Doing research? Start from an information gateway

When starting out on researching a topic, you'll probably want a broad overview. You won't get that from a Google search. Instead use an information gateway site.

An information gateway (sometimes called a hub) includes links to hundreds or thousands of websites grouped by subject area. These are ideal when you are in the early stages of a search, or when you want to see what's related to your topic.

Here are some examples:


One of the oldest general information hubs on the Web, About.com (now owned by New York Times) is maintained by live "Guides" who collect information from various sources and put it together in different subject areas. It's like an annotated bibliography.


Librarians Index to the Internet is a publicly funded service, run by a team of librarians - information specialists.


dmoz is the Open Directory Project. The "dmoz"moniker is from the original name, Directory Mozilla. It's a human-edited directory, using volunteer editors from around the world.


Intute is a UK-based gateway to four specific subject areas: Science and technology, Arts and humanites, Social sciences, and Health and life sciences.


Pauline
teachmeinternet.com