a lecture presentation on Internet searching techniques

1. Preparing To Search The Internet Adopted For MALIT 216: Information Networks and Resource Sharing from Mrs. Kotsch, Librarian St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School c2004 Helping Students Search Effectively

2. Surfing is not searching.

4. “ Not all the information that exists in the world is on the Internet-- Not all the information that is on the Internet is accurate.” Mrs. Kotsch

5. An hour on the Web may not answer a question that you could find within two minutes of picking up a reference book.

15. For example… If you are looking for information about life on the planet Mars, you don’t want sites popping up about the Roman god of war. Put that in your list of words you don’t want to see. What other words might be connected with your topic that will send you to useless sites?

17. For example… mars AND planet AND life NOT god

18. But what if… you WERE looking for information about the Roman god of war? The Greeks referred to him as “Ares”, so now your search will look like this….

19. mars OR ares AND “god of war” Notice the quotation marks around the phrase “god of war”

24. Instead of looking through the categories in a search directory, you can put in your terms in their search bar, but it will only look through the sites that have been included within that directory—not the entire web, unless indicated.

27. Before you start using the information-- EVALUATE!

36. Example: Adams, Joyce. “How Vatican II changed the face of the Catholic Church.” Catholic News Service . 2 Sept. 2003. 13 Oct. 2003 <http://www.catholicnews.net/ vatican.html> .

38. Remember: You leave “electronic footprints” wherever you go on the web.