Searching: The Internet at your fingertips

edtech4k12

Donna Baratta

Searching: The BasicsEffective Keyword Searches

• Develop a list of key words for your topic that you can use when conducting searches online (Only ask.com handles complete sentences known as semantic search.)

• Look for keywords related to your topic in textbooks, articles, videos, and online resources such as Wikipedia

Effective Keyword Searches

• Start searching by using the most important keyword or synonyms

• Add additional keywords to refine search results.

• See the power of keywords in action! Let us examine a search using keywords that everyone can relate to, a search for dinner recipes.

Example: What’s for dinner?

Pasta + dinner

Pasta + dinner+ fettucini

Pasta + dinner+ fettucini + alfredo

Pasta + dinner+ fettucini + alfredo + bacon

Pasta + dinner+ fettucini + alfredo + bacon + low fat

Key ideas!

• Using a combination of keywords can help refine search results.

Evaluating Search Results

• Even after refining our search using combinations of keywords, we still have a tremendous amount of sites to look at.

• How do we decide which sites are worth our time?

Examine the URL

• First, look at URL (Internet address) endings

• Typical URL endings:

– .com or .net = commercial sites

– .org = organization

– .edu = educational site

– .gov = US government site

– .ca signifies a Canadian site; countries have their own unique individual endings

Be aware! The first few results (also known as “hits”) are often advertisements. Companies pay the search engine a fee for this placement.Sidebar “results” are not search results at all. They are paid advertising spots.

Skim and Scan: URL endings

US Government

Commercial

United Kingdom

Organization

Once you have evaluated URL endings, read the summaries. Use the information provided to decide if the site is worth your time.

Questions & Answers for Each Site:

• Who posted the site? – The author or organization name should appear

on the site.

• What is their purpose in posting?– Information? Bias? Selling a product?

• How can you confirm authority of the author? – Google the author’s name and check results

• When was the site posted? Is it current?– The date should be posted on the site

No Easy Answers

• There are no easy answers to which Internet sites are reliable and which are not.

• Each site must be examined carefully for authority, purpose, content, and currency.

Happy Effective Searching!

• Now that you know the basics, you can save time and search more effectively!