Transcript Slide 1

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Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
This section of UPLift! is aimed at all students. It focuses on the core skills required to
make effective use of the internet for academic purposes. For example, it will help you
to locate and evaluate websites and explore the pros and cons of social networking sites.
Perhaps you know how to do some of these things already? Take the short
quiz to find out.
Perhaps you need to develop a particular skill? Take the link to find out more.
If you would like some more help click on the Help! button,
otherwise move to the next page using the arrow icon.
First of all, select
Slide Show, then
From the Beginning.
Click on Q&A to link to a
short quiz to see if you can
do the basics of this skill.
Tick the box when
you have completed
the quiz.
Click on the ? icon to find
links to information,
guides, video clips etc. to
help you develop this skill.
Move between slides by
following the navigation
buttons at the bottom
of the screen.
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Skill
Can I do this?
Find out more
Describe the nature of the web as an information
source and when Google might be a good place to
start your research


Locate and navigate an important site for your
subject, using the Library’s ‘My Subject’ pages


Explain the importance of evaluating information
from the web


Identify the parts of a URL that aid online source
evaluation


Evaluate a web page using academic criteria, e.g.
authority, purpose, bias


Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Skill
Can I do this?
Explain how to conduct an advanced Search on
Google


Explain the pros and cons of social networking sites


Describe the nature of a wiki and when to use it
appropriately


Locate other specialist internet resources in your
subject area, e.g. maps, statistics, audio-visual


Explain the concept of ‘Creative Commons’ when
referring to multimedia information


Identify guidance and comply with copyright law
when using the internet


Find out more
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Describe the nature of the web as an information source and
when Google might be a good place to start your research
The Information Landscape has a section on websites, which suggests when the
web might be a good starting point for research.
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Describe the nature of the web as an information source and
when Google might be a good place to start your research
Your tutors and faculty librarians
select good quality library
resources
for you,
but if you
use the
Current
information,
e.g.
internet
research, from
you have
news,for
information
the to
make selections
yourself.
Government
andfor
companies
What kind of information might it
be necessary to find on the web?
Reveal answer
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Locate and navigate an important site for your subject, using the
Library’s ‘My Subject’ pages
The nature of the Internet means that web sites vary hugely in the way they are
presented, however, you should be able to locate at least some of the following features:
• a homepage (often with a 'home' button to link to it)
• some sort of list of contents (though it's not often actually called 'contents')
• a site map
• a search facility
• links
• contact details
• sections labelled 'About...' or 'About us', as well as, 'News', 'Events' 'Resources' or
'Publications'. A website might also have a sign-in or log-in box for members.
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Locate and navigate an important site for your subject, using the
Library’s ‘My Subject’ pages
The University Library’s website is important for your studies, whatever your subject.
If you are working from home and want to attempt to troubleshoot some problems you are
experiencing with a resource, which of the following might be your first click on the library
website? Click on the boxes below.
A) Help and Support
Here you will find an option Troublshooting
problems
B) Services and Facilities
You could arrive at ‘Troubleshooting problems’
by taking the link to Computing in the library
C) Essentials
Known problems is useful to enable you to
see if it’s a problem with the resource
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Explain the importance of evaluating information from the web
Searching the internet is not usually the best place to start research for academic
work. However, it may provide you with useful supplementary information. Because
the internet is such an unregulated resource, unlike the University Library, you must
be confident that the websites you choose are trustworthy and accurate.
Follow the link to find a useful tutorial called ‘Internet Detective’. The section ‘Wise
Up’ explains why students sometimes get poor marks for assignments because they
have used the internet in ways that are inappropriate for work at this level.
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Why is it so important
to evaluate the stuff I
find on the internet?
If you use poor quality
Click you
to reveal
websites
might get
low marks
or even fail
answer
your assignment
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Identify the parts of a URL that aid online source evaluation
Checking the ‘domain names’ part of a URL might be useful in judging any bias the
web site might have. Here are some common domain types:
.ac
.edu
.co
.com
.gov
.org
.net
an academic (e.g. college or university) site in the UK
an educational institution (outside the UK)
a company or commercial organisation (normally in the UK)
a company or commercial organisation (any country)
a government (local or national) site
a non-profit organisation
originally for administrators, now more widely-used
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Identify the parts of a URL that aid online source evaluation
Can you identify the parts of this URL (web address) that might help you to decide
if you would trust this website?
http://ota.ahds.ac.uk/
This informs you that the ‘domain name’ is
Click here to reveal the answer
owned by an academic institution in the UK
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Evaluate a web page using academic criteria,
e.g. authority, purpose, bias
Follow the link to find a useful guide on Evaluating Internet Sources. It explains
that you need to think critically, especially when using the internet. This means
you should not accept content at face value. By asking yourself questions about
the authority, accuracy, objectivity and currency of the information you should
be able to filter out unreliable and unsuitable material.
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Evaluate a web page using academic criteria, e.g. authority, purpose, bias
Link to this website and consider the following questions
http://ota.ahds.ac.uk/
Who ‘owns’ the site?
Reveal answer
University
of Oxford
What is the purpose of the site?
Explicitly
Reveal answer
stated: “The Oxford Text Archive...”
Do you think there is any bias to be concerned about?
Reveal
No,
butanswer
there is a section restricted to University of Oxford users
Do the links work?
Revealdid
They
answer
when I tried, but I can contact the owner of the site if any are broken
Can you contact the owner of the site?
Yes:
Reveal
via answer
the Contact and Feedback link
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Explain how to conduct an advanced Search on Google
Advanced searching is often misconceived as a more difficult way of searching the
Internet, in fact it is often easier because you are prompted to consider your search
more fully. You should get fewer, but more relevant, search results. Advanced Search
on Google is a guide which will help you search effectively.
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Explain how to conduct an advanced Search on Google
There are 2 ways of conducting an
advanced search on Google; you can
go to the ‘Advanced search’ option
or you can use some simple
commands along with your keywords.
Can you match the commands
(in blue in the statements below) to
the advanced search options on
Google?
C)
A)
A) Portsmouth dockyard - historic
B) Library catalogue : port.ac.uk
C) “planet of the apes”
Reveal answers
B)
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Explain the pros and cons of social networking sites
The following guides from the Tangled in the Web series are useful both for
academic and social purposes:
Tangled in the Web: Sharing introduces a range of shared content resources on
the web including sites for photos, video, essays, presentations and podcasts
Tangled in the Web: Web 2.0 introduces some sites which actively encourage
social networking and interaction
Tangled in the Web: Social Bookmarking introduces some tools to enable you
to save and share your internet ‘favourites’
Tangled in the Web: Blogs provides some examples of blogs and some things to
consider before starting your own
All of the above guides look at the pros and cons of such resources.
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Explain the pros and cons of social networking sites
You can find the University Library’s social media icons at the bottom of the Library web
pages. Click on the icons below to have a look at what we include on each. Why not
choose your favourite and follow us.
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Describe the nature of a wiki and when to use it appropriately
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED Online) defines ‘wiki’ as:
“A type of web page designed so that its content can be edited by anyone who
accesses it, using a simplified markup language.”
The most well known wiki is Wikipedia, a free collaborative encyclopedia that
anyone can author or edit. It is often deemed unacceptable to use it for academic
purposes. However, visit the guide, Wikipedia to see why and find out how you can
make effective use of this resource, through careful evaluation.
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Describe the nature of a wiki and when to use it appropriately
True or false? Click on the correct answers
Anyone, even you, can
contribute to Wikipedia
 
True
False
On Wikipedia, you can see when an
article has been updated and who by
Plounsbury CC Flickr
 
True
False
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Locate other specialist internet resources in your subject area, e.g. maps,
statistics, audio-visual
‘My Subject’ is a good place
to find specialist internet
resources, including nontextual sources.
Follow the links to any of the
guides that might interest
you.
Market Data
Legal Information
Mediascape: interactive guide to
image video and sound
Box of Broadcasts:
for TV and radio
programmes
Digimap: map data
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Locate other internet resources in your subject area, e.g. maps, statistics
On the screenshot below, click on the link that might enable you to find recommend
internet resources in your subject area. You will know when you have clicked on the
correct link as an example will appear. Visit the Library homepage to explore.
Try again
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Locate other specialist internet resources in your subject area, e.g. maps,
statistics, audio-visual
Click the screenshot below to watch a short video clip:
http://screencast.com/t/mYFrB9vjJJyK
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Explain the concept of ‘Creative Commons’ when referring to
multimedia information
All rights reserved
Full copyright
Creative Commons
A range of licenses
in between
Public domain
No copyright
From: www.vts.intute.ac.uk/tutorial/imagesearching
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Explain the concept of ‘Creative Commons’ when referring to multimedia information
I’ve found this useful image on a photo-sharing website. Would it be
okay to use it on my own website? I checked out the license and it
said it was available under ‘Creative Commons’
Read the license
Do you think he can use the
image on his website? Click
on the correct answer.

Yes
Providing he gives the
original author credit
Volcano types diagram CC. by Alan Levine, Flickr

No
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Identify guidance and comply with copyright law when using the internet
Staffordshire University has created a web page with useful information on
copyright, aimed specifically at students, which includes information about
copyright on the web: A student's guide to copyright. Visit their website and
follow the link to ‘The Web’.
http://www.staffs.ac.uk/legal/copyright/students_guide/index.jsp
Using the
Internet for
Academic
Purposes
Core Skills
Identify guidance and comply with copyright law when using the internet
Visit the BBC’s homepage – www.bbc.co.uk
Locate the Terms of Use for this website and find out it the statement below is true or false.
“I can watch TV programmes as they are being broadcast using BBC
online services on my mobile device. I don’t need a TV licence, as long
as it is for personal use.”
Click on the correct answer

True
Link to section 3 from this part of the BBC’s
Terms of Use page:
3.2.2 If you do not have a valid television licence

False