1. Digital and Online ResourcesBy
Dr. Muhammad Sajid Mirza
Principal Librarian I Dr. M. Hamidullah Library
Islamic Research Institute, IIUI

2. What is a digital and online source?

3. What is Internet International Network of Computers since 1994
Universities
Government
Business
Organizations
Individuals
December, millions users
June, 2014 (est.) 3,035 millions users
In Pakistan: users
,128,970 users

4. The Internet The Web and the Internet
The two are sometimes used interchangeably but there is a difference.
The Internet connects computers
File transfer, involving a variety of protocols (e.g. ftp)
The web connects pages
Hyperlinks: the http at the beginning of the URL of every web page

5. Importance
A study of student research behavior (ProQuest, 2007), found that more than 60 percent of students consider Google to be the easiest place to start research, compared to less than 20 percent who find library databases the easiest starting point.

6. What can we do Using the Internet?
Locate information sources
Library catalogues (worldcat, LOC, NLP, IIU, AIOU), publishers etc.
Access online journals, e-books, thesis and databases
e.g. HEC Digital Library, PRR, JSTOR, Open Access Journals, etc.
Import references and citations
Endnote, Mendeley, Zotero, RefWorks
Check similarity / plagiarism
Turnitin
Attend a webinar or online meeting
Attend a massive open online course (mooc)
Submit a research paper for publication/conference
Share your research using social media e.g. Linkedin, academia.edu, etc.
Monitor impact of your research e.g. Google scholar
Search for fellowships/grants
Join a mailing list

7. Using Internet Browser: URL’s
It is a software application used to locate and display Web pages.
The most popular browsers are Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox
URL’s
Uniform Resource Locator
The web “address” that connects you with a website
Goes in the address bar at the top of the screen
Gives you information about the website

8. Parts of a URL http://www.iiu.edu.pk
transfer protocol:
the language computers use to “talk” to one another
www—world wide web:
the body of information connected by the cables and computers of the Internet
.iiu—domain name:
the structured, alphabetic-based, unique name for a computer on a network
.edu—top level domain:
gives an idea of where the document is stored
pk-country code

9. Why Effective Internet Searching
Un-organized information
Well-prepared searches will eliminate useless hits and wasted time.

10. Internet Search Tools Search engines (Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc.)
Are like the index in the back of a book
Let you search for specific words and topics
Meta-search engines (webcrawler, ixquick, Mamma, etc.)
Sends your search terms to several other search engines at once.
Gives an overview of a topic across the Internet.
Subject guides (www virtual library, IPL2, An Online Library of Literature etc.)
Let you search for concepts or subject categories
Go from general to specific
Specialized search tools (databases, reference sites, newsgroups etc.)
Source of invisible information, usually called deep web
Search engines: enable you to locate web pages that contain keywords you enter in a search form

11. Please remember Common-Word Exclusion 32-Word Limit Case Insensitivity
Google ignores some common words called “stop words” e.g., the, on, of. Stop words tend to slow down searches without improving results
32-Word Limit
Google limits queries to 32 words
Case Insensitivity
Google is case-insensitive; it shows both upper- and lowercase results
Ignoring Punctuation
Google ignores most punctuation and special characters including , . ; ? [ ] / < >
Search engines: enable you to locate web pages that contain keywords you enter in a search form

12. Internet Research Strategy
Define your topic and note initial keywords
Locate background information and identify additional keywords
Choose the proper search tools
Perform your search
Basic Search,
Phrase search,
Complex Search
Evaluate your search results
Refine your search, if needed

13. Basic Search All search engines offer basic searching
Read search engine’s help page
Use “trial and error approach”

14. Phrase Searching
When you construct a search with more than one keyword, you often need two or more words to be in a sentence one right after the other. For such searching, we use phrase search
Use “quotation marks” around the phrase

15. Complex Search
A complex search uses special connecting words and symbols called Boolean operators to define the relationships between keywords and phrases.
Boolean operators are:
AND, OR
AND NOT
Use of advance search and filters
Boolean Operators: e.g cat, dogs

16. Using Punctuation, symbols and Voice
Asterisk (*)
Add an asterisk within a search as a placeholder for any unknown terms
Two periods (--)
Separate numbers by two periods without spaces (..) to see results that contain numbers in a given range of things like dates, prices, and measurements. Example: camera $50..$100
Voice Searching
Boolean Operators: e.g cat, dogs

17. Remember….
The best results will appear on the first page or two of hits
No two search engines are alike. Try another search engine, or rephrase your terms if you don’t get good results.

18. Evaluating Websites Book publishers weed out inaccurate information.
No one checks the Internet for accuracy.

19. Before you start using the information
Evaluating Websites
Before you start using the information
EVALUATE!

20. Evaluating Websites Who is the author? Is the information accurate?
Is he/she an authority on the subject?
Does she/he have an address?
Is the information accurate?
Can it be verified in an encyclopedia?
Is it relevant to your topic?
Does the author indicate where he found the information?
Is the information prejudiced?
Is it trying to persuade you to another point of view?
Is it trying to persuade you to buy a product?

21. Evaluating Websites Is the information current?
When was the last time the website was updated?
Are the links broken?

22. Evaluating Websites Is the information current?
When was the last time the website was updated?
Are the links broken?

23. Evaluating Websites Is the information current?
When was the last time the website was updated?
Are the links broken?

24. Thanks

25. ?