Wikipedia is definitely one of the world’s most valuable resources. It is used by millions around the world and is a great educational resource for nearly anything. Many sites have been launched due to Wikipedia, and some of them even assist in helping you get a better experience with Wikipedia.
With over 2,461,000+ English articles as I write this, it would be tough finding the most accurate information and find what you are looking for all the time. I thus have found some of the best and most accurate Wikipedia search engines to help you get the most accurate information whenever you need it.
Here are just some of them (in no particular order):
Powerset is a neat Web 2.0-looking Wikipedia search engine. Not only does Powerset search for Wikipedia articles, it also searches for “Factz,” or collections of facts across Wikipedia through your query, which are further integrated into all Wikipedia pages. You may even enter a question, which is accurately searched throughout databases around the web and on different websites to find the answer to your question, as well as related information and related media. Each article that you search for is integrated into Powerset, thus many of the awesome features, as well as continually added others, are able to be accessed through each article. You may see the demo video here.
Similipedia is one of the best Wikipedia search engines available. Not only is it extremely accurate and effective, it has a completely different approach to search. Instead of typing in a query, e.g. computers, you are asked to copy and paste a URL or a paragraph containing at least 100 words. Just press “enter” and let it go to work.
I decided to try copying and pasting the first two paragraphs of Tina’s article on Adobe Reader. The result were articles on Wikipedia ranging from Adobe Acrobat, PDF, to a comparison of e-book formats - all of which were relevant. Similpedia just added a new widget to their website that allows you to add code to your website and Similpedia will automatically add relevant Wikipedia articles. They have other widgets that include: a Firefox add-on, bookmarklet, contextual RSS as well as a Wordpress widget for similar content. I highly recommend trying them all out.
Wapedia is an interesting mobile Wikipedia search engine. It allows users to search for any article on one of the world’s largest encyclopedias through their cell phone. You are allowed to type in a keyword that of course is your search query, with two further options. You may “Go,” or click “Search.” The “Go” option automatically redirects you to the article it believes you are looking for, while the “Search” option searches for all the articles related to the keyword you provided, all of which are saved in the Wapedia website so that it does not redirect you to Wikipedia with a messed up mobile view.
Another cool option of Wapedia is the integrated news. The newest news is automatically configured for mobile phones and you are allowed to find it all right there in Wapedia. Other options include the ability to search for images on Wikipedia as well as other types of search. To make Wapedia even greater, they give you preferences for your mobile phone that include: picture sizes, external link options, page length, etc.
Wikia has been previously talked about by Mark here, but since then it seems they have added a few more features. Wikia is somewhat of a Wikipedia search engine mixed with a new approach to search. It integrates users into the search results, yet more of that can be seen in Mark’s article. It seems though that Wikia searches for Wikipedia articles first when searching - a likely feature as the creator of Wikia was one of the first people to work on Wikipedia. Anyway, Wikia now as well has an actual wiki built in that allows you to browse in a similar manner to Wikipedia. I highly recommend trying this out as well.
What do you use? Do you just use the normal Wikipedia search engine or do you have another search engine to find what you’re looking for on Wikipedia? Tell us in the comments!
(By) Will is a computer nerd and geek that is raising money for developing a better internet and runs one of his blogs at FirefoxGeeks.
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Filed Under: Cool Websites ¦ Lists of tools
Tags: reference sites, search engines, wikipedia
Excuse me for saying so, but couldn’t you just use the “site:” limiter with Google?
ie: “site:wikipedia.org example”
Most of Google’s searches show up with Wikipedia near the top anyway.
I had just been using “site:en.wikipedia.org” on Google or the search box on Wikipedia, too. Now I see why these tools give much better results! I had never even heard of any of those tools before! Amazing!
@Anonymous:
Wikipedia search engines like Powerset or others mentioned above can understand the semantics of your query and then fetch the results based on your query.
Try searching e.g. “When did hurricane hit US” on Powerset and see the results. You will be more than satisfied as compared to similar search on google as Powerset ‘ll understand your question while google won’t
Hi, i often use wikiwix.com for wikipedia search in different languages and for searches in sistersites like Wikiquote, Wiktionary, Wikinews, …
Also wikiwax.com gives you a quick index to Wikipedia.
great tips
I have been using this method to edit obscure articles to make my political beliefs appear more widespread
It’s exciting that the search engine ecosystem is expanding. I’ve used the Google advanced search operators as well as Powerset and I’ll have to try these others.
great article! all new to me!
will, thanks for this neat article about search tools i haven’t tried before. dugg and delicioused.
one tool i really like using with wikipedia is chunkit!. it’s not specifically made for wikipedia, but it does a pretty sweet job of finding your search terms not only within the article you’re reading, but also finds them within the articles linked to that article. i’d be interested to hear your take on it and whether you think it’s a useful tool — i believe the website is getchunkit.com?
Great article. where were you before dude ?