Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

The Mugurdy Search Engine is a simple visual search engine that is very accessible to English Language Learners.

Once you type in a query, search results are show with good size images of the actual websites. It reminds me of the old Page Bull visual search engine, which I rated highly two years ago but then went out of business.

It doesn’t have any of the “bells and whistles” of my other highly-rated search engines, but I’m still adding it to The Best Search Engines For ESL/EFL Learners — 2009.

It’s time for the annual update of my “The Best…” search engines list.

You might also be interested in these lists:

The Best Search Engines For ESL/EFL Learners — 2008

The Best Search Engines For ESL/EFL Learners — 2007

Not “The Best…,” But “A List” Of Search Engines For Social Media

Obviously, from the title of the list you can determine that the prime criteria I use is the search engine’s accessibility to English Language Learners. I believe this kind of accessibility also makes these applications very useful for students of all ages and language proficiencies.

Many of the sites in the top half of the list also appeared in last year’s ranking, and they all have made improvements over the past year. Several new web tools have joined for the first time.

Here are my choices for The Best Search Engines For ESL/EFL Learners — 2009:

Number eight is EyePlorer. It’s a new visual search engine that formerly focused only Wikipedia content, but is now a search engine for the entire Web. You enter a query and then see categories in a round visual display. By clicking on the categories you see excerpts from webpages, which you can “drag-and-drop” onto a clipboard. There is, however, a lot more to it that that. It’s pretty neat, and accessible to English Language Learners — once, I think, it’s explained. It can look a little complicated at first.

Number seven is Study Search, an Australian search engine specifically designed for students. Here’s how it describes itself:

“studysearch.com.au is a customised Google search engine developed for Australian Primary and Secondary school students.

studysearch.com.au uses the power of Google’s search engine combined with a growing database of educational websites. When a search is done Google checks our database and gives those sites priority in the search results. The student is still doing a full Google search but the results are tuned to display sites that are more relevant.”

It has sections for both primary and secondary school students. It doesn’t have visual screenshots, but I have to say I was impressed with the accessibility of the sites that came up in my searches.

Number six is the Carrot search engine. It returns search results divided into themes. For example, I typed in “Roman Gladiator” and, in addition to getting a list of typical results from a search engine, I saw a listed of thematic categories. These included “Ancient Rome,” “Movie Gladiator,” and “Collectible Swords.” These themes, I think, will be helpful to English Language Learners as they try to get through all the “clutter” of search engine results.

Number five is Quintura. It provides search results in a visual “cloud.” I’d characterize it as similar to the present version of Kartoo, the well-known search engine, but much less confusing.

Number four is is Boolify, a search engine designed for elementary and middle school students that is accessible to English Language Learners. I think there are others that are more accessible, but this is a good one to help teach basic search strategies.

Number three is Viewzi, a visual search engine. In other words, it shows search results in images instead of just text. This feature is obviously beneficial to English Language Learners. But Viewzi does much more than this — in fact, there are so many choices of how you want your search results displayed that it could be confusing to students, and there’s certainly not enough space to explain it all here. It’s worth a look, though, and definitely deserves a spot on this list.

Number two is Mel Zoo. After you type in your query at Mel Zoo, you see what appears to be — more or less — the typical kind of text results you’d find in other search engines. The key advantage the engine has — for both ELL’s and others — is that as you move the cursor down the text listing on the left side, the website itself is shown on the right side. This capability makes it very accessible to English Language Learners.

The Number one – rated search engine for English Language Learners is Middlespot. It’s sort of a combination Search Engine and a little bit of a social bookmarking application. After you enter your search term and click “enter,” your search results appear both as images and short text blurbs. Obviously, showing these screenshots benefit English Language Learners, and several other search engines I’ve listed here and on my website under Search Engines have this feature. The unique tool offered by Middlespot is called a “workpad.” You can drag-and-drop the webpages you want onto your workpad, give it a title, and then Middlespot will give your workpad its own url that you can post on a blog or online journal, embed, or email to someone else — all without registration.

I’ve written in The Best Social Bookmarking Applications For English Language Learners & Other Students about how useful an application like this can be in generating higher-order thinking among students. You might want to check out those ideas, and check out Middlespot.

Here’s a new addition to this list: The Mugurdy Search Engine is a simple visual search engine that is very accessible to English Language Learners. Once you type in a query, search results are show with good size images of the actual websites. It reminds me of the old Page Bull visual search engine, which I rated highly two years ago but then went out of business.

Feedback, as always, is welcome.

You might also want to check-out the other 350 “The Best…” lists and consider subscribing to this blog for free.

Middlespot was the number two application in The Best Search Engines For ESL/EFL Learners — 2008, but since the number-one ranked site went out of business, I can safely say it’s my choice as the best search engine for ESL/EFL learners. It was also included in The Best Social Bookmarking Applications For English Language Learners & Other Students.

They just announced improvements in their site (you can see a video about them here), and I’ve got to say I’m quite impressed.

It’s so easy to save the pages, images, etc. that you’re looking for; you can easily write tags for each of them, and the best feature is that you can email or embed your work — all without registration. I’ve written in those “The Best…” lists, particularly the one on social bookmarking, on how useful an application like this can be in generating higher-order thinking among students. You might want to check out those ideas, and check out Middlespot.

Stinky Teddy is the newest addition to Not “The Best…,” But “A List” Of Search Engines For Social Media.

It certainly has the strangest name of the applications on that list.

You can read more about it at Read Write Web.

Pano Google is a search engine specifically for panoramic images on the Web.

I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Panoramas.

Thanks to Alt Search Engines blog for the tip.

Twurdy is a new search engine that returns results using a color-coded system that rates each result on how easy the text is to read.

I’ve shared my concerns about leveling books, but I tend to think that this kind of system might be useful to English Language Learners who are trying to find information quickly. It could save a lot of time and frustration.

I’m adding it to my website under Search Engines. I’m not quite convinced, though, that it will deserve a spot on my next “The Best” list on search engines.

Oamos is sure one wild search engine! You can use it to create a multimedia show, and then embed it.

I learned about it from Jen Farr, and she has an excellent post describing Oamos and how she’d use in class. Check it out.

KarToo has a fairly well-known visual search engine that is interesting, but I’ve always found it confusing for me, much less for English Language Learners. However, a couple of years ago they unveiled a new one that was I liked it a lot, and even originally placed it on one of my “The Best…” lists (you might want to check out The Best search engines for ESL/EFL Learners 2007 and The Best Search Engines For ESL/EFL Learners — 2008.  However, for some reason they took that one off-line.

I just learned from Alt Search Engines that they put it back online again — or at least, a limited version of it. It’s called KarTOO Cartographies.

When you submit a query, you get text results back, but also a neat-looking visual map of search categories.

WebKruz Search Engine is a pretty nifty new search engine. After submitting your query, it shows large images of each webpage that comes-up in the results, and will automatically scroll through them in a speed you choose.

In addition — and this is a feature I really like — it will show you results in related categories at the same time.

Both of these elements make it very useful to English Language Learners.

The only negative is that they also have an obnoxiously large advertisement on their main page.

I’m adding it to Search Engines on my website.

Thanks to Alt Search Engines for the tip.

The Lavva Search Engine will show thumbnail images next to each text description in your search results. You can then enlarge the image without leaving the search page.

That kind of visual support can be helpful to English Language Learners, and I’m adding it to my website under the Search Engines section.

It can apparently do a bunch of other stuff that I can’t quite figure out. And it does describe itself in a pretty weird way:

“Just as the flow of volcanic lava cannot be controlled or stopped, Lavva is not owned or controlled by anyone.”

But it is worth a look.

You might also want to check-out The Best Search Engines For ESL/EFL Learners — 2008.

Study Search is an Australian search engine specifically designed for students.

Here’s how it describes itself:

“studysearch.com.au is a customised Google search engine developed for Australian Primary and Secondary school students.

studysearch.com.au uses the power of Google’s search engine combined with a growing database of educational websites. When a search is done Google checks our database and gives those sites priority in the search results. The student is still doing a full Google search but the results are tuned to display sites that are more relevant.”

It has sections for both primary and secondary school students.  It doesn’t have visual screenshots, but I have to say I was impressed with the accessibility of the sites that came up in my searches.

I’m adding it to my website under Search Engines.

Searchme, the number one ranked search engine in The Best Search Engines For ESL/EFL Learners — 2008, has gone off-line.

You can read more about its problems at this TechCrunch post.

The site now redirects to Google.

Fortunately, there are a lot of other good options out there for English Language Learners that you can find on that list.

I sure pick ‘em. In addition to the number one site on that list going under, the number one tool on The Best search engines for ESL/EFL Learners 2007 went out of business, too. The same thing happened to the number one app on The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2008.

Perhaps being named number one on a “The Best…” list is a kiss of death…

If I ever wanted to generate some income,  maybe I could  have companies pay me not to name them number one

Google Squared is the newest search feature offered by Google.  It “opened for business” today.  It returns results in an interesting grid pattern.  I had thought it might have some potential as a useful tool for English Language Learners but, at least in its present form, I was less than impressed.

Check out The Best Search Engines For ESL/EFL Learners — 2008 for search engines that I like better.

You can read more about Google Squared at TechCrunch.

I was preoccupied with some other things earlier this week when Google announced new options for their search engine. Even from what I briefly read about it, my sense was that another option they were going to unveil later this month — called Google Squared — was going to be their search innovation that had the most potential for English Language Learners.

However, after reading more about their new Wonder Wheel (after you type in a query on the main Google page, you clip on “option” on the upper left) by Joyce Valenzuela and Richard Byrne, I decided to give it a second look.

For those that haven’t tried it yet, it presents search results in a “wheel” diagram with the spokes leading to various subcategories of your query. After you click on a subcategory, you’re then shown other subcategories in a new wheel — sort of like a typical “mind-web” graphic organizer. Every time you click on a category, the search results for that category are listed in text on the right side.

I still don’t think I’ll add it to The Best Search Engines For ESL/EFL Learners — 2008 because it only shows text results and not visual images of the sites that come up in the results, but, nevertheless, it does have some potential for ELL’s.

Search Motive is the newest addition to Not “The Best,” But “A List” Of Search Engines For Social Media.

Like the other tools on that list, Search Motive focuses on letting you search sites like Twitter, Delicious, Friendfeed, etc.

Spezify calls itself an “inspired search” engine. Once you submit a query, you get a visual smorgasbord of image and text results pasted all around on the results page (which you can only navigate with your arrow key). It uses some kind of system that appears to combine searching for your query with other words, too.

I could see, for example, my mainstream ninth-graders liking this tool. They recently did a biographical essay on the reggae artist Bob Marley, and I got a lot of good sites in a very visual way — all at the same time.

I wonder if it might be too cluttered for ELL’s, or if it would actually be helpful. I’ll have them give it a try, and I’d be interested in hearing what others think.

For now, I’ve added it to the Search Engines section on my website.

The Sperse Search Engine provides you with both a thumbnail image of each site and test info after you submit your query. In addition, you can view the website without leaving the search results page. And it has a pretty clean interface.

All of those reasons make it particularly accessible to ELL’s. I don’t think I’ll add it to The Best Search Engines For ESL/EFL Learners — 2008, but will include it on my website under Search Engines.

Thanks to Make Use of for the tip.

As readers know, I’m regularly looking for search engines that might be particularly accessible to English Language Learners. In the past two years, in fact, I’ve posted:

The Best search engines for ESL/EFL Learners 2007
The Best Search Engines For ESL/EFL Learners — 2008

Here’s a useful post called Top Visual Search Engines that I learned about through Interesting Pile, a blog I like a lot. Many of the search engines on my “The Best…” lists are visual search engines — ones that display results in more than just text.

I’ve already written about most of the search engines reviewed in that post, though there was a new one to me that looked interesting — Nexplore. Their results page might be a little too “busy-looking” for ELL’s, but it’s worth a look.

I’d encourage people to check-out the whole post — it does a good job of giving an overview of a number of search engines.

Kosmix is a “universal search engine that dynamically generates guides to search queries using dozens of different content sources” (this is from today’s TechCrunch post about it).

I tried it out awhile ago, but pretty quickly dismissed it because I didn’t (and still don’t) think it’s particularly accessible to English Language Learners.

But after reading the TechCrunch post today about its rapid growth, I tried it out again and was impressed. I think it might work very well for my mainstream ninth-graders to use it for research.

Instead of spending time describing how it is different from Google or a traditional search engine, I’d suggest you just go there and try it out.

I like the new Molu Search Engine. Once you submit a query, your shown a text explanation of each result, along with a thumbnail image. Molu allows you to open the websiteinside the list of search results — you don’t have to leave that page.   Those features make it particularly accessible to English Language Learners.

In addition, Molu also provides you with a one-click ability to shorten url addresses and to also save web pages as PDF files in your computer.

I’m adding Molu to The Best Search Engines For ESL/EFL Learners — 2008.

Thanks to Alt Search Engines for the tip.