Unit 1 Getting Started and Computer History
Lesson 3 Internet Research Strategies
AOIT Principles of Information Technology
Lesson 3
Internet Research Strategies
Student Resources
Resource / DescriptionStudent Resource 3.1 / Reading: Internet Basics, an Overview
Student Resource 3.2 / Worksheet: Internet Basics, Hands-On
Student Resource 3.3 / Reading: Search Engines, an Overview
Student Resource 3.4 / Worksheet: Search Engine Strategies, Hands-On
Student Resource 3.5 / Worksheet: Using the Internet
Student Resource 3.1
Reading: Internet Basics, an Overview
The Internet is a huge network that links together millions of computers around the world. On the Internet, users can access all kinds of services, including different sources of information, electronic mail, news, stores, and much more. The Internet as we know it has only existed since 1993. Before then, Internet use was primarily limited to university researchers, the U.S. government, and the military.
Some people use the terms Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) interchangeably, but the web, as it is often called, is not a part of the Internet. Instead, it refers to the way information is stored and distributed online. The web gets its name from the complex web of connections it creates between computers worldwide.
Documents on the web are retrieved, displayed, and linked together using hypertext. This means that documents have words or graphics that act as connectors, or hyperlinks, to other documents. Hypertext documents are made using a special language called hypertext markup language (HTML). These documents are commonly called web pages. A website is a collection of related web pages.
People use hyperlinks, or “links” for short, to change locations on a web page, to move to another page on the same site, or to go to an entirely different website. The transfer of hyperlink data is done according to a set of rules called hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). Moving, or navigating, from one web page to another is referred to as “browsing” or “surfing.” Software applications called web browsers help users to access and navigate the web. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox, and Apple’s Safari are three popular browsers. Although browsers each look a little different, they work in similar ways.
Student Resource 3.2
Worksheet: Internet Basics, Hands-On
Read the information in the left column and follow the directions. Use the right column to record your notes and answers.
Information and Directions / Steps, Notes, and Answers /1. With the help of your teacher, log on to (access) the Internet.
List the steps that you used.
2. Look at the title bar at the very top of the browser window.
Write your browser’s name.
3. Near the title bar is a menu bar. Click each menu to see a drop-down list of related choices.
Based on the options you see, summarize the general purpose of each menu. (As examples, two menus have already been summarized for you.) / File menu:
Edit menu:
View menu:
Favorites/Bookmarks menu:
Tools menu: Offers the user specialized options, including ways to customize the browser
Help menu: Gives user information about browser tools and functions
Information and Directions / Steps, Notes, and Answers
4. Near the menu bar is the browser’s navigation toolbar with several buttons.
One at a time, position your mouse pointer over each button’s icon. As you do this, a short description of the tool will display at the bottom of the window or in a small box that pops up.
List the name and function of the first five buttons (from left to right).
5. Every computer on the Internet has a unique address. Likewise, every document on the Internet has its own electronic address called a uniform resource locator (URL). Hint: These begin with http://
Just below the toolbar is the address field, also known as the address bar. Write the address of the page currently displayed.
6. If you know the Internet address of a website you want to visit, you can type that address in the address field.
If you do not know any web addresses, follow these steps:
1. Click the address in the address field to highlight it.
2. Type the following address and then press the Enter key: http://www.internettutorials.net
3. Note: Many newer browser versions don’t require the entire address. For example, typing internettutorials.net may be sufficient.
List the name of the site you visited in the box to the right. Then, write a one- or two-sentence summary of what the site does.
7. Most sites have a primary page, called a home page, which displays when you first enter the URL. Like most home pages, the one that you just accessed contains lots of links to other web pages.
Roll your mouse pointer around the screen and note what happens. Then, list some characteristics that usually indicate links.
Optional Exercises
Information and Directions / Steps, Notes, and Answers
A. In addition to links, many home pages have a search field that allows you to search the website using keywords.
Navigate to Internettutorials.net and follow the steps below to find and print information on using browser tools.
1. Click inside the search field near the top of the page.
2. Enter the keywords browser tools.
3. Click the Search button or press Enter. Notice that each item in the list of search results contains both the word browser and the word tool or tools. List the first two web pages in your search results.
4. Explore the search results to find the best link for learning how to use your web browser. Use the Back and Forward buttons on the browser toolbar to move back and forth between the web pages.
5. After you locate and access the article on how to use Internet Explorer, use the Print button on the browser toolbar to print the information for future reference.
6. Use the Back button to retrace your steps to the home page.
B. Anyone can post information on the Internet. This means that content may not be reliable. As a result, everything must be evaluated carefully.
Navigate to http://www.eff.org and follow the steps below to help determine the credibility of this website. Answer the questions in the column to the right.
1. Click the Contact EFF link at the bottom of the home page. Who is the webmaster (person who maintains a website)? What have you read to let you know this person is qualified to be a webmaster?
2. Click the Back button on the toolbar. Can you tell when this site was last updated? Can you tell how frequently it is updated?
3. Click the Our Work link at the top of the home page. List several of the projects shown.
4. Roll your mouse pointer over the graphics used to represent the issues. Notice how the mouse pointer changes from an arrow to a hand when positioned over some of the graphics. This shows you which of the icons are links. List four links you have found.
5. Does the information you found in the steps above suggest that this site is a reliable source? Why or why not? / 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Student Resource 3.3
Reading: Search Engines, an Overview
There are lots of ways to find information on the Internet. One of the easiest ways is to use a search engine.
A search engine is a service that allows a user to enter keywords or phrases related to a topic to retrieve a list of websites with those keywords. Google (www.google.com) is perhaps the most well-known search engine today. Some search engines do nothing but search other search engines. These are called metasearch engines. They allow you to search more than one search engine at once. Dogpile (www.dogpile.com) is an example of a metasearch engine. In addition to looking for websites, search engines like Google also offer other services. Google, for example, has a mapping tool, an image gallery, a news area, and a free email service.
Commercial portals are search engines created with the goal of generating income from advertisements. They serve the general public by providing directories that link to a wide range of general interest subjects such as entertainment, sports, travel, and other areas not necessarily covered by academic/professional directories. Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com) and LookSmart (http://search.looksmart.com) are two examples of commercial portals.
Search engines are especially useful when your research topic is narrow or obscure, you want to do multi-concept searches, or you don’t know the URL of something you’re looking for. Keep in mind that search engines do not discriminate between responsible sources and outdated or inaccurate sources. Always evaluate your search results carefully.
Student Resource 3.4
Worksheet: Search Engine Strategies, Hands-On
Read the information in the left column and follow the directions. Use the right column to record your notes and answers.
Information and Directions / Notes and Answers /1. If there are websites that you plan to use often, you can set up a Favorites (or Bookmarks) list in your browser. This will save time because you won’t have to type the URL each time you want to return to a site.
Follow the steps below to add a search engine to your Favorites list.
· In your browser’s address field, type the address for Google, http://www.google.com.
· When the Google home page is displayed, click Favorites in the menu bar. Then click Add to Favorites.
· At this point, you have the options of simply adding the site to the list, choosing a folder in which you can store this site, or creating a new folder. Click New Folder, type in the words Search Engines, and then click Create.
2. We’ll be using Google for these exercises; if you ever choose to use a different search engine, you will find that it operates very much like Google. In short, if you can perform a successful search with one search engine, you should have no trouble using another search engine.
If you use too broad of a keyword when using a search engine, you may get millions of results.
You can improve search results by employing the principles of Boolean logic, which uses the words AND, OR, and NOT in capital letters. Also, you can use the plus sign (+) in place of AND, and the minus sign (-) in place of NOT. These words/symbols are referred to as Boolean operators.
Not all search engines recognize operators in the same way. For example, Google recognizes the minus sign but does not recognize the word NOT. If in doubt, search engines often have “Advanced Search” links that provide more information.
Follow the steps below to compare the results of different searches. Write the answers to the questions in the column to the right.
a. Click Favorites in the menu bar and then click the Search Engines folder.
b. Click the link for Google.
c. In the field above the “Google Search” and “I’m Feeling Lucky” buttons, type the word hotel. Then, press Enter. How many results did you get?
d. If you know the city and what hotel feature(s) you want, then you can narrow the search results by using the AND operator—for example, hotel AND New York City AND swimming pool. In the case of Google and some other search engines, typing the AND operator is not necessary. Google assumes that a space between words indicates AND. Thus, type the following words: hotel New York City swimming pool. How many results did you get?
e. The OR operator widens a search to include sites containing either keyword. For example, record how many results you get when you use the following: hotel OR motel
f. The NOT operator or minus sign (-) narrows a search by excluding unwanted keywords. This operator is particularly helpful when a keyword has more than one meaning. For example, the word bug can refer to an insect or a computer program error. Type the following and note what happens (be sure to include a space before the minus sign): bug –insect
3. An alternative to Boolean searching is using a search engine’s advanced search feature. Google’s advanced search lets you choose keywords, exact words or phrases, and the language of the search results, and even lets you cut out pages with unwanted words.
Let’s say you wanted to read blog entries about egg rolls, but not about spring rolls. Follow these steps to conduct an advanced search.
a. Go to Google.com and click the “Advanced Search” link next to the regular search box.
b. Under the section that says “Find web pages that have all these words…” type blog egg rolls.
c. Under “But don’t show pages that have…” type spring roll.
d. Click the Advanced Search button.
How many results did you get? List the top three web pages on your search results page.
4. Another helpful feature in the Advanced Search mode lets you look for documents featuring your keywords in their titles. Though a standard search might return documents with your keywords in the title, this is not guaranteed; you might see results that use your keyword only once in an entire page. Follow the steps below to practice searching by keyword in the title only.
a. Go to Google.com and click the “Advanced Search” link next to the regular search box.
b. Enter a keyword of your choosing in the box at the top labeled “Find web pages that have all these words.”
c. Click the plus sign (+) by “Date, usage rights, numeric range, and more.”
d. Next to “Where your keywords show up” select “in the title of the page.”
What keyword(s) did you enter? List the top three results your search returned.
5. Other techniques you can use to improve search results include the following:
• Quotation marks around a phrase (example: “global warming”) cause the search engine to look for the exact phrase instead of the individual words.
• Parentheses allow you to use multiple operators. For example, typing cat (illness OR symptom) tells the search engine to look for pages with the word cat and then to search for pages with the words illness or symptom.
• The tilde sign (~) allows you to search for the keyword plus its synonyms. For example, to find loan information for the word auto and synonyms such as truck and car, you would type the following: ~auto loan
• Two numbers separated by two periods (with no spaces) lets you search for numbers in a given range, such as dates, weights, costs, etc. Depending on the search, you should indicate a unit of measurement, such as a dollar sign or a weight abbreviation. For example, if you want to find a camera that costs between $100 and $200, you would type: camera $100..$200.
Experiment using the above techniques with different keywords. Make notes about the results in the right column. Did you find what you were looking for?
6. When browsing the Internet, you may sometimes experience the problems listed below. Using your deduction skills, see if you can match these problems with their suggested solutions in the right column.
Draw a line from each problem to its potential solution.
• When trying to access a web page, you see an error message, “Page not found.”
• There is a long delay when you are trying to access a web page.
• The web page displays incorrectly with scrambled, overlapping, or incomplete content.
• Lots of advertisements continuously pop up in your browser. / • Some browsers have features for blocking unwanted information. You can also purchase computer programs specifically created to handle this annoyance.
• Click the Refresh button to reload the page. If this doesn’t help, the problem could be with the web page itself. In this case, you could contact the webmaster of the site.
• Check to see if you typed the address correctly. Also, try searching for a similarly named site in case the original address was changed or discontinued.
• Be patient; complex pages or pages with lots of graphics may take longer to access. Also, try doing your research at off-peak times when there is less Internet “traffic” (in other words, when fewer people are online).
Student Resource 3.5