Most people know and rely on search engines such as Google and Bing! today. It’s natural to believe that all the information on the internet is available through these powerful search tools, but that isn’t the case. In fact, the internet content available via search engines is often called the Surface Web. This is what you’re used to looking through, and the Deep Web is much larger.
Experts estimate that there is at least 500x more information held in the Deep Web than is available through search engine results pages. This is important to understand because much of that information is academic and useful. Whether you’re researching for work, for school, or for personal reasons, having access to Deep Web resources will make you a more effective researcher.
Deep Web Search Techniques
The Deep Web has vast stores of data that can be leveraged in so many ways. As a student, it’s possible to dig through countless academic articles, full journals, studies, and more on the Deep Web. Unfortunately, searching through this information can be complicated. You cannot find a single resource that will give you access to the information on the Deep Web.
Instead, you need to rely on many different search engines, academic paper repositories, online libraries, and much more to give you access to little pockets of available information that are actually safe.
There are many Deep Web search engines that give you access to resources from multiple locations. These are a good place for you to begin your research. With search engines like BASE, Elephind, Sokeo, Haystak, and others, you have access to significantly more information immediately. These engines are just a starting point for educational research, though, and you’ll want more focused resources for your research.
For instance, for any publicly available information inside the United States, your best resource is USA.gov. It’s loaded with useful data about taxes, jobs, USA agency data, and much more. The Directory of Open Access Journals, or DOAJ, is a powerful tool for getting into academic journals. More than 18,000 journals are included and are available for most areas of study.
Elephind is the tool of choice for looking at old newspaper stories and has more than 3.8 million papers available overall, and WorldCat is a tool to search available resources at hundreds of public libraries quickly.
Benefits of Deep Web Search in Academic Research
The Deep Web is a powerful resource for researching data that isn’t readily available online. Whether you’re searching for difficult academic papers, journals, and other scientific resources, you’re looking for unpublished data, or you want to look at highly specific niche categories that aren’t covered heavily in the Shallow Web, the Deep Web gives you more resources to pull on.
You will have to work harder to find valuable resources on the Deep Web, but once you know their location, you can save them and return whenever you need more data.
Challenges and Considerations in Deep Web Search
Shallow Web resources are visited and used by millions of individuals, so they are constantly tested and validated for their safety. Deep Web resources aren’t tested nearly so much. This makes them more risky to use than the more popular databases. If you’re going to search through Deep Web resources, you should do so carefully.
Access the resources through a proven VPN service to shield you from cyber threats. You should also consider researching any resource you locate before using it heavily, especially for academic purposes. You can use the Shallow Web to learn about Deep Web resources, validate them, and pick options that are linked to reputable organizations or individuals.
Spend time validating any resource you use, and be careful to avoid providing personal data and payment information to these resources to keep yourself safe.
Tools and Resources for Deep Web Search in Academic Research
There are thousands of databases, search engines, and Deep Web resources you can leverage to get information for a child’s education. Here are a few of the most highly-rated and frequently used options. Learn about how you can use these resources to learn more.
Search Engines
- Pipl – People search engine with personal data, court records, and more
- USA.gov – Public data from state, tribal, and local government agencies
- DOAJ – Open access journals and academic articles
- Elephind – Historical Newspapers
- Project Gutenberg – Approximately 60,000 free ebooks available online
Learning Databases
- Open Library – Makes books available to read online freely.
- HighWire – Stanford University’s platform with articles, books, and more
- Social Explorer – Maps, demographic information, and more social information
- Guggenheim – See art from 65 different catalogs online for free
For more specific resources, you can search for databases for your area of study. Searching for “art databases” will give you a long list of art-related resources you can use to see art from around the world. The same is true for every specialization you could want to learn about. Keep a record of the useful databases you locate, and you can call on them repeatedly for future research.
Over time you’ll build a powerful reference of Deep Web resources you can use to get the data you want. Start with Deep Web search engines and catalog the best databases and directories you locate for future use. Invest in your school kids’ education, and you’ll be amazed by how much more information is available online that you didn’t know about.
Conclusion
The Deep Web is an impressive resource every academic should understand and use. It’s difficult and time-consuming to find the best resources, but once you have them, you’ll enjoy deep academic papers, journals, books, data collections, audio records, video lectures, and so much more.
Much of this data is freely available to anyone with an internet connection; you just have to take the time to find it and start using it. Before accessing any unfamiliar resource, make sure you’re using a proven VPN to shield yourself and utilize search safety best practices. Protect your personal information and take things slowly, being sure to avoid downloading files you don’t trust. If you are careful, you can search the Deep Web safely, learn more and gain more learning resources over time.
