Finding deleted web pages using the Internet Archive

Today I was trying to track down a published academic journal article that I had linked to from my Transport page. The article, which contained a significant error, was available free on the web site of the University where the academic concerned had been based. He has recently moved however and the paper has disappeared from that web site.

This is where the Internet Archive and specifically the Wayback Machine is brilliant. This site now holds over 85 billion web pages (including of my home page back on 3 December 1998)! If you know the old URL just enter it in the Wayback Machine and with any luck the old page will still be available. Almost understandably, the Internet Archive's search function does not seem to work so well though.