Using the Computer in Your Research A Dora A Rikki A Litta
5A computers and the research paper Before computers – the typewriters Now – computer software For example: word, excel, power point.
Computer changed In some quarters, computer have done away with note cards. In some schools, by the to the traditional submission of hard copy. The laborious business of research, they offer to full- text databases.
5B The internet The internet – it is a system to connect by a common protocol. The world wide web – it is part of the internet.
Some internet terms FTP: file transfer protocol HTML: hypertext markup language HTTP: hypertext transfer protocol ISP: internet service provider URL: uniform resource locator
Understanding internet addresses protocol Name of the host /jmls-trademark.html Document path
5C Online resources Databases Electronic journals Online public-access catalogs (OPAC) Blogs
5D: RESEARCHING WITH SEARCH ENGINES A search engine is a program that searches the web for specific words related to your topic. The step you start to search: Type a key word into search box Click on search or go
FINDING A SEARCH ENGINE Use a searching engine to find other search engines that are more specific to your purpose. When you type a words which receive too many hits, you can try a new search engine on google, you can find something more relative to your key words. Use Certain connectors- and, or,not
BOOLEAN LOGIC It played a significant role in the emergence of the modern computer. There are three logical operators in Boolean logic: With all of the words: AND (A” +” plus sign to mean AND.) With any of the words: OR(A "│” vertical line sign to mean OR.) Without the words: NOT(A “-” a minus sign to mean NOT.) Variations exist among all engines, we cannot use this way for all the web engines.
EDUCATIONAL SEARCH ENGINES Except the searching engines we talked before, there are some other are maintained by nonprofit organizations- libraries, schools, and government agencies. Education search engines, English server, Library of congress, Searched, The universal library, tera-3.ul.cs.cmu.edu
USEFUL SEARCH ENGINES There are three types of engines: manual, robotic, metasearch Manual: Yahoo! Searches directories and subcategories that have been compiled by humans. Robotic: Google has indexed billions of pages, far more than its competitors. Metasearch: searches and compiles the top listings of other search engines.
NameWeb addressCoverage Googlewww.google.comSophisticated software crawls millions and millions of web pages; functions almost like a metasearch engines. Possibly the best and most widely used search engine today. (enter your phone number in the search box and see what happens) AltaVistawww.altavista.comMore than 4 billion web pages indexed; returns comprehensive result from both web pages and proprietary databases. Askwww.ask.comA comprehensive search engine that suggests various ways of narrowing the topic of your search. Excitewww.excite.comKeywords on more than 50 million web pages. Hotbotwww.hotbot.comMore than 54 million documents. Mammawww.mamma.conDatabases of 10 other engines. MetaCrawlerwww.metacrawler.comDatabases of various search engines, including Lycos, Infoseek, AltaVista, and Yahoo! WebCrawlerwww.webcrawler.comHundreds of millions of web pages. Yahoo! the smallest search engines( fewer than one million sites); high quality control makes Yahoo! A researcher’s favorite; unlike other engines, which use a search algorithm, Yahoo! Uses people to select its sites.
5E: USENET, LISTSERV, TELNET, AND GOPHER Usenet: A serious of electronic bulletin boards. Everyone can post their response on it. Usenet presents information in an format, with no graphics and no sound. Listserv Listserv and similar software manage the electronic mailing lists of discussion groups. Telnet and gopher Telnet is a protocol for connecting computers on the internet. Gopher is an old-fashioned system of searching the internet.