Preparing To Search
The Internet
Helping Students Search
Effectively
Mrs. Gilcreast
Librarian
McDonough Elementary School
Surfing is not
searching.
“Not all the information that exists in
the world is on the Internet--
Not all the information that is on the
Internet is accurate.”
An hour on the Web may
not answer a question that
you could find within two
minutes of picking up a
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.
• Popups 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.
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
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.
What Do You Use To Search?
• Search engines
• Search directories
Search Engines
• Are like the index in the back of a book
• Let you search for specific words and topics
Examples:
• Alta Vista
• Excite
• Hotbot
• Infoseek
• Google
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:
• Internet Public Library
• Yahoo for Kids
• Kids Click
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
• 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 current?
• When was the last time the website was updated?
• Are the links broken?
Evaluation Website
• Quality Information Checklist
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.
For copyright help, refer to:
• Copyright Kids
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.
Example:
Adams, Joyce. “How Vatican II changed the face of the
Catholic Church.” Catholic News Service. 2 Sept. 2003.
13 Oct. 2003 .
Staying Safe On-line
• Don’t give out personal information.
• (phone number, address, pictures)
• Don’t arrange to meet with someone
from online without telling your
parents.
• Do tell your parents about inappropriate
websites that you run across.
Knowledge is power.
Librarians Rule.