Google may be the largest search engine, but it's not the best for everything. Sure, if you want a quick answer to aspecific questions, Google can usually find it.
But what if you are searching for an article that has been professionally written and fact-checked? Google will probably find it, but you may have to scroll
through hundreds of irrelevant results before you find what you're looking for.
Here are some specialty search engines that I use. Check them out next time you need to search for high-quality content. Most of the content is written by experts in the field and by journalists. Not guaranteed to be the absolute truth, but certainly more reliable overall than a random blogger who makes full use of the freedom-of-speech law to voice opinions that have questionable basis in fact.
FindArticles.com
Here you'll find popular and trade publications in a variety of subject areas, including technology, health, careers,, economy and more. Search by topic or by publication.
On a recent search for autism statistics I got results from Community Practitioner, USA Today, Roeper Review, several press releases and other results.
This is a good source to check when you're looking for material for articles and presentations. Of course, you wouldn't plagiarize, but you can get a good idea of what the key issues are and how experts interpret them.
You can even contact those experts (here's where Google can help) for additional information about their work.
Wolfram Alpha
This is not a search engine. It's a computational engine that aggregates factual knowledge on a topic. For example, a search for ADHD yielded statistics by age, race and geographic region, the types and frequency of medication prescribed, and how treatment is paid for.
It's a good tool to find factoids on just about anything.
The Siri assistant in the iPhone uses Wolfram Alpha to retrieve information in response to user queries.
Some geeks with too much time on their hands have found some fun things to do with this tool, including finding Scrabble words (complete with scores), generating a password, finding out how common your name is, and computing your body mass index.
Scirus.com
Scirus claims to be "the most comprehensive science-specific search engine on the Internet." For medical and scientific search results, it rivals Google Scholar by giving you more options to refine your search results. Filter by journal, by file type and by sub-category. You can even save and export specific items in your search results.
