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About this Virtual Library
Usage: This section of the WWW Virtual Library system is a frequently updated Internet directory of over 2000 annotated links to high-quality English-language sources of current information and analysis in a wide range of international affairs, international relations, international studies, global studies, and global education topics. These sites are carefully selected for their long-term value, including only those with cost-free, authoritative information and analysis online. Each website is described only in general terms because of the typically rapid changes in details of its contents and features. You can use the constant menu on the left-hand side of every page to navigate this whole directory, to find annotated sources of interest to you. Search within those remote sites to find the information that you seek. Resources are listed alphabetically on each page, within categories. Any major directories, specialized search engines, other locator services, or blogs are featured at the top of each page. All referred sites will open in a new window or tab of your browser.
Policies: This site is based at Elizabethtown College, PA, USA. It does not use cookies, intrusive programs, or spyware. All information collected at this site is non-intrusive, such as site usage statistics. Such information will not be used for any purpose other than the evaluation and improvement of this site for the benefit of its users. All descriptive statements taken verbatim from the web sites annotated in this Virtual Library are in quotes. The WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources is not responsible for changes in the content of remote web sites that we link and annotate, but over which we have no control. Any subsequent change of ownership or hacking of an annotated remote site may lead to radical changes in the nature or the contents of that site, but still located at or referred through that same URL.
Quality Internet
search techniques must be learned and practiced to be
effective. Just entering a couple of words into Google
with the hope of "finding something" is not a serious or
adequate research strategy.
• The University of California at Berkeley
posts an extensive tutorial at Finding Information on the Internet: A
Tutorial.
• BBC's WebWise is a thorough free online interactive tutorial on the use of the Internet, for beginners, from the British Broadcasting Corporation.
• Laura Cohen, Web Support Librarian,
University at Albany, SUNY, writes and posts very helpful
and frequently updated Internet
Tutorials on using and searching the Internet.
• The Ohio State University Libraries offer net.TUTOR, free "interactive tutorials on basic tools and techniques for becoming an effective Internet researcher."
• The Virtual
Training Suite, from the UK, is "a set of
[free, subject-specific] online tutorials designed to help
students, lecturers and researchers improve their Internet
information skills. The tutorials offer self-directed
learning, take around an hour each to complete, and
include quizzes and interactive exercises to lighten the
learning experience." Many subject matters and their key
sites are featured.
• Your use of the Google search engine
may be aided by consulting the advice from Google's Web Search
Help and Inside Search
pages and the Official Google
Blog. There is also an informative unofficial blog
called Google
Operating System.
• Google
Scholar "enables you to search specifically for
scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers,
theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports
from all broad areas of research... to find articles from
a wide variety of academic publishers, professional
societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well
as scholarly articles available across the web." Many
international affairs sources are included.
• Useful complements to Google include Bing, Yahoo!,
Blekko,
and Ask,
because they all have their own (and different) indexing
systems. Alta Vista and Startpage
also have useful features. Metasearch engines such as Dogpile and
Mamma
compile responses from several major search engines into
one set of results.
• "Top
15 Most Popular Search Engines" is a constantly
updated ranking from eBizMBA.
• "100
Search Engines for Academic Research," from
TeachThought, is a multidisciplinary list to help you
"discover the very best search engine for finding the
academic results you’re looking for."
• "12
Fabulous Academic Search Engines," from Educational
Technology and Mobile Learning, suggests search engines
that are "area or content specific."
• Scirus
is "the most comprehensive science-specific search engine
on the Internet [and] searches over 545 million
science-specific Web pages," including many international
studies social science resources. The "Advanced Search"
feature is useful for international affairs searches.
• Of special
interest for international affairs searching is Glearch,
which allows you to search for language and
country-specific content in "top results from Google,
Yahoo and Bing as well as the most popular search engines
for the selected country."
• Puzzled by all these search engines? There are thousands of them, and some relatively unknown ones may be of interest to you. Resolve your doubts and uncertainties at the following: Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Showdown, and Pandia Search and Social. About's Web Search explains search engines and techniques, and offers a weekly newsletter.
• Search Engine Colossus, Search
Engines 2, and Search Engine Guide are
comprehensive global master directories of local search
engines for regional, country, or language-specific
searches. Yahoo! provides country-specific, regional, and official government site search options.
• The "Deep Web" is a vast area of the Internet (probably well over half of it) that most search engines fail to index. CompletePlanet helps you to reach those depths through thousands of databases, directories, and specialty search engines. Also see Alisa Miller's "100 Useful Tips and Tools to Research the Deep Web."
• "Academic and Scholar Search Engines and
Sources" by Marcus P. Zillman, Executive Director of
the Virtual Private Library and Internet
search expert, is a helpful "research paper [in PDF]
listing selected resources both new and existing that will
help anyone who is attempting to find academic and
scholarly information and knowledge available on the
Internet." Of special interest is his Searching the Internet page. Mr.
Zillman also posts a list of his excellent and numerous White
Papers on Internet research.
• Research Buzz is a website and newsletter that covers search strategies, "search engines, databases, digitization projects, and all kinds of online information collections."
• Cornell University Library presents
tips on how to evaluate the quality and reliability of
sources on the Web, which is a major concern for serious
users.
• For translations, try Bing Translator and Google
Translate. Dictionary.com
translates text and Web pages among many languages. See
the General Resources for Foreign Languages
page of this WWW Virtual Library for more free online
translation resources, among diverse languages.
• Many of the larger online publications
are in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF),
rather than in browser-readable HTML. In order to download
and view these files, you will need the Adobe
Acrobat Reader, downloadable in several languages
without charge from the Adobe Web site.
• Practice a foreign language or listen to online stations worldwide with RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, or Winamp. Also enjoy the convenient paid vTuner to find thousands of online stations. Select stations from the links found in the "International Radio and Television" section of this site.
Other Major
International Affairs Resource Directories and
Databanks
• GUISD Pew Case Study Center-- From the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, numerous free case studies and case reference material for use in teaching international relations and related subjects. Free registration is required.
• The International
and Area Studies Commons of the Social
and Behavioral Sciences Commons posts thousands of
open-source academic papers in international and area
studies topics.
• Open Access Theses and
Dissertations-- "Index of over 1.6 million
electronic theses and dissertations... [mainly] records of
graduate-level theses that are freely available online,"
including many on international topics.
• Political Research Online (PROL)--
Thousands of pre-publication professional papers are
available for cost-free download here, many of them in
international studies topics. This site is a collaborative
effort of the American Political Science Association and a
consortium of political science and related organizations
to make conference, other preprint, and research center
and institute papers widely accessible.
• Political Science Resources-- Collection of links edited by Richard Kimber.
• The Social Science Research
Network "is devoted to the rapid worldwide
dissemination of social science research and is composed
of a number of specialized research networks in each of
the social sciences." Thousands of academic and research
institute papers are available for free download,
including many in international studies topics.