Finding the information you need as a writer shouldn’t be a chore. Luckily, there are plenty of search engines out there that are designed to help you at any stage of the process, from coming up with great ideas to finding a publisher to get your work into print. Both writers still in college and those on their way to professional success will appreciate this list of useful search applications that are great from making writing a little easier and more efficient.
Professional
Find other writers, publishers and ways to market your work through these searchable databases and search engines.
Litscene: Use this search engine to search through thousands of writers and literary projects, and add your own as well.
Thinkers.net: Get a boost in your creativity with some assistance from this site.
PoeWar: Whether you need help with your career or your writing, this site is full of great searchable articles.
Publisher’s Catalogues: Try out this site to search through the catalogs and names of thousands of publishers.
Edit Red: Through this site you can showcase your own work and search through work by others, as well as find helpful FAQ’s on writing.
Writersdock: Search through this site for help with your writing, find jobs and join other writers in discussions.
PoetrySoup: If you want to find some inspirational poetry, this site is a great resource.
Booksie.com: Here, you can search through a wide range of self-published books.
One Stop Write Shop: Use this tool to search through the writings of hundreds of other amateur writers.
Writer’s Cafe: Check out this online writer’s forum to find and share creative works.
Literary Marketplace: Need to know something about the publishing industry? Use this search tool to find the information you need now.
Writing
These helpful tools will help you along in the writing process.
WriteSearch: This search engine focuses exclusively on sites devoted to reading and writing to deliver its results.
The Burry Man Writers Center: Find a wealth of writing resources on this searchable site.
Writing.com: This fully-featured site makes it possible to find information both fun and serious about the craft of writing.
Purdue OWL: Need a little instruction on your writing? This tool from Purdue University can help.
Writing Forums: Search through these writing forums to find answers to your writing issues.
Research
Try out these tools to get your writing research done in a snap.
Google Scholar: With this specialized search engine from Google, you’ll only get reliable, academic results for your searches.
WorldCat: If you need a book from the library, try out this tool. It’ll search and find the closest location.
Scirus: Find great scientific articles and publications through this search engine.
OpenLibrary: If you don’t have time to run to a brick-and-mortar library, this online tool can still help you find books you can use.
Online Journals Search Engine: Try out this search engine to find free online journal articles.
All Academic: This search engine focuses on returning highly academic, reliable resources.
LOC Ask a Librarian: Search through the questions on this site to find helpful answers about the holdings at the Library of Congress.
Encylcopedia.com: This search engine can help you find basic encyclopedia articles.
Clusty: If you’re searching for a topic to write on, this search engine with clustered results can help get your creative juices flowing.
Intute: Here you’ll find a British search engine that delivers carefully chosen results from academia.
AllExperts: Have a question? Ask the experts on this site or search through the existing answers.
Reference
Need to look up a quote or a fact? These search tools make it simple.
Writer’s Web Search Engine: This search engine is a great place to find reference information on how to write well.
Bloomsbury Magazine Research Centre: You’ll find numerous resources on publications, authors and more through this search engine.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus: Make sure you’re using words correctly and can come up with alternatives with the help of this tool.
References.net: Find all the reference material you could ever need through this search engine.
Quotes.net: If you need a quote, try searching for one by topic or by author on this site.
Literary Encyclopedia: Look up any famous book or author in this search tool.
Acronym Finder: Not sure what a particular acronym means? Look it up here.
Bartleby: Through Bartleby, you can find a wide range of quotes from famous thinkers, writers and celebrities.
Wikipedia.com: Just about anything and everything you could want to look up is found on this site.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Find all the great philosophers you could want to reference in this online tool.
Niche Writers
If you’re focusing on writing in a particular niche, these tools can be a big help.
PubGene: Those working in sci-fi or medical writing will appreciate this database of genes, biological terms and organisms.
GoPubMd: You’ll find all kinds of science and medical search results here.
Jayde: Looking for a business? Try out this search tool.
Zibb: No matter what kind of business you need to find out more about, this tool will find the information.
TechWeb: Do a little tech research using this news site and search engine.
Google Trends: Try out this tool to find out what people are talking about.
Godchecker: Doing a little work on ancient gods and goddesses? This tool can help you make sure you have your information straight.
Healia: Find a wide range of health topics and information by using this site.
Sci-Fi Search: Those working on sci-fi can search through relevant sites to make sure their ideas are original.
Books
Find your own work and inspirational tomes from others by using these search engines.
Literature Classics: This search tool makes it easy to find the free and famous books you want to look through.
InLibris: This search engine provides one of the largest directories of literary resources on the web.
SHARP Web: Using this tool, you can search through the information on the history of reading and publishing.
AllReaders: See what kind of reviews books you admire got with this search engine.
BookFinder: No matter what book you’re looking for you’re bound to find it here.
ReadPrint: Search through this site for access to thousands of free books.
Google Book Search: Search through the content of thousands upon thousands of books here, some of which is free to use.
Indie Store Finder: If you want to support the little guy, this tool makes it simple to find an independent bookseller in your neck of the woods.
Blogging
For web writing, these tools can be a big help.
Technorati: This site makes it possible to search through millions of blogs for both larger topics and individual posts.
Google Blog Search: Using this specialized Google search engine, you can search through the content of blogs all over the web.
Domain Search: Looking for a place to start your own blog? This search tool will let you know what’s out there.
OpinMind: Try out this blog search tool to find opinion focused blogs.
IceRocket: Here you’ll find a real-time blog search engine so you’ll get the latest news and posts out there.
PubSub: This search tool scours sites like Twitter and Friendfeed to find the topics people are talking about most every day.