finding information on the world wide web : finding information on the world wide web 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills Using Search Engines and Subject Directories
(Traditional Web Tools)
What is the Internet? : What is the Internet? 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 2 The Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks that communicate with each other.
That is, it is a worldwide network of connected computers.
It consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks that are linked by a wide range of telecommunications technologies.
What is the World Wide Web? : What is the World Wide Web? 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 3 The world wide web is one part of the Internet.
The World Wide Web is a hypertext-based system.
Hypertext allows users to click on buttons or highlighted text using a mouse to go to other Web pages containing text, sound, pictures, or video.
A browser is used to access the www and move through web pages.
What is a Web Site? : What is a Web Site? 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 4 A web site is a collection of web pages.
A home page is “the front cover” that tells what is inside.
It is the entry page to a web site.
A web page is an individual page that can be found on a web site.
Web Address : Web Address 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 5 Every web page has a unique web address on the Internet.
This address is called the URL or Uniform Resource Locator
It is located in the address bar.
Anatomy of a URL : Anatomy of a URL 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 6 What is a URL?
URL or Uniform Resource Locator is the addressing system used on the Internet
URLs must be typed in exactly as they appear (no spaces)
A URL has the following format:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/explore/index.html
Anatomy of a URL : Anatomy of a URL 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 7 http://www.exploratorium.edu/explore/index.html
http=hypertext transfer protocol. Used for all www pages.
www=host computer name
Exploratorium.edu=the domain name address. It often indicates the name of a company, university, or organization. It can also tell you the country of origin.
Anatomy of a URL : Anatomy of a URL 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 8 http://www.exploratorium.edu/explore/index.html
.edu=domain name suffix. Also called top level domain. Tells you what type of organisation is operating the network
Explore=directory name
Index.html=file name
Anatomy of a URL : Anatomy of a URL 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 9 Domain Name Suffixes
Different types of organisations create web pages. Each type has its own domain name suffix.
.com=a commercial entity. Anyone can use these.
.edu=a school, college, or university. Use of these suffixes is restricted.
.gov=government organisation. Use of these suffixes is also restricted.
Anatomy of a URL : Anatomy of a URL 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 10 .mil=US military sites. Nobody gets these except the military.
.net=network operators. Use is restricted to organizations operating Internet network services.
e.g. tstt.net
.org=non-commercial entity. These can include associations, clubs, and other organizations.
e.g. un.org
Anatomy of a URL : Anatomy of a URL 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 11 Countries other than the US use suffixes which indicate the country in which the site originates.
Example:
http://www.nalis.gov.tt
http://www.gov.tt
http://www.nal.gov.au
Common File Extensions : Common File Extensions 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 12 .html or .htm=hypertext file
.pdf=portable document format (text)
.jpeg=image (picture) files
.gif=image (picture) files
.doc=document (text) files
How to Access Web Pages : How to Access Web Pages 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 13 Three ways to access a web page:
Type the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) in the address box.
Click on hypertext links on a web page.
Use a search tool such as a search engine or subject directory.
Understanding The Internet : Understanding The Internet 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 14 The Internet has a lot of information
It is totally uncontrolled
anyone can put anything on it
It is completely disorganized
No structure
No catalogue
No index
No guide
Understanding The Internet : Understanding The Internet 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 15 Understand the Internet better, and you will search more successfully for useful information.
There are many types of information on the Internet.
Different Web sites have been created by different people or organizations, with different objectives.
Understanding The Internet : Understanding The Internet 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 16 Do not rely on Web sites for:
Reliable and balanced information, without first evaluating it
Comprehensive and accurate information
A substitute for peer-reviewed articles you might use for in-depth research
Search Tools : Search Tools 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 17 There are search tools to help you to do research more effectively
Selecting the appropriate type of search tool will help you find information more quickly and reliably
Search Tools : Search Tools 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 18 Search engines
Subject directories
Invisible web search engines
Meta search engines
Web portals - A portal is a central place for making all types of information accessible to an audience of varying range. A do-all, mega Web site or service providing search engines, e-mail, chat rooms, forums, shopping malls, etc. e.g. Yahoo
Search Tools : Search Tools 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 19 A Web portal refers to a Web site or service that offers a wide range of resources and services, such as e-mail, forums, search engines, chat rooms and online shopping malls.
Search Tools : Search Tools 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 20 Focus on:
Search engines
Subject directories
Search Engines : Search Engines 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 21 What is a Search Engine?
A search engine is a tool designed to search for information on the World Wide Web.
It is a software program that searches for sites based on the words that you designate as search terms.
Search Engines provide lists of Web sites.
They look through their own databases of information in order to find what it is that you are looking for.
Search Engines : Search Engines 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 22 Each Search Engine searches differently and
finds different information.
No Search Engine will search the entire Internet.
Use several Search Engines if you are doing research.
Search Engines : Search Engines 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 23 Important to understand that when you use a search engine
You are not searching the entire www
You are really searching a database or index of URL links.
You can only find links to sites that are included in the Search Engine's index.
Search Engines : Search Engines 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 24 Important to understand that when you use a search engine
These links may have been collected by a program called a "Web crawler", “bot” or “spider”
There is a significant overlap in the results from identical searches in different search engines
Search Engines : Search Engines 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 25 Remember:
A search engine is fully automated. There is no human indexing.
A search engine will often give you large lists of results, but because it uses keyword matching only, the RELEVANCE may be lower.
A search engine will usually give you up-to-date results
Example: Google, Ask.com, Yahoo, All the web
Search Engines : Search Engines 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 26 Examples of Search Engines:
Google.com
Ask.com
Yahoo.com
Bing.com
Alltheweb.com
When should you use a Search Engine? : When should you use a Search Engine? 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 27 When you need up-to-date information
When there is not much information on your topic, and you need a comprehensive search to get a broad picture
Subject Directories : Subject Directories 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 28 Subject directory organizes pre-selected Web sites into subject areas.
Organized alphabetically from broad subjects to more narrow ones
Content is selected and indexed by humans.
Subject Directories : Subject Directories 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 29 A subject directory will allow you to search for 'search strings' or words, just like a General Search Engine, but will also let you click through a menu (or a hierarchy) to find information on your topic.
Subject Directories : Subject Directories 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 30 A Subject directory will usually give you a smaller results list, but the results will be much more specific for your topic!
Because a subject directory is compiled and indexed by humans the information retrieved is often not up-to-date.
Subject Directories : Subject Directories 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 31 Examples of Subject Directories
Ipl2 – www.ipl.org
Infomine – www.infomine.ucr.edu
About.com – www.about.com
Best Information on the Net – http://library.sau.edu/bestinfo/
Academic Info - http://www.academicinfo.net/
Scout Report Archives - http://scout.wisc.edu/Archives/
Digital Librarian - http://www.digital-librarian.com/
Joe Ant - http://joeant.com/
A1 Web Directory - http://www.a1webdirectory.org/
When should you use a Subject Directory? : When should you use a Subject Directory? 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 32 When there is a lot of information on your topic, and you would like to narrow down your search
When you need more relevant and reliable information which has already been indexed and evaluated by human indexers
Activity : Activity 11/8/2010 Fundamental Research Skills 33 Do the exercises in the handout entitled: “Using search engines and subject directories: practical exercises”
Do the exercises in the handout entitled: “Exercise-Searching Basics and Citing Web Pages