.
TED
TED Talks are short videos showcasing professionals and educators sharing information freely. There are over 2600 TED Talks with an additional 5-7 being posted each week.
World Factbook (CIA)
The CIA World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, and many other topics on over 267 world entities. The site is maintained and updated weekly by the US Government with the primary goal to share information openly between all nations.
WordReference
WordReference can translate over 20 different languages including French, Spanish, German, Russian, Polish, and Greek. You can also view definitions and look up synonyms in many different languages.
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