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Tips and Tricks to Find Internet Information Quick and Effectively
This material was developed for the exclusive use of USD 233 staff. Copies can be made for instructional purposes in USD 233 only. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without written permission from USD 233
Why Evaluate Web Sources?
Why Evaluate Web Sources?
Virtually any person can publish almost anything on the Internet.
Unlike most print sources, web sources do not have to be professionally accepted and edited to be published.
Types of web pagesTypes of web pages
Informative pages
Personal web pages
Political/interest group pages
Marketing-oriented or “infomercial” pages
Entertainment pages
Internet: A global network connecting millions of computers
URL (“Web Address”): Universal Resource Locator
Domain: the part of the URL that identifies and calls up the specific computer on the Web that stores the information you requested
Registered Domain name: the three-letter suffix that is part of a URL.
Keyword: the word(s) or phrase(s) you enter into a search engine's search field
Terminology
◦ .com – commercial use (unrestricted)◦ .net – network associated entities (unrestricted)◦ .org – organizations (unrestricted)◦ .gov – government use◦ .mil – U.S. military◦ .edu – educational institutions◦ .biz – for businesses◦ .info – for informative Web sites◦ .museum – museums◦ .name – for individual or personal websites◦ .pro – professionals◦ .au - country designations are usually country
abbreviations
Common Domain Names
Search engines◦Metasearch engines
Search directories◦Invisible web
Types of Search Tools
Similar to the index in the back of a book
Let you search for specific words and topics from a data base
Use robots known as spiders to search for information.
Sites in database not evaluated
Search Engines
Google: http//: www.google.com
KidRex: http://www.kidrex.org/
Wolfram Alpha: http://www.wolframalpha.com/
Clusty: http://clusty.com/
All the Web: http://www.alltheweb.com
Bing: http://www.bing.com
Search Engines for K-5
Sends your search terms to several other search engines at once.
Gives an overview of a topic across the Internet.
Shallow search. Only searches the top 2-3 pages of a search engines database
Metasearch Engines
Turboscout: http://www.turboscout.com/index.php
Ixquick: http://ixquick.com
Yippy: http://clusty.com/
Surfwax: http://www.surfwax.com
Metasearch Engines
Search Directories
Similar to the table of contents at the front of
a book
Allows searching for concepts or subject categories
Go from general to specific.
Sites are evaluated and added by people.
Kidtopia: http://www.kidtopia.info/
Sweet Search: http://www.sweetsearch.com/
Infomine: http://infomine.ucr.edu
Internet Public Library: http://www.ipl.org
Dibdabdoo: http://www.dibdabdoo.com/
Fact Monster: http://www.factmonster.com/
Kids Click: http://www.kidsclick.org/
Search Directories for Kids
Search Engine: lots of information
a specific information need
specific key words
Search Directory: a general information need
vague idea of key words
finding higher quality information
Noodle Tools: Site that gives information on how to best chose what type of search tool to use.
How Do I Chose
Before you begin searching create lists of keywords that describe your topic.
Use a thesaurus to stimulate your word choice.
Generate synonyms for the concept.
Use search engines that provide a list of related terms along with the results of your first search.
Sortfix
Key Words
Use the professional vocabulary of the subject you are investigating to create keywords.
Choose words that are unique and descriptive.
Look in the documents returned by the first query.
Upper and lower case
Spelling
Advanced Strategies
Scan for Additional Keywords
Some engines give more weight to the first keyword in a query.
Try varying the order of keywords. Example: Which keywords will return the most
hits: blues music or music blues
Word Order
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 tools are alike. Try another search engine, or rephrase your terms if you don’t get good results.
Hits
A query is made up of the keywords that describe your topic and the arrangement of those keywords using operators that focus the retrieval process.
Query
ANDRequires all terms to appear somewhere in the document, in any order. Example: curriculum AND high AND school
+Requires all terms to appear somewhere in the document, in any order. Example: +curriculum+high+school
" "Requires all terms within the quotation marks to appear in the order written. Creates a highly specific phrase. Example: "high school curriculum"
NOTExcludes documents containing whatever follows it.Example: high school curriculum not .com
-Excludes documents containing whatever follows it.Example: high school curriculum-.com
ORIncludes any page with at least one of the terms. Example: high OR school OR curriculum
Example
Evaluating Websites
“On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”
The above cartoon by Peter Steiner has been reproduced from page 61 of July 5, 1993 issue of The New Yorker, (Vol.69 (LXIX) no. 20)only for academic discussion, evaluation, research and complies with the copyright law of the United States as defined and stipulated under Title 17 U. S. Code.
http://www.nwu.edu/~asmith/di/dc/camps.html
Anatomy of a Web Address
Hypertext Transfer Protocol
World Wide Web
Tilde symbol indicates this is a personal page
Indicates the folder the information is saved in
Specific page in directory folder
Owner and Domain name
http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/atwood.html
http://lit4lib.artshost.com/atwood.htm#atwood
Based on the domain name in the following addresses, which site that would probably contain the more useful information for an authorative information?
Currency
Reliability
Authority
Purpose /Point of View
Web Evaluation
How recent is the information?
How recently has the website been updated?
Is it current enough for your topic?
Find the history of a site by going to Way Back Machine http://www.archive.org
Currency
What kind of information is included in the resource?
Is content of the resource primarily opinion? Is it balanced?
Does the creator provide references or sources for data or quotations?
Reliability
Who is the creator or author? What are the credentials? Who is the published or sponsor? Are they reputable? What is the publisher's interest (if any) in
this information? Are there advertisements on the website? Go to http://www.easywhois.com to find publisher
of the site
Authority
Is this fact or opinion?Is it biased?Is the creator/author trying to sell
you something?
Purpose / Point of View
Use the best search tool for the job
Read search tool instructions and use the advanced search feature
Use more than one search tool
Choose unique keywords and put your most important terms or words first
Evaluate the source
Know when to look somewhere else
Searching Review