EDT321EDT321 1 Summer Session Web Search and Evaluation How to find a web site How to know it is useful

EDT321EDT321 2 Summer Session World Wide Web  Not the Internet  Hyperlinks  Text  Graphics  Sound  Video

EDT321EDT321 3 Summer Session Who builds the WWW? ANYONE with access and interest

EDT321EDT321 4 Summer Session URL  Uniform Resource Locator URL is like a card catalog Naming scheme for resources  URL has 4 components Protocol [ Domain name [asu] Domain designator [edu] Suffix(es) [directory] Example -

EDT321EDT321 5 Summer Session URL Practice 1  Find the components for this URL [a = protocol, b = domain name, c = domain designator, d = suffix(es)] ac d b windows/ie/default.html

EDT321EDT321 6 Summer Session URL Practice 2  This is the URL for your web site at ASU. [a = protocol, b = domain name, c = domain designator, d = suffix(es)] /index.html a c b d d

EDT321EDT321 7 Summer Session Domain Designator  Common names.com.gov.net.org.edu.mil  Countries.cn (China).de (Germany).jp (Japan).uk (United Kingdom)  New names.biz.museum.info

EDT321EDT321 8 Summer Session Common URL Errors  5 Common errors when typing URLs Leaving out a component Incorrect domain designator Punctuation errors Missing punctuation Misspelling words

EDT321EDT321 9 Summer Session Finding Information  Search Engines Google, AltaVista Meta Search Engines  Metacrawler, Dog Pile  Subject Directories Yahoo, LookSmart  Specialized Databases

EDT321EDT Summer Session Which Search Engine?  Each engine returns different results  Different approaches for finding and storing pages  Check at least two search engines

EDT321EDT Summer Session Research Questions  Define your question Find unique key words Find phrases Be prepared to find new words and phrases Where do echinoderms, or sea urchins, live? keyword phrase

EDT321EDT Summer Session Search Techniques  Word Searches Use specific key words Not common words: the, an, a Example: echinoderm  Phrase Searches Phrases in quotes Example: “sea urchin”  Advanced search feature

EDT321EDT Summer Session Search Operators  Symbols can be useful Term is required ( + )  Hair +red Term is not wanted ( - )  Rock -music Wildcard for missing letters ( * )  Vege*

EDT321EDT Summer Session Boolean Searches  Boolean Searches Use operator words AND, OR, and NOT operators  Jamaica AND geography  French OR francaise  sailboats NOT yachts NEAR operator  browser NEAR performance

EDT321EDT Summer Session Reliability & Validity  Reliability Can you get that same information again? Is the information current? Are there links to other pages, do other pages link to this information?  Validity Is the information about your topic? Does the domain designator make sense for the topic? Is the author credible?

EDT321EDT Summer Session Evaluate Information  Critically evaluate web sources  Assessment criteria University of California Berkeley evaluation form  Spend enough time

EDT321EDT Summer Session Activity  Scavenger Hunt Use search techniques  Web Evaluation Use evaluation guidelines

EDT321EDT Summer Session Google Search Number of “hits” Search phrase in “quotes” Web site to research Hyperlink

EDT321EDT Summer Session Evaluation Example 1  1. Look at the URL before you go to the page Personal page or site Type of domain Appropriate for content Published by entity that makes sense (corresponds to name of site)

EDT321EDT Summer Session Evaluation Example 2  2. Scan the edges of the page Author Date Credentials

EDT321EDT Summer Session Evaluation Example 3  3. Indicators of quality Well documented Complete Links Other viewpoints or bias

EDT321EDT Summer Session Evaluation Example 4  4. What do others say? Links to page Rated in directory Author in Google?

EDT321EDT Summer Session Evaluation Example 5  5. Does it all add up? Why is this page on web? Was it meant to be humorous or ironic?  Bottom Line – as good as or better than other resources? YES

EDT321EDT Summer Session Website TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/ FindInfo.html Visit this site for the web evaluation checklist and additional information about search engines and web searching techniques