Many people think that "everything is on the Web." This is very, very far from the truth! While the Web is a wonderful resource for lots of information, it is usually not tbe best place to begin academic research. Here's a brief comparison of specialized library resources (such as those listed here in InfoTree!) and general web resources:

All of that being said, there still are some excellent research sources to be found on the web, but simply putting a couple of search terms into Google or Yahoo or AskJeeves is probably not the best way to find them!

If you are just beginning research on a topic, we recommend that you use one of several academically-oriented subject gateways (also sometimes called indexes or directories) instead of the more Yahoo or Google or other general-purpose search tools. Any of the three gateways listed below should lead you to numerous high-quality websites in a general subject area:

• Academic Info
• InfoMine
• Librarian's Index to the Internet

If you are looking for some very specific fact or detail, however, a general-purpose search engine such as Google or All the Web is the perfect tool. To make your searching faster and more efficient, be sure to look for and use the Advanced Search features of these search engines.

What info do I need to do a bibliography for a website?

For help on how to do bibliographies, see the Citing Your Sources section of this Research Starter Kit.