Transcript File
RESEARCHING ONLINE THE PROBLEM • Is finding “too much stuff” about a particular thing. • One search term in one popular search engine can bring back 130,000 hits. • Too much information is almost worse than too little, because it takes so much time to sort through it to see if there's anything useful. A LOT OF THE TIME… • The first listings are often PAY PER VIEW(click) sites. • Information is not necessarily intended to be accurate, but to draw your attention & get you to visit the page. • “ASK” SEARCH ENGINES • Google, Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc., etc., etc., ALL treat search terms differently. • It’s up to the user (YOU) to learn how to use them effectively. • The one thing they have in common: ignore words too common to index, such as "a, and, in, to, the" and so on. IT’S GOING TO TAKE SOME WORK • But organizations have done a lot of work/research, and spent a lot of time and resources to help you. BOOLEAN LOGIC • “AND” • “OR” • “NOT” • Pollution AND human causes • Pollution AND human causes OR natural causes • Pollution AND human causes NOT natural causes INCLUDE SYNONYMS • “AND” • “OR” • “NOT” • war violence fighting military AND Canadian Government • **use capitols when it will help narrow the search A GOOD WAY TO IDENTIFY THE IMPORTANT SEARCH TERMS FOR A SEARCH: • Define the subject in one sentence, for example; • The impact of coastal pollution in Canada • Split this sentence into concepts, discarding words which merely describe the relationship between one concept and another; • Coastal Pollution Canada I CAN’T FIND ANY INFORMATION??!! • For each of the concepts think of synonyms (words with similar meaning) or related terms that would be useful. Look up your terms in the thesaurus and this will tell you related or preferred terms, for example: • Costal; coast, coasts, beach, beaches • Pollution; oil, sewage, chemical spill • Canada; British Columbia (or any coastal province) AND OR NOT LOOK AT THE HELP ON THE SYSTEM TO FIND OUT HOW TO ENTER AND COMBINE SEARCH TERMS EFFECTIVELY • With Google: • 'Pollution Seabirds' is equivalent to Pollution AND Seabirds (the AND is implied) • +oil means that oil must be present • OR is used as explained in last slide • -music is the equivalent of NOT music • Source: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/library/support/findinginfo/search-terms/ WILDCARDS AND TRUNCATION • This involves substituting symbols for certain letters of a word so that the search engine will retrieve items with any letter in that spot in the word. • "woman" and "women" by using a wildcard such as "wom*n.” WILDCARDS AND TRUNCATION • "invest, investor, investors, investing, investment, investments" by submitting "invest*" rather than typing in all those terms separated by OR's. • The only problem is that "invest*" will also retrieve "investigate, investigated, investigator, investigation, investigating." The trick, then is to combine terms with an AND such as "invest*" AND "stock* or bond* or financ* or money" to try and narrow your retrieved set to the kind of documents you're looking for. RELIABILITY/VALIDITY RELIABILITY/VALIDITY • • • • • • • • Who is the author or sponsor of the page? Are there obvious reasons for bias? Is contact information provided? Is there a copyright symbol on the page? Is this page a "zombie”? What is the purpose of the page? How well organized is the page? Is the information on the page primary or secondary? • If you are worried that the information may lack credibility, try starting with a source you know is reputable. • Remember that even though a page might not meet your standards as a citable source, it may help you generate good ideas or point to other usable sources. • Source: http://www.mhhe.com/mayfieldpub/webtutor/judging.htm WHAT IS THE SITE'S DOMAIN? • Think of this as "decoding" the URL, or Internet address. The origination of the site can provide indications of the site's mission or purpose. • The most common domains are: SOURCE: HTTP://WWW.LIBRARY.ILLINOIS.EDU/UGL/HOWDOI/WEBEVAL.HTM L • org: An advocacy web site, such as a not-for-profit organization. • .com: A business or commercial site. • .net: A site from a network organization or an Internet service provider. • .edu: A site affiliated with a higher education institution. • .gov: A federal government site. • .il.us: A state government site, this may also include public schools and community colleges. .ab.ca • .uk (United Kingdom) : A site originating in another country (as indicated by the 2 letter code). .ca • ~: The tilde usually indicates a personal page. WHAT IS THE “MOOD” OF THE SITE? • The mood or “attitude” of the site should be analyzed. • Does the site dispassionately present the information, or is there something edgy about the site that makes you feel uneasy? • Students should consider multiple perspectives on the historical past and contemporary issues, but… • Many sites that promote hate, conspiracies, and nonsense have home pages that look professional and legitimate. • If you start reading something that appears confusing, stop and ask for help. • Source: http://www.education.com/reference/article/accuracy-informationwebsites/ COMPARE THESE 2 SITES • http://www.amnesty.ca/our-work/issues/womenshuman-rights • http://www.the-spearhead.com/2011/06/24/latestfeminist-triumph-black-family-finally-destroyed/ OBJECTIVITY • Is the information covered fact, opinion, or propaganda? • Is the author's point-of-view objective and impartial? • Is the language free of emotion-rousing words and bias? • Is the author affiliated with an organization? • Does the author's affiliation with an institution or organization appear to bias the information? • Does the content of the page have the official approval of the institution, organization, or company? ADVERTISING? • Think critically… IF NOT STATED, WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE PURPOSE OF THE SITE? IS THE PURPOSE TO: • Inform or Teach? • Explain or Enlighten? • Persuade? • Sell a Product?