Information Skills Research, the tool of the trade

Transcription

1 Information Skills Research, the tool of the trade Do Not Touch Computers until given instruction!! Open your network folder (my documents) Create a new folder called Science by going to file -> New Folder. Minimize your folder. Open the teacher drop folders. Go to Science --> MKelley --> Information skills Drag and drop the 3 documents from my information skills folder to your new Science folder A Word about PLAGIARISM Plagiarism is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work* If you didn t make it, draw it or write it, and you don t tell who did, it s PLAGIARISM!! Avoid plagiarism by citing your sources - this means giving credit where credit is due! Reasons to cite your sources Citing your sources makes you a better writer! Citing your sources shows that other people (who have probably done more research on the topic) agree with you! Citing your sources also demonstrates that you have respect for the original authors, and have a high level of maturity! (This can result in higher grades!) *

2 How to cite your sources Record where you got the information when you find it! Citing sources includes any and all websites. You must paste the actual URL (web address) of the site. Google and Yahoo! are search engines - NOT sources! The sites you link to from these search engines are the sources! Your finished project will include a bibliography of all your sources - including sources of pictures. Requirements for your Sources You must have at least five sources of background information for your research. You must have at least one non-internet source! Sources can include books, magazines, informational television shows (like national geographic), and even interviews with experts. The World Wide Web as a source When using a website as a source of information, you must think critically! Ask yourself: Who made this website? Is the person/organization reliable? How to read a web address Reading a website URL (address) is the first step to figuring out if the website is reliable. Do you recognize the domain name? For example at you probably recognize the name of the National Geographic magazine. Look at the extension (the.com part). Here are some common extensions: Does the website cite its sources of information? Have other sources (encyclopedias, other reliable websites, etc) backed up this information? Prepared with information from November Learning at - an educational institution (like a college).gov - a government website.com - a paid website, often representing a company.k12 - a K-12 school.org - an organization, often non profits (redcross.org).mil - a military website

3 How to read a web address Some extensions may indicate a website is more reliable - like.edu,.gov, or.k12. Be skeptical of.com,.net, and.org - these extensions can be bought by anyone, and they can post anything!! Decide if you are on a personal web page! If a persons name is part of the address, or there is a tilde (~), then it is likely a personal website. Be skeptical - remember on personal sites, people can post anything!! Open Microsoft Word. Open the file Googlepractice from your science folder. In your word document, type your name, period and section on the first line. Working under Can I trust this website? Go to by holding down the control key and clicking on the link. This website gives lots of background information about different explorers. Go to Explorers: A to Z and read about Vasco Nunez de Balboa. Answer the questions in your Word document: #1 - According to the website, when was Balboa born? #2 - Where was Balboa born? #3 - Why couldn t Balboa make it as a pig farmer? #4 - What are three examples in the background information about Balboa that you think are wrong?

4 Now, read about Christopher Columbus. Answer #5 - What do you know is wrong with the information about Christopher Columbus? Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the link click here for more information about this site. Page 2 questions: Answer #6: Who created this site? Answer #7: Why was this site created Answer #8: Were you surprised? Why or why not? Answer #9: How can you be sure information you find on the web is accurate? Using Search Engines Google, Yahoo! and AskJeeves are all Search Engines - these are not the sources. KidsClick! describes search engines as follows: No search tool actually goes roaming around to all the computers that are linked to the Internet and searches the web sites stored on those computers every time you enter a keyword search. Instead, search tools visit those computers only once in a while, and collect notes on the web sites that are stored there. So when you use a search tool, you're really searching those collected notes, not actual web sites. These notes are called a database. Page 3 Go to Copy and paste the answers to the following questions into your document, as well as the web address: #10 What is the general rule about keyword searching? #11 How can the size of a search tool s database be measured?

5 Choosing a Search Engine It is a good idea to use several different search engines. Google, Yahoo! and AskJeeves (also called ask.com) are all very common search engines that have large databases of sites to pick from. But there are also some kid friendly search engines that can be very useful because they have people who decide which sites these tools will look at - which helps cut down on the nonhelpful sites you could find. Go to In your word document, answer the following questions: #12 How are adult search engines put together? #13 How are the kid search engines put together? Open Microsoft Word. Open the file Googlepractice from your science folder. Scroll to page 3 Using Search Engines Keyword Searches are the main way people use a search engine. The key to a keyword search is the keyword!!

6 Search Tips From these are the four nets for improving your search results. Start Narrow Use Exact Phrases Trim the URL Seek Similar Pages Click on the links above to learn more. Go to Questions Start Narrow Starting narrow means choosing several keywords to help in your search, and also thinking of keywords you DO NOT want! This means using the advanced search options - google has an advanced search at the following: Next Start Narrow Results of a web search can be visualized with a Venn Diagram - Let s examine a search for Bubble Gum: Bubble Start Narrow We can see that searching bubble gum could possibly result in many sites - some about just bubbles, some about just gum, and some about soap bubbles! And these we don t want at all! Bubble Gum Soap Gum Soap Next Next

7 Start Narrow To get just the results we really want, using the advanced google search, I could fill in the search terms as below: bubble gum soap This would give me just those web sites about bubble gum. Return to Four Nets Use Exact Phrases Exact phrases are good when you are looking for something very specific. Example: You have heard that playing music helps your memory, so you type music affects memory in the Exact Phrase search. This will narrow your results to only those pages which have all of these words in this exact order. Return to Four Nets Trim the URL When you find a site that has some helpful information, or a site you thought would have helpful information but an error message tells you it no longer exists, it can be helpful to look at the actual web address. Delete parts of the web address between backslashes (/). For example, trim back Science_Classes to just - this will bring you to the main page, and could give you more links. Return to Four Nets Seek Similar Pages On the google advanced search page, you can find this feature. If you have found a good site, and want more like it, copy and paste the URL in to the similar pages box to make this search. You can also see sites that link to the page you found, which could help you decide if the website is for real, or just something made up by someone. Return to Four Nets

8 Time to Practice Page 4 of Word document: #14 What are the four NETS? #15 If you find a site that has information that you are looking for, and want to find more sites like it, what should you do? Now is a good time to save your work. Research for a Science Project Research for a science project DOES NOT mean typing the entire problem into the search engine. Copying another person s experiment that they ve posted on the web is plagiarism! Using someone s experiment to compare to your results is part of research, if you cite your source! Background research means learning more about each variable separately! Choosing Keywords to Search Page 5: Type this problem question in your Word Document: Does chewing bubble gum affect your grade? Answer: What is the independent variable? Answer: What is the dependent variable? Page 5 You should have identified Chewing bubble gum as the independent variable, because this is what you change. You should have identified grade as the dependent variable, because this is what you would be measuring. Make changes as needed. Now is a good time to save your document too.

9 Now fill in the table with the IV and DV. Your table will look like this: IV: Chewing bubble gum DV: grade Under each column, list at least five other words you could use to search for information about that topic. **Hint** Use the thesaurus feature of Word to help find synonyms. Synonyms are helpful search terms. You can find a thesaurus online at **Hint** For grade, think of ways we determine a grade - like tests, quizzes, etc - and use synonyms for these terms too. Choosing Keywords to Search In your science folder, find the documents titled Anatomy of a google search and Tips and Tricks for Googling Open the files. Meta Search Engines Before letting you loose to work on your own project problem, lets look at one last search tool: The Meta-Search Engine! Meta-search engines are a place you can search several places at once and save a little time. For Example, at dogpile.com, you can search Yahoo!, Google, MSNsearch and Askjeeves all at once! and are two good meta-search engines. (vivismo is slightly smaller)

10 Time for Research Create a new Word document. Save it to your network folder as (last name)-(first initial)-projectresearch Example: kelley-k-projectresearch First line: Type your name, period and section Second Line: Type your science project question in the format Does (independent variable) affect (dependent variable)? Time for Research Research Requirements: Independent Variable - you will need at least ten different facts/quotes from at least three different sources. Dependent Variable - you will need at least five different facts/quotes from at least two different sources. Time for Research Create a list of at least 8 different search terms you could use to find information about your independent variable and 5 different search terms for your dependent variable. Remember a thesaurus can help you think of other similar keywords. Good Luck! get to work Begin searching for background information. As you find important facts, copy and paste the information into your word document. Be sure you put the information in quotations and also copy the URL of the website where you found the information.