Subject Directories,
or
There Is Somebody Out There

Search engines do a good job for basic everyday searches.  And a student can sometimes find useful material for college courses.  But there is another source of Internet information: "subject directories."  They may also be known by other names, such as "gateways," "portals," "subject guides," etc.

Subject directories differ from search engines in that actual persons:

• review the web pages and sites,
   
• decide whether they are good enough to include in the directory,
   
• determine their subjects,
   
• create the indexes or subject lists, and
   
• group the links to web pages and sites under these subjects.

No algorithms, no artificial counts of words and links and so forth.  Just knowledgeable people.  So when you find some material on your subject, it's exactly what it says it is.

Here's a good example.  It's a subject directory created and maintained by college librarians, people who have been creating subject guides to meaningful topics for centuries and have simply transferred their expertise to the Internet.

See the dragon looking at the monitor?  Check the three headings in light blue colors to the right of it.

1. Are you a geology major?  Try "Resources by Major."
    
2. Do you have an assignment involving a controversial subject?  Try "Hot Paper Topics."
    
3. Are you searching for information on a particular topic that you already have in mind?  Try the "Alphabetical Index."  In fact, why don't you explore this "Alphabetical Index" now.  You'll see that it's sort of like "browsing" the shelves of a college library.  We'll wait here while you browse the Best Information on the Net.

...Welcome back.

Next let's look at an OCC subject directory.