Searching the World Wide Web (WWW)

What is the Internet?

A vast collection of inter-connected networks, or a network of computer networks.  The Internet evolved from that ARPANET of the late 60’s and early 70’s which was developed by the U.S. government for defense purposes. 

What is the World Wide Web?

Part of the Internet, the WWW is a system of Internet servers that support documents formatted in a language called HTML (HyperText Markup Language) that supports links to other documents, as well as graphics, audio, and video files. 

What is a Search Engine?

A program that searches for documents on the WWW and creates a database of documents.  A search engine works by sending out a spider (robot software) to fetch documents.  Each search engine works differently. Some search engines:

Yahoo www.yahoo.com       HotBot http://www.hotbot.com    Google http://www.google.com    

What is a Web Directory?

Think of a Web Directory as a “table of contents” to the Web.  Examples are: Librarians Index to the Internet: www.lii.org ,Open Directory http://dmoz.org/, Infomine: www.infomine.ucr.edu or Science.gov www.science.gov.  These databases, while smaller, have been compiled by people.  They often include summaries or evaluations of the sites.

What is a URL?

Uniform Resource Locator.  It is the website “address” Reading the URL  can provide information about a site even before you look at the site itself.. For example, http://www.irs.gov/  The domain name gov indicates a government site.  Other top level domain names:  .edu (education) .com or .net(commercial or business)  gov (government) .org (non-profit  organization) .mil (military)

Keeping up on Searching

To learn more about Search Engines,

Search Engine Watch: http://www.searchenginewatch.com.

Search Engine Showdown: http://searchengineshowdown.com/

Searching Tips

• Take time to think about what you are looking for.  What are the clearest terms to describe the information you need?
• Take time to learn about your search tool.  Read the “help” on searching.
• Use quotation marks to search for a phrase or name.  Example, “richard nixon” or “equal rights amendment.”

Evaluating Web Resources

The Web is a self publishing entity. It is important to evaluate what you find.

Authority

• Is the author clearly identified?
• Are facts about the author’s qualifications stated?
• Is it clear who is sponsoring the page or is there a link to a page describing the sponsoring organization?

Currency and Accuracy

• Are sources of factual information clearly listed?
• Is the information free of grammatical, spelling and typographical errors?
• Has the information been reviewed by editors or peer reviewed?

Coverage/Intent

• Is it clear what topics are addressed?
• Is the depth of coverage clear?
• Is advertising clearly differentiated from the content?
• Who is the intended audience?

Why is it important to cite material you find on the web?

• To give credit to the author/originator of the idea(s)
• To aid your reader in locating the resources you used in your project
• To place your own thinking in the context of the work of others
• To avoid plagiarism -   Plagiarism is using others' ideas and words without clearly acknowledging the source of that information.

A Source with information on citing online Sources:

Carroll University Library Web Page:  http://divisions.cc.edu/library/

            Getting Started in Research:  Cite Sources

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Writer's handbook: documentation styles