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Searching the Internet:
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Subject Directories

Definition: A subject directory is a service that offers a collection of links to Internet resources submitted by site creators or evaluators and organized into subject categories. Directory services use selection criteria for choosing links to include, though the selectivity varies among services. Most directories are searchable.

Directories are useful when you are doing topic-based research. If you have a research project, or need to explore an idea, event, subject area, proposition, phenomenon, etc., directories are a good place to begin. Visit search engines for very targeted or obscure topics, multi-concept queries and searches for specific people, sites, etc. Directories are the better place to begin your research on topics.

General Tips

  1. There are two basic types of directories: academic and professional directories often created and maintained by subject experts to support the needs of researchers, and directories contained on commercial portals that cater to the general public and are competing for traffic.
  2. Academic and professional directories are created by librarians or subject experts and tend to be associated with libraries and academic institutions. These collections are created in order to enhance the research process and help users find high quality sites of interest. A careful selection process is applied, and links to the selected resources are usually annotated. These collections are often created to serve an institution's constituency but may be useful to any researcher. As a rule, these sites do not generate income or carry advertising. INFOMINE, from the University of California, is an example of an academic directory.
  3. Commercial portals are created to generate income and serve the general public. These services contain directories that link to a wide range of topics and often emphasize entertainment, commerce, hobbies, sports, travel and other interests not necessarily covered by academic directories. These sites seek to draw traffic in order to support advertising. As a part of this goal, the directory is offered in conjunction with a number of additional customer services. LookSmart is an example of a commercial portal.
  4. Subject directories differ significantly in selectivity. Consider the policies of any directory that you visit.
  5. One challenge to the above is the fact that not all directory services are willing to disclose either their policies or the names and qualifications of site reviewers.
  6. The lines between directories, search engines and the deep Web are blurring. The deep Web is often represented by searchable news, phone books, dictionaries, maps, stock quotes, items in retail stores, multimedia files, etc. Directories are also present at some search engine sites, and sometimes their contents are searched along with content from the general Web. For example, AltaVista offers the LookSmart directory.

    Directory results are sometimes placed before search engine results in order to steer users to the directory's content. This can be a useful way of getting at substantive content relating to your query.

  7. Most subject directories are searchable. For more information, see General Search Strategies later in this tutorial.

Two subject directories useful for initial exploration are Yahoo and BUBL LINK. These services illustrate vastly different policies for the selection and evaluation of sites to include in their collections.

Let's take a closer look at the Yahoo Directory. >>

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