Internet research Just a “click” away Owasso Eighth Grade Media Center

SEARCH ENGINE… What is it?  A Search Engine is an internet tool that locates web pages and sorts them by specified keywords. Owasso Eighth Grade Media Center

Types of Search Engines  Yahoo and Alta Vista are the most useful search engines for beginning searches.  Google, Northern Light, and Snap access the greatest percentage of the World Wide Web—only around 15-16%  Dogpile will search through several search engines at once. Owasso Eighth Grade Media Center

Internet Search How To’s  Do not ask a question! Carefully choose the KEYWORD that is relevant to what you are researching. BE SPECIFIC Remember that your goal is to obtain the most information without getting an over abundance of “hits”. Owasso Eighth Grade Media Center

Internet Search How To’s  Use Synonyms for each keyword in your search. This will provide a better chance of matching your search request. Ex: “buy, purchase, order”  Use Homonyms with caution. The computer doesn’t know the difference! Ex: China/china or Polish/polish Owasso Eighth Grade Media Center

Internet Search How To’s Google Shortcuts! These shortcuts will greatly cut down on your search time. Most all of the search engines have some kind of shortcut method. It is a good idea to read the directions for each search engine to get the most out of your search. Owasso Eighth Grade Media Center

Internet Search How To’s  Use Boolean Logic! Use the words AND, OR, and NOT in your search to expand or limit your search.  AND – By putting AND between two terms, you will get information that has both terms. This will eliminate sites that contain one term or the other. ***AND will narrow a search. Owasso Eighth Grade Media Center

Internet Search How To’s  OR – The term OR will broaden a search. When used between two search terms, it indicates that pages with one term or the other are acceptable. Example: If purchasing an ipod… **Purchase AND ipod **(purchase OR buy OR “mail order”) AND ipod Use parenthesis to group terms that are alike. Owasso Eighth Grade Media Center

Internet Search How To’s  NOT – The term NOT is used in special circumstances. This will limit a search to specific keywords. It is also an effective way to eliminate homonyms. Example: If you are searching things that are Polish (from Poland) and you don’t want shoe polish, you can use… (Polish NOT shoe)…Always use parenthesis with the term NOT! Owasso Eighth Grade Media Center

Internet Search How To’s  Review…. AND – for combination and narrowing; between different concepts OR – to broaden a search; for synonyms NOT - to narrow a search; keyword specific These operators also work when searching on the library card catalog!!! Use the “POWER” button Owasso Eighth Grade Media Center

Internet Search How To’s Field Searching. Google Yahoo! Live Search Ask Title: Find 1 Term Intitle:term OR Allintitle:term Intitle:term Title: Find 2 or more terms Allintitle: term term term Intitle:term Intitle:term term term URL: Find 1 Term Inurl:term OR Allinurl:term Inurl:termDoes not work Inurl:term URL: Find 2 or more terms Allinurl:term term term Inurl:term Does not work Inurl:term term * Do not put a space between the colon and the first term being searched. It is not necessary

Credibility of the web site Important questions to ask: Who is the creator of the site? What is the purpose of the site? Who is the audience of this site? Owasso Eighth Grade Media Center

Credibility of the web site Does the site provide a list of sources or a Works Cited page? Can you locate any of the source material? How reliable is this material? Are there links to other credible sites with additional information? Does the site provide a link for ing the author or webmaster? Owasso Eighth Grade Media Center

Historical Sources - Explorers Maps of Explorers’ Travels u2/index.html _explorers_10x14.pdf The History Place From colonies to revolution Early Modern Resources worlds/exploration/ Owasso Eighth Grade Media Center

Online Reference Sources Encyclopedia Britannica Merriam-Webster Dictionary Ebsco Thesaurus Owasso Eighth Grade Media Center

Online Reference Resources Virtual Reference Library Wikipedia Owasso Eighth Grade Media Center

Internet Research Get Clickin’ Owasso Eighth Grade Media Center Information from Purdue University Writing Lab,ASK SCOTT and LMC