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Summer Session

Web Search and Evaluation

How to find a web site

How to know it is useful

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World Wide Web

Not the InternetHyperlinksText Graphics SoundVideo

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Who builds the WWW?

ANYONE with

access and

interest

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URL

Uniform Resource Locator URL is like a card catalog Naming scheme for resources

URL has 4 components Protocol [http://] Domain name [asu] Domain designator [edu] Suffix(es) [directory]

Example - http://asu.edu/directory

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URL Practice 1

Find the components for this URL [a = protocol, b = domain name, c = domain designator, d = suffix(es)]

a c

d

bhttp://www.microsoft.com/ windows/ie/default.html

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URL Practice 2

This is the URL for your web site at ASU. [a = protocol, b = domain name, c = domain designator, d = suffix(es)]

http://www.public.asu.edu/~asurite/index.html

a cb

dd

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Domain Designator

Common names .com .gov .net .org .edu .mil

Countries .cn (China) .de (Germany) .jp (Japan) .uk (United

Kingdom) New names

.biz .museum .info

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Common URL Errors

5 Common errors when typing URLs Leaving out a component Incorrect domain designator Punctuation errors Missing punctuation Misspelling words

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Finding Information

Search Engines Google, AltaVista Meta Search Engines

Metacrawler, Dog Pile

Subject Directories Yahoo, LookSmart

Specialized Databases

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Which Search Engine?

Each engine returns different results

Different approaches for finding and storing pages

Check at least two search engines

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Research Questions

Define your question Find unique key words Find phrases Be prepared to find new words and

phrases

Where do echinoderms, or sea urchins, live?keyword

phrase

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Summer Session

Search Techniques

Word Searches Use specific key words Not common words: the, an, a Example: echinoderm

Phrase Searches Phrases in quotes Example: “sea urchin”

Advanced search feature

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Search Operators

Symbols can be useful Term is required ( + )

Hair +red Term is not wanted ( - )

Rock -music Wildcard for missing letters ( * )

Vege*

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Boolean Searches

Boolean Searches Use operator words AND, OR, and NOT operators

Jamaica AND geography French OR francaise sailboats NOT yachts

NEAR operator browser NEAR performance

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Reliability & Validity

Reliability Can you get that same information again? Is the information current? Are there links to other pages, do other

pages link to this information? Validity

Is the information about your topic? Does the domain designator make sense

for the topic? Is the author credible?

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Evaluate Information

Critically evaluate web sourcesAssessment criteria

University of California Berkeley evaluation form

Spend enough time

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Activity

Scavenger Hunt Use search techniques

Web Evaluation Use evaluation guidelines

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Google Search

Number of “hits”

Search phrase in “quotes”

Web site to

research

Hyperlink

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Evaluation Example 1

1. Look at the URL before you go to the page Personal page or site Type of domain Appropriate for content Published by entity that makes

sense (corresponds to name of site)

www.stanford.edu/group/Urchin/

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Evaluation Example 2

2. Scan the edges of the page Author Date Credentials

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Evaluation Example 3

3. Indicators of quality Well

documented Complete Links Other viewpoints

or bias

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Evaluation Example 4

4. What do others say? Links to page Rated in

directory Author in

Google?

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Evaluation Example 5

5. Does it all add up? Why is this page on web? Was it meant to be humorous or

ironic?

Bottom Line – as good as or better than other resources? YES

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Website

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html

Visit this site for the web evaluation checklist and additional information about search engines and web searching techniques