Transcript Language Arts and the Web - Western Reserve Public Media

Finding Information
Using the Internet to search
Finding Stuff on the Web...
 Step One is to understand the difference
between
– Internet Providers
– Browsers
– Search Engines
Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
 Provides access to the Internet
– Are national providers such as IBM, GlobalNet,
AOL
– Are local providers such as Imperium
Internet Browsers
 Need a browser to use and see the Web
 Browser software interprets HTML and
allows you to see the document page
 Common browsers are Microsoft Explorer,
Firefox and Safari
Meaning of a URL (unique
resource locator)
Search Engines
 Software that searches an index and returns
matches
– Directory or Index--Finds web pages and
returns lists of pages which match the query
– Usually compiled manually by submission
– Google is an example
Meta Search Engines
 Meta search engines pass queries on to
other search engines and then summarizes
the results.
– Dogpile, Ask Jeeves, Altavista
Using Boolean Searches
 A Boolean search allows the inclusion or
exclusion of documents
 Uses AND (+), NOT (-), or OR
Using OR
I want information about college
OR--looks in both
Colleges
Universities
Using AND
I’m interested in the relationship between
crime and poverty.
AND--selects ONLY the shaded area
Crime
Poverty
Using NOT
I want to know about radiation NOT nuclear radiation.
NOT--will give you information about radiation
but eliminates anything about nuclear radiation
Radiation
Nuclear
Radiation
Using “quotation marks”
 Want information about the Lincoln Penny
 Type in Lincoln Penny and you get all
information about Lincoln and about
pennies
 Type in “Lincoln Penny” and it gives only
information about Lincoln pennies
 Like putting in an AND--but better
What if you get NO results
 Check spelling
 Try synonyms or word variations
 Be less specific--use fewer connectors
 Try a different search engine
What if you get TOO MANY
results?
 Try to be more specific
 Use as many keywords as possible
Be more selective--X out what
you don’t need
Server problems?
 Try again in a few minutes
 Use a less busy time of day
 Check your spelling
 URL may be case sensitive
 Make sure no spaces
Scan, Focus, Act
 Scan--Select what you need--Know what
you don’t need--clip, copy, print
 Focus--Make sure you’re using the right
tool for task--(Michael Jackson’s latest CD)
 Act--Plan before you start- Adapted from Frank Burns
Happy Searching
Searching
is
FUN!