The Basics of Web Research

Sun West School DivisionJade Ballek – Learning CoachSpring 2012

Do you conduct effect web searches?

How do you rate your effectiveness in using the internet to conduct research? 5 – advanced 4 – skilled 3 – know the basics 2 – some experience, but lots more to

learn 1 – no experience at all

Pre-presentation Survey

11 questions I will collect your surveys

Partners

Sources of Information

Where do you go to find information for a research report? Think/Pair/Share

How does the Internet differ from other sources of information? Think/Pair/Share

Comparing the Library and the Internet Similarities and Differences? Think/Pair/Share

•Anyone can publish a Web page

•No one checks to see if the information is true or false

•There are millions of places to look for information

•Using the Internet is much quicker

•You can narrow down what you’re looking for more easily

•The Internet uses search engines

•Both provide sources of information

•Both are viewed by millions of people each day

•A book has to be published by a publishing company

•Editors check and verify the information

•Looking for a book can be more time consuming

•You have to visit a library

•The library uses the Dewey Decimal System

Potential Problems with Internet Research

Think/Pair/Share

1. Prepare for your search “If you don’t know

where you’re going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else.” - Yogi Berra

1. Define your task by rewriting your assignment in your own words.

2. Make a list of questions you want to research.

(3 minutes)

The search terms you enter and the order in which you enter them affect both the order and pages that appear in your search results.

Avoid using a question as a query. (A query is a request for information from a search engine.)

Be specific – if your query is too vague, you are unlikely to get results.

How can you come up with more specific search terms?

What do you know about the topic? Consider answers to the questions

who? what? where? when? why? how?

With your partner, add more questions to prepare for your search. (3 minutes)

2. Decide where to search

Make a list of potential places to begin your search: (with partner - 1 minute) Infotrac – database of magazine articles,

journal articles Google ( and other search engines) Library (online library searches)

Search Engines

A regular search engine, like Google or Yahoo!, searches the Internet based on a given search term.

Different search engines (Google, Live Search, Bing) reveal different hits because the search engines use different search methods.

It is a good idea to use more than one search engine.

Constant Change

InfoTrac – Student Edition InfoTrac Student Edition offers

screened, age-appropriate and reliable content from the magazines, newspapers and reference books that librarians prefer, curriculum demands and students enjoy.

“From science, history and literature to politics, sports and the environment, InfoTrac Student Edition is the perfect resource for the entire range of student research needs.”

InfoTrac – Student Edition This easy-to-use database includes: Full-text content from respected

reference works, such as Asimov's Chronology of Science & Discovery, The Columbia Encyclopedia, World Almanac and Book of Facts

More than 1,200 periodical titles in all Nearly nine million articles (updated

daily) InfoTrac

3. Dig Deep

Don’t stop at the first page; website rankings may be unrelated to content on the page

Google promotes “fresher” searching which is not always better for educational research.

4. Use advanced searching techniques

Most search engines have something called an Advanced Search. An advanced search allows you to be more specific about what type of information you are looking for.

Most Internet search engines also allow you to use a set of words or symbols to narrow your search.

AND – use this word when you want to find two words together. For example “Vasco da Gama AND voyage”

OR – use this when you can accept a couple of words. For example, “Vasco da Gama OR European explorers”

- (minus sign) – use this symbol when you want to exclude a word. For example, “Vasco da Gama -hotel”

“quotations” – use quotation marks when you are searching for an exact phrase. For example, if you were searching for a book

title, you could type “The Voyage of Vasco da Gama” in quotations and the search engine will look for that exact phrase.

Narrow search by date

Term Order - Google gives more priority to pages that have search terms in the same order as the query. New York Library New Library of York

Understanding web address Here’s a list of some common top-level domain

names. Note that some sites don’t follow these conventions:

.edu educational site (usually a university or college) .com commercial business site .gov.ca Canadian government site .gov.sk.ca Saskatchewan government site .net networks, Internet service providers,

organizations .org non-profit organizations and others The domain .ca represents Canada (unless it’s

followed by .us, in which case it represents California) – site:ca or site:sk.ca

5. Bookmarking

6. Analyzing websites

Don’t believe everything you read! Who are the authors? When was the page last updated?

Kathy Schrock – Discovery Education Technology Learning Specialist

Kathy Schrock

Web 2.0 Tools

How will you share your learning with your classmates? Write a report (Word) Create a Publication (Publisher) Make a PowerPoint Make a video using Movie Maker Record a podcast using Audacity

Or , try a web-based option

Prezi Glogster Wikispaces Blogger Flipsnack Blabberize Voki Screen-casto-matic

Feeback Form5 questions