The deeper you go, the more specifically defined are the pages that are listed. Most search engine sites also have this sort of directory guide. Subject gateways are more specific than global engines. They contain databases of Web sites for a particular discipline. The information usually includes a brief description of each resource, some keywords and a link to the relevant site.
Subject gateways are common for academic disciplines.
The advantage that these gateways have over search engines is that they list only reliable, high content sites and the smaller number of catalogued sites make searching less daunting. Many other Web sites also list more informal links to related resources. Useful sociological Web pages include the link directories at Sociological Research Online , Sociology Corner and Michael Kearl's Sociological Tour Through Cyberspace . A number of online databases, including AltaVista People Search , Bigfoot and Yahoo allow you to search for people. As the databases are usually compiled by searching for email addresses from newsgroup postings, they often only contain the addresses of people who actively use news discussion groups.