Web Search Tools

Research

Contact Information

Mahoney Library

 

Saint Elizabeth University
2 Convent Road
Morristown, NJ 07960

Ask A Librarian

Phone:
Main Desk: (973) 290-4237

Library Hours:
Mon-Fri 8am to 12am
Sat, Sun 2pm to 12am

Library services will be unavailable/closed:

  • Thursday, April 17 and Friday, April 18, 2025
  • Monday, May 26, 2025

While all of the search engines below are freely available online (meaning they don't have access to Mahoney Library's resources), they can still be useful for general searches and non-scholarly content. 

Academic Search Tools

Google Scholar (sign-in allows you to connect to full text in library databases)

  • Google Scholar searches scholarly content on the web, including journal articles, conference papers, technical reports, dissertations, court cases and legal documents.
  • Full text is often, but not always, available for free. If you use the link provided above, you'll be able to link through to full text when it is available in a subscribed collection. Some articles will also have a pdf copy attached to the right of the title. If there isn't full text access to an article, fill out an Interlibrary Loan Article request and we will work to get the article for you.

General Search Engines


Specialized Search Engines

  • Wolfram Alpha - get factual answers or do calculations, conversions
  • Qwant - results from web, news, knowledge graph, (pulled from Wikipedia), social media, & shopping
  • Good Search - each search earns you a penny toward a charity of your choice

Browser Download & Set Up

Go Back in Time

  • WayBack Machine
    Type in a URL and view how a site looked at various points in time.
  • Search Engine History, 1945-today
    From pre-web conceptualizations of search to the development of the 1990s, to directories and meta search engines, to search engine optimization and advertising ... learn how search has evolved into what you see today.

Search Tips

Keep In Mind:

  1. Not everything is online
  2. Always use more than one search tool. No search engine (or database) will have everything you need
  3. Try different search terms and combinations
  4. Visualize how the information might be phrased in the document you hope to find and let that guide your search terms
  5. Use the limit options available under the advanced search tool. This will give you more exact results
  6. If you know an organization that publishes on your topic, limit your results to that organization's website
  7. Always examine more than just the first few results
  8. Be wary of sponsored results. That website is at the top because they paid to be there, not because they're the best
  9. Never pay for any content without trying the library catalog and interlibrary loan first