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Information on the Web and in Databases. How to find the best information for your needs. Finding Information on the Internet. Information on the Internet is found in many different places and takes many different forms.
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Information on the Web and in Databases How to find the best information for your needs
Finding Information on the Internet • Information on the Internet is found in many different places and takes many different forms. • As the Internet becomes THE place to go for information you need to develop strong evaluation skills to find the right kind of information.
Where is information stored on the Internet? • Websites • Online newspapers and magazines • Newsletters • Blogs • Social Media Websites
What kind of information is out there? • Scholarly works and research • Statistics • Personal opinion • Popular science and medical information • News
How do you find the information? • Information on the Internet is found through a combination of searching and browsing. • In order to find the information, you usually need to know how to get to a search engine, website, or other collection of information in order to search and then browse. • In order to search and browse, you need to know how to search using language.
Keyword Searching • Information is made up of words • Information is organized by records – and these records are organized by keywords • You can think about keywords as significant words
Boolean Searching • OR : instructs the database to find information containing BOTH search termsEXAMPLE: cars OR automobiles • AND : instructs the database to only find information containing BOTH search termsEXAMPLE: mosquitos AND malaria • NOT : instructs the database to only find results that do NOT contain a certain wordEXAMPLE: Titanic NOT movie
What kind of information can you find in a scholarly database? • Newspaper Articles • Magazine Articles • Newsletters • Scholarly Research (articles, case studies, etc.) • Collections of citations (bibliographies)
How do you find the information? • Be sure you know what you are looking for. For example, do you need a newspaper article, or a scholarly article? • Be sure you know which database you need to use. Make sure you are familiar with the databases your library offers. • You will need to use keywords to find the information.
What databases can you use? • library.mildred-elley.edu
Boolean Operators Search Fields
Using Keywords, cont • Use the techniques discussed in the last class to try out different search terms • Don’t put too many keywords in the search box at once • Try to use Boolean operators • Try searching using some of the suggested terms the database offers to you as you start to type • Don’t be afraid of trial and error. Searching and finding takes time
For Next Class • If you are having trouble please email me!! • Read Chapter 3 in Badke. Badke discusses database searching in more detail in Chapter 5, so consider reading this chapter as well.