Preparing To Search The Internet

Surfing is not searching.

“Computers download information—• They do not teach you to think.• Computer education imparts

technical skills;• It does not impart knowledge.”• John Rosemond

“Not all the information that exists in the world is on the Internet--

Not all the information that is on the Internet is accurate.”

Mrs. Kotsch

An hour on the Web may not answer a

question that you could find within two minutes

of picking up a reference book.

Getting Started Searching• URL’s• Searching techniques• Search engines

URL’s• Uniform Resource Locator• The web “address” that connects you

with a website• Goes in the address bar at the top of

the screen • Gives you information about the website

Parts of a URL http://www.starwars.com/seminars.html

• http://--hypertext transfer protocol:the language computers use to “talk” to one another

• www—world wide web:the body of information connected by the cables and computers of the Internet

• .starwars—domain name:the structured, alphabetic-based, unique name for a computer on a network

• .com—top level domain:gives an idea of where the document is stored

• /seminars—file name: a folder within a website

• .html—hypertext markup language: the computer language used to format documents

Top Level Domains• .edu—higher education• .k-12—elementary and secondary schools• .com—commercial• .gov—government agency• .mil—military• .org—general noncommercial

organization• .net—computer network

Who Pays For The Internet?• Advertisers pay for Internet websites.• Pop-ups and banners are trying to

influence your spending habits.• The information on commercial

sites--.com—may be presented in such a way as to encourage you to buy a particular product.

• Be wary of URL’s with a ~ in the address—this indicates a personal homepage and does not guarantee accuracy.

How Do You Find What You Need?

• Libraries and department stores are planned.

• No one is in charge of organizing the Internet.

• Well-prepared searches will eliminate useless hits and wasted time.

Before you search, you need to:

• Prepare• Organize• Combine - Boolean

Prepare• What do you need to know about your

topic?• Make a list of all the terms connected

with your topic.• Include names, organizations, and

phrases.

Organize• Make a list of the words that are critical

to your search.• Note terms that you don’t want to see

appear.• Discard the rest.

For example…• If you are looking for information about life on the planet Mars, you don’t want sites popping up about the Roman god of war.

• Put that in your list of words you don’t want to see.• What other words might be connected with your topic that will send you to useless sites?

CombineUse Boolean operators to combine your mostimportant terms.

• Use AND to connect the terms you want to see.• Use NOT to exclude terms you don’t want.• Use OR to include similar terms.• Use quotation marks around names or phrases• Use lower case for all proper nouns, except for

acronyms

For example…

mars AND planet AND life NOT god

But what if…

you WERE looking for information about the Roman god of war? The Greeks referred to him as “Ares”, so now your search will look like this….

mars OR ares AND “god of war”

Notice the quotation marks around the phrase

“god of war”

What Do You Use To Search?• Search engines• Search directories• Metasearch engines

Search Engines• Are like the index in the back of a book• Let you search for specific words and

topics• Use robots known as spiders to search

for information.

Examples:• Google• Alta Vista• Excite• Hotbot• Infoseek• Ask

Search Directories--

• Are like the table of contents in front of a book

• Let you search for concepts or subject categories

• Go from general to specific

• Sites are added by people

Examples:• Yahoo• Librarians’ index• Internet Public Library• About

Instead of looking through the categories in a search directory, you can put in your terms in their search bar, but it will only look through the sites that have been included within that directory—not the entire web, unless indicated.

Metasearch engines--• Sends your search terms to several

other search engines at once.

• Gives an overview of a topic across the Internet.

Examples:• Webcrawler• Dogpile• Metacrawler• Mamma

Remember….

• Hits are returned and ranked according to-- – How many times terms appear on the page– How often terms appear– How close terms are to each other– How near the top of the page the terms are found

• The best results will appear on the first page or two of hits

• No two search engines are alike. Try another search engine, or rephrase your terms if you don’t get good results.

Evaluating Websites“Let the buyer beware”

Book publishers weed out inaccurate information.

No one checks the Internet for accuracy.

Before you start using the information--

EVALUATE!

Who is the author?

• Is he an authority on the subject?

• Does she have an e-mail address?

Is the information accurate?

• Can it be verified in an encyclopedia?

• Is it relevant to your topic?

• Does the author indicate where he found the information?

Is the information prejudiced?

• Is it trying to persuade you to another point of view?

• Is it trying to persuade you to buy a product?

Is the information current?

• When was the last time the website was updated?

• Are the links broken?

Evaluation Website• Quality Information Checklist

• 5W’s of Web Site Evaluation

Examples:

•Benefits of Colloidal Silver

•Burger King Introduces…

Copyright Issues• What can you copy?• Give credit to what you have used.

Copyright • Is the legal right of an author or artist to

control the copying and use of their creative works.

• Taking something without permission is theft, including text and pictures from the Internet.

• Using someone else’s words without giving credit is called plagiarism.

• “Fair Dealing” concept lets teachers and students use portions of copyrighted works without permission.

What is protected by copyright?

• Literary works• Computer software• Musical works• Dramatic works• Motion pictures• Sound recordings

Before you copy, check the Fair Dealing

Guidelines:• Am I using this for a nonprofit,

educational purpose?• Am I only using a small portion?• Will the creator be deprived of

future profits?

What can students copy?• you can copy up to 10 or 15 per cent of a work

o periodical article (1 article per issue) o newspaper article o short story, play, or poem from a book o entire chapter of a book (up to 20% of the entire

book) o entire entry from a reference work

• material found on the Internet is protected by copyright o using text, images, video or audio material, you need

to obtain permission from the owner (normally the person or organization who created the material) to use it.

o seek permission using the Webmaster’s e-mail

• Students must cite the source of their information

For copyright help, refer to:• Copyright Matters! Some Key Questions and

Answers for Teachers 2nd Edition, 2005http://www.cmec.ca/else/copyright/matters/indexe.stm

• Copyright for Studentshttp://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/education/008-

3030-e.htmldents

• Canadian Copyright Useful Net Resourceshttp://www.2learn.ca/copyright/gencopyright.htmls

Citing a website• Last name, first name of author.

– If there is no author listed, begin with the title.

• “Title of article within the website.” – Put quote marks around the title

• Name of website. – Underline the name

• Date article was written. – Put the date first, then abbreviate the month.

• Date you accessed the article.• URL.

– If the URL won’t fit on one line, break it at a slash. Include the entire URL, not just the one for the home page.

More Help For Works Cited:• MLA Style• APA Style• Citation Machine

http://citationmachine.net/

Example:

Adams, Joyce. “How Vatican II changed the face of the

Catholic Church.” Catholic News Service. 2 Sept. 2003.

13 Oct. 2003 <http://www.catholicnews.net/

vatican.html> .

Staying Safe On-line• Don’t give out personal information.

– (phone number, address, pictures)

• Use courtesy in e-mails and chat rooms.• Don’t arrange to meet with someone from

online without telling your parents.• Do tell your parents about inappropriate

websites that you run across.• Be careful what you post in a public forum.

*

Remember:

You leave “electronic footprints” wherever you go on the web.

Works Cited• Books• Jones, Debra. Exploring the Internet. New York: Neal-Schuman

Publishers, Inc., 1999.• Simpson, Carol, and McElmeel, Sharron L. Internet for Schools: A

Practical Guide, 3rd ed. Worthington, Ohio: Linworth Publishing,Inc., 2000.

• Websites• Adams, Helen, and Beyers, Catherine. “Lesson 2: Finding

Information on the Internet.” American Library Association. Dec. 15, 2003. <http://www.ala.org/cfapps/archive.cfm?path=ICONNfclesson2.html>.

• Kotsch, “Preparing to search the Internet, helping students search effectively.” St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School. c2004.http://www.libraryinstruction.com/SearchingtheInternet.ppt

•Dodge, Bernie. “Seven Steps to Better Searching.” San Diego State University College of Education. July 8, 1999. 15 Nov. 2001.<http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/tpss99/searching/ sevensteps.htm.>

Knowledge is power.