Language Arts/Humanities Fall
2003
Searching the World Wide Web (WWW)
The World Wide Web has been compared
to the world’s largest library with all the books
on the floor. What follows are some of the best ways to sort through that mess.
Helpful hints to improve your search:
1) narrow the search (be as specific as
possible)
2) if your search is more than one word,
put it in quotation marks
3) for advanced searches, click on Help
or Tips located on the search engine's home page.
I. Search Directories
This is the easiest place to begin a
search. These directories contain sites that have been judged as containing
valuable information. Here are a few of the best:
Librarians’
Index to the Internet http://www.lii.org/
To many, this site is the best of the
best. To be listed, a site must pass 19 selection criteria. Only the highest
quality sites are selected, and each one is clearly annotated. For fun, take a
look at the "New This Week" "More New..." and "New Last
Week" links on their home page. It also has a terrific online WWW tutorial
(if you want to perfect your internet skills, check it out!)
Britannica
online http://www.britannica.com/
Over 150,000 hand-picked web sites,
annotated and ranked by Britannica editors.
Infomine http://infomine.ucr.edu/
About 16,000 sites compiled by academic
librarians.
Chabot College Library’s Online Resource Page www.chabotcollege.edu/library
An
outstanding collection of resources and academic information!
II. Search Engines
If what you are looking for is obscure or
has no obvious subject category, use a search engine. Remember, each has it’s
own strength, so if you don’t have luck with one, try another.
Google http://www.google.com/
Sites are ranked by popularity (number of
hits) and almost always lead you to high-quality, on-target information. It’s
rated #1 for single word searches.
Alta Vista http://www.altavista.com/
The San Francisco Chronicle rated this
search engine the best for multi-word searches.
Infoseek http://www.infoseek.com/ or http://www.go.com/
Excellent content and easy to use
"search within results" feature.
III. Other Valuable Websites:
Chabot/Las Positas Today http://today.clpccd.cc.ca.us/
American Journalism Review (online
newspapers)
http://newslink.org/
American Civil Liberties Union http://www.aclu.org/
Purdue’s Online Writing Center http://owl.english.purdue.edu
Occupational Outlook Handbook (career
information) http://www.bls.gov/oco/
U.S. Census Bureau http://www.census.gov/
Useful information to
help you navigate:
1. The scroll
bar (located on the right hand side of the page) is used to move the page up
and down. If a scroll bar appears at the bottom of the page, use it to move the
page right and left.
2. Use the BACK
and FORWARD buttons (located along the upper left of the screen) to move
through pages already visited.
3. All the pages
you looked at (the most recent page at the top) are listed under the GO menu.
To return to any of these pages, just select it (move the pointer down to it).
4. Bookmark your
favorite sites. Pull down the "Bookmark" or "Favorites"
menu (at the top of the screen), go to ADD BOOKMARK (Netscape) or ADD PAGE TO
FAVORITES (Explorer).
5. Pay attention
to all links (underlined words, usually blue) and/or buttons which lead you to
more information. When the pointer is placed over a link, it turns into a hand.
Check out any pictures or graphics (sometimes they are links, too).
6. To enlarge
the browser’s screen, either click the box in the upper right-hand corner (it
looks like a square within a larger square) OR click and drag the box in the
lower right-hand corner (be sure to hold down the clicker on the mouse as you
drag it).
7. If the
browser cannot find the web address, double check to be sure the address is
typed correctly. There can be no spaces in the address, and some addresses are
case sensitive.