Research and the Internet

Reference Books

An Encyclopaedia is good to use

•When looking for background information on a topic

•When trying to find key ideas or important dates.

Also use

•Books

•Journals/Magazines

•Newspapers

•Internet

Disadvantages of the Internet• Anyone can publish on the Web without

passing the content through an editor. Pages might be written by an expert on the topic, a journalist, a disgruntled consumer or a school pupil.

Some information on the Web is not free.

The information may not be up-to-date?

Brainstorming

BrainstormBefore you begin your research, write out a

few detailed sentences about your topic. Underline the main words in these sentences. From the description that you wrote, create a

list of related keywords and phrases.

Come up with synonyms - other words or phrases that have the same meaning – e.g. Car – autos, vehicles, motors

Mind MappingWhat is mind mapping?

Mind mapping enhances thinking skills and allows the learner to be more creative. Many people find mind mapping a useful tool to help them note down a lot of information on one page and find that they remember more

using mind maps as images and colour are used as well as words.

The internet is the first place many of us start when researching a project, but is it the best? Over the next few slides I would like you to consider some questions to make your research more effective.

First example of a Web site looking at the controversy surrounding a substance called DHMO (dihydrogen monoxide) The text says that DHMO is “a constituent of many known toxic substances, environmental hazards, diseases and disease-causing agents” Turns out that DHMO is nothing more than water

On the main page this looks like a credible resource but if you look closer it is a subtle hate site to discredit the work of Martin Luther King

Where do you look for Information?

• How much do you trust it?

• Do you ever do anything to verify your information?

Do you Check?

Questions to ask about Websites

• Why…….. have you chosen the internet over books.

• Who…......Is the author or creator of the site?

• What…….kind of information are you getting here?

• When……was it created and last updated?

• How……..can you tell the good information from the bad?

Why ?Is the internet the best place to look for the information, is it appropriate for my needs and can I verify the information?Advantages : • It’s quick • You can find up-to-date information.Disadvantages: • Too much information, • Knowing what is correct or good information.

Who?• Who is behind the website?

•Who’s responsible? - Is the information about the author or organisation clearly stated?

•Can you contact them? - Can they be easily contacted? Is there a contact address, telephone number?

•Are they credible? - If there are links to other groups do they verify the information back to this organisation?

•Is the organisation well known?

What ?

• Language used• Bias• Malicious sites• Fictitious• Parodies and spoofs

Is it Biased?

Both are correct, but the way it is said makes you think differently. Ifsomeone says it is half full you think of a nice full glass. But if someonesays it is half empty you think of an empty glass.Saying something in a certain way to make you think or believe aparticular thing is called bias.

Is it Believable?

When

• How current - Information should be up-to-date.

• Uniform Resource Locator - URL

Break the URL - Uniform Resource Locator down for further information

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/teachers/index.cfm

•http – means that this document is in hypertext format.

•www- tells you this document is found on the World Wide Web

•Media-awareness.ca – this part tells you the domain name of the person or organisation that owns the web site. The ca lets you know that it is owned by a Canadian organisation.

•The last section maps out the pathways of the directories leading to the page.

• Cfm – stands for cold fusion mark up- the code that this page was created in.

Keywords• Adding extra keywords to your search• The more keywords you use, the more detailed your search will be. • To add more keywords to your search, use the ‘+’ sign or “and”. • For example, to search for volcanoes in Italy, type volcanoes + Italy • Refining your search• Another handy trick is to tell the search engine which words you don’t want

to appear in your results. • To do this, use the ‘-’ sign. If you don’t want information about volcanoes in

Japan, type volcanoes - japan.• Searching for more than one word• If you are looking for a phrase, you can use quotation marks (“ ”). Then the

search engine will know that you want these words kept together. • For example, if you type in computer viruses, the computer will search for

these words separately, and you might end up with information about Computers or viruses! If you type in “Computer viruses”, it will search for that phrase, and your results will be more useful.

Google

• This search revealed 528 000 hits!

So lets say it takes you one second to scan each of these results that you found using your favorite search engine. At that rate it would take you about 3.5 days to read all of them - and that's reading 24 hours a day!

Use Advanced Search

Advanced Search

This only shows sites that match the words exactly

You can ask it not to show some results

Results

This search found 1900 websites, although still a lot there are less to look through.

AK Bell online Reference Library

www.pkc.gov.uk/library/reference

LOGIN - enter last 10 digits of card number

Bibliography

• Book - Author (last name, first name). Title of the book. City: Publisher, Date of publication. •

E.g. ;Buffa, Liz. Research Paper Smart. New York: Random House, 1997

• Encyclopedia - Encyclopedia Title, Edition Date. Volume Number, "Article Title," page numbers. • E.g.: The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1997. Volume 7, "Gorillas," pp. 50-51.

• Website: Site name. Date of last update. Author. Date you accessed the site <URL>• E.g.: U. S. Department of Education (ED) Home Page. 29 Sept. 1999. US

Dept. of Education. 1 Oct. 1999 <http://www.ed.gov/index.html

A bibliography is an alphabetical list of all the sources you used when researching an essay or paper.

Plagiarism

• Don’t copy someone else's work.• It is illegal• Make it your own!