1. Internet Searching and Attribution Harold Smith smithh@algonquincollege.com ext 7220

2. 2 Session Objectives Identify resources for teaching the basics of internet searching and attribution Explore methods of teaching that will motivate students to actually do the following: search for information in worthwhile sources identify & reject unreliable information paraphrase and/or present in context a relevant, short quote rather than copy/paste a block of text attribute correctly

3. 3 Teaching the basics - Internet searching It’s all here… at Google …or at the LRC …Googlethe LRC …but to help students get the basics… be specific, or use directory – eg blackberry jam site specific searches – eg SCM in Google vs Gartner organize ‘Favorites’ – why, when Googling is so easy? how do I get to the relevant part of long pages?long pages “Look before you leap” – why? how? does it really matter?does it really matter? cookie control – if I block them, I’m safe, right? ‘Pull’ vs ‘Push’‘Push’ “Put your purpose on a post-it” – why?why? “I have no special gift. I am only passionately curious.” Albert Einstein

4. 4 Teaching the basics – Attribution It’s all here …here But perhaps we should simplify …simplify Or get simpler still…simpler still And provide an examplean example

5. 5 How to motivate students to… search in worthwhile sources Assign a Wikipedia research project, debate Explain that reputable publications have: editors, peer reviews, letters to the editor, etc. Libel laws, truth in advertising laws etc. Why is the Web different? Explain how to check reliability of site Check URL, Home page, About Us – why? Check credentials provided for authors Look for professional grammar/spelling Is ‘last update’ recent? ‘Triangulate’ Practice with ‘ordering search results in google’ “A few tidbits of accurate…useful information are worth much more than a ream of random data, and bad information is worse than no information at all.” Robert Lipshutz

6. 6 How to motivate students to… reject unreliable information Google results always present most reliable sites first, right?right? Well, at least Google is unbiased, right?right? Demo building a spoof sitespoof site Practice site evaluation: ‘Negative Ion Depletion’ ‘DHMO contamination’

7. 7 How to motivate students to… go beyond copy/paste! Demo a copy/paste – what did we learn? Demo contrasting student projects Paraphrasing exercise “If your research consists of nothing more than copy/pasting from the Internet, only your Grandmother will be interested in the results.”

8. 8 How to motivate students to… attribute correctly Unattributed use of the work of other is plagiarism taken seriously by the college…the college and in the world outside these wallsoutside these walls Maybe we need a simpler warning?simpler warning Why not use a ‘naked URL’?‘naked URL’?