Advanced Internet Searching

And Evaluating Web Resources Workshop

Workshop Agenda

Opening / Discussion (5 minutes)

  • Discuss research topics
  • How do you find information and resources on a chosen topic?

Part I: Directories and Search Engines

Demo: Directories and Search Engines Overview (10 Minutes)

References: searching and differences


Hands-On: Directories and Search Engines Activity: (10 Minutes)

  • Conduct two searches on Iraq War
  • Use both a directory and a search engine from the list below
  • Take notes on both the similarities and differences

Directories

Search Engines and Meta Search Engines

 

 

About.com http://www.about.com/

Ask Jeeves http://www.ask.com/

Yahoo! http://www.yahoo.com

Google http://www.google.com/

Alta Vista http://www.altavista.com/

HotBot http://www.hotbot.com/

Dogpile http://www.dogpile.com/

Metacrawler http://www.metacrawler.com/


Part II: Advanced Searching

Demo/ Discussion: Boolean Searching Overview (10 Minutes)

  • Discuss boolean logic...what is it?
  • Discuss keywords/symbols used in a boolean search
  • Discuss how and why quotations are used in a boolean search

References: Boolean Searching and Search Tips / Venn Diagrams

Hands-On: Boolean Searching Activity: (15 Minutes)

 

Complete the boolean search exercise

 

Discuss boolean searching activity : (5 Minutes)

 

Part III: Evaluating Internet Resources

 

Evaluating Websites Discussion (10 Minutes)

  • Why assess the reliability of a website?
  • Techniques used to determine the reliability of a website and flaws in these techniques

 

Evaluating Websites Activity (10 Minutes)

 

Use one of the websites that you bookmarked during the Boolean search. Assess the reliability of the website! using the handout http://www.mediaworkshop.org/liberty/internetworkshop/assessment_handout.html

 

Wrap Up: (5 Minutes)

 

How can you use what you learned with your students?

Download Homework

 

Additional Resources


Directories and Search Engines
http://searchenginewatch.com/links/article.php/2156221 (Article on Major Search Engines and Directories)

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/searching/specialized.html (Specialized Search Engines and Directories-This website was created by Bernie Dodge.)

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/ToolsTables.html (Types of Search Tools)

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html (Finding Information on the Internet: A Tutorial)


Boolean Searching
http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/internet/ (Introduction to the Internet: Using the Internet)
http://library.albany.edu/internet/boolean.html (A Primer in Boolean Logic)
http://lscc.cc.fl.us/library/guides/boolsea.htm (Boolean Search Tips)


Evaluating Websites

http://www.mediaworkshop.org/humanities/2005workshops/internet_searching/assess_reliability.html
(Assessing Reliability of a Website)
http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webeval.html (Evaluating Websites Criteria and Tools)
http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webcrit.html (Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages)

http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html (Evaluation Criteria)

http://enrollmentoptions.sandi.net/workshops/walklikealibrarian/tutorial/evalwebsites.html (Evaluating Websites - San Diego School System)


Other Resources
http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~djleu/fourth/two.html (Teaching With The Internet)