Student Guide to the InternetThe internet contains a nearly infinite amount of information. Finding what we want can be a challenge. And evaluating what we have found can prove to be even more of a challenge. To benefit the most from the internet, we need to learn how to find information, evaluate information, and use ethical and moral standards when using the internet. The following guide will start you on your way to healthy, life-long internet use. Searching the WebSearch Engines:The best way to find information on the internet is by using an engine to search for it. The following is a list of popular Search Engines which will help you begin your research on a topic of any area of interest. Quotes:A very powerful technique of searching involves using quotes. The way this works is you put the exact phrase you are looking for in quotes, and the search engine will find that exact phrase. For example searching for "red book" returns very different results than searching for "redbook." Give this a try. Subject browsing:Many of the above sites (under "engines") also allow subject category browsing. These sites do this by organizing information into increasingly larger categories. For example to find information about soccer, we would first click on entertainment, then sports, then soccer, then review the sites returned and choose on. This method of searching isn't very exact, but is very effective If you just want to browse. Evaluating Websites: Not all information is equal and not everything found on the internet is true. Some information is correct and some information is erroneous (contains errors). Anyone and everyone can make a web page or a web site, but not everyone uses good information. To be safe, all information you find on the internet must be evaluated to see if it is valid or not. The following is are some basic questions you should ask yourself when you find information on the internet: Who is the Author?
- Is it clear who created the website? Are the creators a reputable organization, company, and/or expert in the field? Is contact information provided?
* By typing link: www.site.com in a search engine, you can find other sites that link to this sight. See what they have to say. Plagiarism, Copyright, & Copying Copyright: When someone creates something that is valuable, they must become a "legal owner" of it. This is done by telling the government what they have created so that whoever else tries to use it without their permission is committing a crime. This is called Copyrighting. It is used to protect property that doesn't have a physical form, otherwise known as intellectual property. Imagine for example that I have an idea for a new machine and in my excitement I tell some other people about it, including Bob. If Bob then makes and sells the machine that I "invented," that's stealing, isn't it? It is, but how can you prove that you came up with the idea before Bob. The only way to do this is to register your idea with the government before Bob does. This is called Copyrighting. Plagiarism involves the use of someone else's intellectual property (works or ideas) and claiming them as your own. If you turn in an essay that you didn't write and claim that you did, this is plagiarism. Plagiarism is not tolerated anywhere in any school and it won't be tolerated in my classroom. It is unethical as well as illegal. If you want to include another's work or ideas in your own work, you must reference the source so that no one thinks that they are yours. Fair Use: However even if you reference the source, there are limits to how much of another's work you can use. This is called "fair use," and can get quite complicated very quickly. In general you should know that the following: the less you use the better and the more it is educational use the better. Before using copyrighted material from the Internet, ask yourself the following questions: Visit http://www.umuc.edu/library/copy.html for more specific information about fair use and copyright. |