Get connected to your Internet
server and go to: www.altavista.com
and type into the search box any topic that you’d like information
on. Make sure you use only one word.
Keep track of how many results matched your search on the chart
at the end of the packet. Scroll
down the list and write down the first 5 sites that match your search.
The results are usually listed in order of “most likely to be the
one you’re looking for”. That
means the database searches each site and checks how many times your
one word topic appears on that page.
It counts all the times it appears and ranks the sites by
occurrences. Now go to www.yahoo.com
and search again for the same topic.
How many results? Did
yahoo’s first 5 match AltaVista's top 5?
There are many more search engines – www.lycos.com, www.metacrawler.com
www.iwon.com
to name a few. Check at
least one more and record your results into the chart at the end. Each search engine will give you slightly different results.
Their results depend upon which sites have paid to have their
page listed in the database. Your search probably yielded thousands of sites that could be
a match. YOU do not have
enough time to check every site to see which one is the best match.
You need to narrow your search.
Narrowing the search is easy.
Search engines use a language called “Boolean”.
This language allows for a database to search using positives
and negatives. For example – if you wanted to search for dinosaurs that
lived in the Triassic period then you would use a “+” sign in the
search box - Dinosaurs + Triassic period.
The search engine would search its database for pages that
contained the words dinosaurs and Triassic period and give the
results. You can also use
a “-” to help you search. If you wanted all the dinosaurs but the ones that lived
during the Triassic period then you would type in – dinosaurs –
Triassic period. Your
results would be all the pages that have the word dinosaur but do not
contain the words Triassic period.
Please use the same search engines
and narrow your search by using the “+” or “-” sign in the
search box. Your results
should have given you a smaller number of sites to check.
You can further narrow your search
results by using quotation marks. If you type “monarch butterfly
migration” into a search engine you are telling the search engine to
find that exact phrase. The
search engine will only list results that are an exact match.
Sometimes, using a phase is too narrow and no results will be
found.
Try using quotation marks for the
search that you’ve already been doing.
Are your results narrow? Did
you find sites that were helpful?
When you find information that is of particular interest, you
may want read it at a later date. If
you are at your home computer, you could bookmark the site and return
when you have time. Often
though, you maybe online at the library and need to continue searching
for good sites.
Capturing a small portion of a web
page is often necessary. Websites
contain a great deal of information and often you only need a tiny bit
of it. It is time consuming to
write down every website and the information that you need on a piece
of paper with out making any errors!
Here’s the easy way! Go
to your word processor and open up a blank document.
Think of this as your paper.
In the uppermost right hand corner, click the button that looks
like:
This button is called the minimize button and it makes your
“paper” hide until you need it.
It hides at the bottom of your screen in a rectangle box that
probably is labeled “document”.
Now – get onto the Internet and go to a site that you want
to collect information about. When
you are at that site – find the information you want. Put your cursor at the beginning of that information.
Click, hold and move the left mouse button down until you have
highlighted the area that you want to keep.
Let go of the mouse button – the information should continue
to be highlighted.
Go to the top of the screen and click on the EDIT button on
the menu bar. That will
pull down a menu list. On
that list, click copy. Your
computer has now copied all the highlighted information and is waiting
for you to tell it where to put all the info.
You want to put it on your “paper” or document.
Go to the bottom of your screen and click the “document”
button and your paper should appear.
Click the cursor on the blank paper.
Then go to the EDIT button at the top of your screen and click
paste. Everything that
you highlighted will be pasted onto your paper.
One important thing to remember is where the information came
from. To copy the web pages address into your document is easy.
You are going to minimize your document again and the website
that you were looking at should already be on the screen. Move your cursor up into the website box at the top of your
screen. Click, hold, and
move the cursor along the box until you get the entire address
highlighted. Then you
will repeat the steps in activity #3 (edit, copy etc.) until you have
the address information in your document.
After you are finished collecting all of your information, you
can then print out the document or save it to disk.
Please print out your results as proof on completion or
activity #3. Your chart
and document need to be turned into the course instructor before you
can be given credit for this packet.
If you are creating a document of resources for students, this
process allows you to gather up to date information and create a place
where all the information is relevant to the topic.
It will save research time and be a “safe” way to study
about your topic.
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