It's a Big World Wide Web...
Ironically, the single largest conduit for world
communication got its beginnings decades ago as part of the US strategy for
the Cold War. Today the US government is one of the biggest providers of information
on the Internet, supplying US statistics, Congressional voting records, environmental
information and much more. There are also many companies, schools, research
institutions, organizations and private individuals that publish information
to the Internet. While the US still dominates the Web, the rest of the world
is catching up, with countries around the world, their governments, companies,
schools, etc., publishing information on the Internet.
There's lots of information
out there, so what's the problem?
It's very easy to find information on the
Internet. But there are a couple of problems with it if you are a college
student doing research for a paper:
Too Much Information
Yes, there can be too much of a good thing. How may times have you done a search
and retrieved millions,
of results. That's way too much to look through--not going to happen. Talk
about information overload! So how do you deal with having so many results
to look through to find the good stuff?
Getting the good stuff
Which brings us to the second problem.
How do you know if what you found is from
a reliable source? Will your instructor accept it as college level research?
Remember, your instructors have been there and done that. They know how to
evaluate resources no matter where they come from. Frankly scholarly information
is rare on the Internet.
Check Databases
And that brings us to databases. That's right, some of the library's databases
collect web sites. Why use them? To save yourself some time. The web sites
in these databases have already been evaluated for good quality, so it's a
quick way to find sites that are more likely to be acceptable to your instructor
as college level research. Which databases can you use to find web sites? You
may have already used them: Encyclopædia Britannica, Oxford Reference
and Literature Online:
CQ Researcher & Facts on File
Search for your topic as you normally would. Check out the bibliography, footnotes
and contacts for live links to good web sites.
Encyclopædia
Britannica
Perform a search on your topic and look on the left most column of the result
list. You should see Web Sites with a number--that's how many web
sites were found. Just click on Web Sites to
access them. These sites have been collected by the editors of the encyclopedia
for their good quality.
Oxford Reference
Instead of doing a search, click on the LINKS tab in Oxford Reference. Select
your subject from the list and get good quality web sites on your subject.
Literature Online
If you are looking for resources on literature, try Literature Online. Select
Web Site on the main page. Now you can search for web sites on your author,
specific stories, or even literary periods and movements.
Directories Internet directories are sites that maintain an index of other
Internet sites. The data in these directories has generally been input by
people. Since the Internet is growing every day, it is not currently possible
to have a comprehensive directory to the Internet. Most directories can be
browsed by subject, or searched. See search engine and meta
search engine.
Directories are generally better at finding general
information. For instance, if you want to know about the death penalty in
general, a directory is where you should start. Your search statement would
be "death penalty." If you want to focus in on something more specific,
like "Is the death penalty a deterrent to crime?," use a search
engine or meta search engine. Your search statement would include the two
concepts: "death penalty and deterrent." Some Directories are better at collecting specific topics than
others. For instance, Voice of the Shuttle probably has the best collection
of humanities links on the Internet, but WWW Virtual Library has good
science links. All of the directories listed on COM Library's Search page,
with the exception of Yahoo!, attempt to list only those sites which
are deemed of value. There are many more Directories on the Internet. To
see a list of many directories and search engines, go to: Yahoo!:
Search Engines and Directories.
What are they?
Internet search engines are sites that maintain an index of
other web sites, as directories do, but the index is obtained in a different
manner: search engines have robots or spiders (computer
programs) that search other sites on the Internet. Some robots only index
the main page of an Internet site, and others index every page of every site
they encounter.
Search engines are not always as easy to use as directories,
but sometimes they can find sites that have not been indexed in a directory. Even search engines cannot keep up with the explosive growth
of the Internet, however, so more than one might have to be used to find
specific information. Many of these search engines maintain separate pages
for simple and advanced searches. Don't be afraid of the advanced searches--usually
it just means there are more options to use--so results are frequently better.
Most search engines use pull-down
or pop-up menus for their search options. Click on them to see what options
exist. Most search engines also include their own browsable directories
that are easier to use, but like other directories, do not keep track of
as many sites.
Google Rules
OK, let's just say it: Google is the best. It's the quickest and easiest way to get good results. What you may not know is that you can get a lot more out of Google than a quick search. For instance, did you know that:
you can set Google up to alert you for new results in a search?
save Word documents to Google?
edit docs on Google and Blog it?
Take your favorites and bookmarks with you?
Google Guide
Check out COM Library's Google Guide to learn: Google Top Tips, Google Advanced Search, Google Book Search, My Google, Google Search History, Create a Google Search Alert, Google Docs & Spreadsheets and Google Toolbar.
Meta Search Engines
Meta search engines (also known as All-in-One search pages) allow the user to
search multiple engines from one location. Since no search engine or directory
of the Internet is comprehensive, you may have to use more than one to find the
information you want. Disadvantages? Most meta search engines do not allow the
user to take advantage of a search engine's options, which can make a search
much more effective; some also require that a search term be entered repeatedly
for each engine it searches. See directory and search
engine.
All of the meta search engines listed on COM Library's Search page
were chosen as some of the best on the Internet.
Invisible Web The Invisible Web, sometimes called to as the Deep Web, refers to content that
many directories and search engines can't index. It's not a new problem, but
some
sites have come up with new solutions. In order to access this information
you will generally not be
performing a direct search for content but for the resources that may access
the content--and you can expect to spend more time doing it. The advantage?
You may not be able to access this content any other way.
Invisible web tools can be time consuming and should really
only be used as a last resort for finding information that cannot be found
with the other search tools mentioned on this page.
All of the invisible web tools listed on COM Library's Search page
were chosen as some of the best on the Internet. Compare them as you
go.
Articles on the Web Articles can be especially hard to find on the Internet; because
of this, COM Library has created a page that brings together the best places
on the Internet to find full text articles. It lists free sites
that have full text articles, reports and position papers; specialized search
engines that search for magazine and/or newspaper articles; and sites that
collect links to individual online or electronic journals. Access Articles
on the Web to try out these sites and see what kinds of articles
are available. Keep in mind that you can access thousands more full text
articles from COM Library's database page
than you can on the Internet, and your searches can be both more precise
and quicker. If your assignment is on a current or controversial topic and
requires you to find Internet resources, this page is a great resource. Yahoo!
US Full Coverage is one of the better resources, from which you can
get limited full text articles, the latest news stories, editorials, and
Internet sites on your topic.
Search Tips
If you have ever used a search engine on the Internet,
you know that generally a search will produce many more results than you
can ever look at. 700,000 hits may be retrieved, but you will usually only
have access to the first 200 or less. Many hits won't match your topic at all.
That is because unlike articles in indexes, or books in library catalogs, Web
pages do not have assigned subject headings. On the Internet if the words you
typed in are anywhere on the page, not necessarily even together, they can
be retrieved in your search. Try making your search more effective by using
these tips:
Directories are usually better at finding general
information, while search engines are generally best at finding very specific
information.
Try several search engines, decide which you are
most comfortable with, and learn to use that one well.
Learn about a search engine's options by reading
or printing out the help pages. Most search engines have help for both
basic and more advanced searches.
- can be used in most search engines to exclude
terms, and + can be used to require terms.
Example: Bill Clinton -Monica
Quotes can be placed around any set of words sought
as a phrase (these words in this order).
Example: "handicapped children"
Use synonyms--try to think of several different
ways that your search term or concept could be stated.
Example: multicultural, cultural differences, and diversity
could all be used for the same concept.
Most search engines are case sensitive-- if you
use capital letters in your search, you may end up getting hits only where
the phrase was used with caps. By using all lower case you can retrieve
the instances where it was used with capital letters as well as lower case.
Example: Multicultural Education will retrieve fewer hits
than multicultural education
Use truncation where available--truncation allows
you to retrieve the term and variations on the term. Check the search engine's
help to see if truncation is supported, and what symbol(s) are used. In
some engines you can use a ?, in others it may be a *, or another symbol.
Example: cultur? will retrieve culture, cultures, cultural,
culturally, etc.
Double check your spelling--if you have misspelled
a word your results will probably not be good.
Use the Boolean operators and, or, not to make
your search more effective.
Can't find your search term on one of your hit
pages? One Web page is actually a file, which may be one physical page, 20
physical pages or more. In Netscape or Internet Explorer, go to Edit on the
toolbar, choose Find in page..., enter your term in the box, and it will take
you right to the spot(s) your term is located.
Library
Webcast
Now go to Searching
with Success and complete a quick tutorial
on searching the Web. Note: the tutorial includes audio, so you may want
to use headphones.
Printing & Saving Web Pages
In COM Library you can print Web pages or save
them to a floppy disk. There is a charge of 5 cents per page to print.
If you are unsure of how many pages your document will be when printed, go
toFile in your browser and select Print Preview:
This is an important option to use when viewing a Web page, as a Web page is
a file that can be 1 page when printed out, or 200: you won't know unless you
go to print Preview.
Select Print Preview
Your
document will reload in the Print Preview Window with the page numbers
at the bottom or top of the page, depending on which browser you use. The
default view may be too small to read. Just click anywhere on the document
once to zoom in to view similar to the one below. You can see that this
document will be about twenty-two pages when printed:
Document in Print Preview
You can also use print preview to select individual pages to
print. Notice that in the image above, there are arrows to continue to the
next page. Use this option to see exactly which page or pages you want to
print out. In Netscape, you would use Next Page to do the same
thing.
When you are ready to print, click the Print button.
A new window will come up. Notice in the window below that the default print
range is All pages. The circled area is where you can choose to print
out just the pages you want. Click Pages, and insert the page
number you want in the from and to boxes. As
an alternative, you can highlight the portion of the page you'd like to print
out and choose Selection instead of All or Pages from
the Print Window. This can be especially effective on pages with frames.
Print Window
Save to Disk
If you prefer to save to disk, follow the same procedures as above, going
toFile in your browser and selecting Save As instead
of Print Preview. In COM Library, the Save As...box
will then come up. Select Drive A to save to your disk. Click the Save
button. The file will be saved to disk.
Questions about the Internet?
For answers to COM Library's most frequently asked questions about the Internet,
access Internet FAQs.
Questions?
If you still have questions after reading this guide,
try some of COM Library's FAQs, or you may
ask the Reference Librarian for assistance. The Reference Office is located
on the ground floor of the library near the Online Library.
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