1 Finding & evaluating information on the World Wide Web Academic Learning Support Services Dr Eric Wong February 2005

2 Finding & evaluating information in the WWW Meeting peers (5’) Introducing basic searching tips (5’+5’+10’) Understanding web search tools (15’+10’) Evaluating web resources (5’+15’+10’) Locating web resources useful to your studies (10’) Citing web resources (10’) Q & A (10’)

3 Introducing basic searching tips Use appropriate sources Create search strategies Refer to help pages to understand their search capabilities & the right syntax to change the scope of your search Use specific terms rather than general terms Scan results and evaluate each entry before activating the links Use different types of search tools Make use of the options provided by some search engines (e.g., Google, ProFusion) to find more relevant documents

4 Introducing basic searching tips Use appropriate sources Look for library-subscribed web- based resources for academic purposes Look for free resources on the web when you can’t find information you want in library- subscribed web-based resources and for non-academic purposes

5 Introducing basic searching tips Library-subscribed web-based resources Listed under Electronic Resources on the Library website Reviewed & selected by librarians for academic pursuit Subscribed by the Library thus restricted access to authorized users

6 Introducing basic searching tips Free resources Not listed under Electronic Resources on the Library website Free information of vase amount Unfiltered information thus no quality control May contain very updated/outdated information

7 Introducing basic searching tips Create search strategies General strategies Boolean logic & proximity operation Field searching

8 Introducing basic searching tips Create search strategies 3 students in a group, each studies one of the following items (5’) oGeneral strategies oBoolean logic & proximity operation oField searching share your learning with the other two members (10’) Source Creating a search strategy: Boolean Searching on the Internet SEARCHING WITH BOOLEAN LOGIC AND PROXIMITY OPERATORS Field Searching

9 Understanding web search tools Subject directory Search engine Deep web

10 Understanding web search tools Examine the following web search tools (15’) oSubject directory (Group1) oSearch engine (Group 2) oDeep web (Group 3) Share with your peers (2’- 3’) oWhat is it? oAny example to illustrate? oWhen to use it?

11 Evaluating web resources Reasons for evaluating Anyone can put up a Web page –about anything –for pennies –in minutes Many pages not kept up-to-date No quality control –most sites not “peer-reviewed” less trustworthy than scholarly publications –no selection guidelines for search engines Source s/Internet/Evaluate.html

12 Evaluating web resources Basic criteria for evaluation Accuracy Authority Objectivity Currency Coverage Stability User friendliness Source Another Source /index.html

13 Evaluating web resources Work through the following page to understand more about the evaluating criteria (10’) Find a website of your choice and evaluate it using these criteria (5’) Report to the whole group the results of your discussion (2’- 3’)

14 Locating web resources useful to your studies Source /index.htm

15 Citing web resources Citation Styles: online/citex.html

16 More references ges/bones/bones.shtml Lib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html

17 Q & A