Web Research
© Copyright William Rowan 2007
Objectives
By the end of this you will be able to:
• Use search engines and *URL’s on the
internet as a research tool
*Uniform Resource Locator
Definitions
What is the Internet
Interneta large computer network linking smaller
computer networks worldwide
American Psychological Association (APA):
internet. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved January 12,
2007, from Dictionary.com website:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/internet
Image source: Microsoft Clipart Online
Definitions
What is the World Wide Web (WWW)
• The complete set of documents residing on
all Internet servers that use the HTTP
protocol, accessible to users via a simple
point-and-click system.
American Psychological Association (APA):
world wide web. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English
Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved January 12, 2007, from Dictionary.com
website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/world wide web
Internet Safety
• The next couple of slides will give you tips
on how to ensure safe web browsing and
helping you to keep safe
Image source: http://www.bestanimations.com/
Internet Safety
• Find out what the rules are in school and at
home for using the internet
• Tell a teacher or a parent if you come
across anything that makes you feel
uncomfortable on the internet
Internet Safety
• Never give out any personal information
such as your name (use a nickname),
email address, photos of yourself without
getting permission first to do so
• Keep passwords safe so that no one can
get them
How to access the
internet on your
computer
• On the desktop double click on the
following icon and a new window will open
• When the window opens it will display your
homepage. This is a page that will always
load each time the internet explorer is
opened
Refresh
Stop
Back/ Forward
Home
Address bar
Search Engine
Glossary
Here’s what happens when you use the following buttons
shown on the previous page
• Back- this returns you to the previous page you visited
• Forward- after returning to the previous page you can go
forward to the
• Address Bar- here is where you type in the address (or
URL’s) of the website you wish to visit
• Refresh- this will refresh the current page to show the
latest version
• Stop- this stops the page you are visiting downloading
• Home- this will return you to your homepage
Web research
When using the internet as a research
tool, you can use two things to aid you in
finding material:
1. URL’s
2. Search engines (example shown on a
previous slide)
Using URL’s
What is a URL?
• A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is
basically the address of the webpage
available on the WWW
• It starts with http:// followed generally by
www.thenameofthewebsite.com
e.g. http://www.technologystudent.com/
Using URL’s
Not all websites use .com, here are some other
examples
• .ie – Irish Website
• .co.uk – UK website
• .com.au – Australian Website
Sometimes you may see https//, this represents
that you are using a secure site. This is usually
associated with online buying
So how to use URL’s
• To use a URL you will need the URL or the
address of the website before you log onto
the internet
e.g. www.howstuffworks.com
• Once the Internet Explorer is open you can
click on the address bar and delete the text
that is in it. Once this is done you can type
in the URL you want to view (see next
slide)
So how to use URL’s
• The address bar once you have clicked it
• The address bar once you have pressed delete
• The address bar after you have typed in the URL
of the page you want to visit
• Once the URL is typed in press the Enter Key to
load the page
So how to use URL’s
• The new page loads and you can now use
links on this page to locate the information
you need (see next slide)
• Once you click on one of these links a new
page opens again and there may be further
links from this page that you can access
Links
Search engines
What is a search engine?
• A search engine is a website where you
can search for information on the internet
• There a number of them available on the
internet
Using the search
engine
• Again here you will need the URL of the
search engine to locate the search engine
e.g. http://www.live.com/
• Type this into the address bar as described
earlier and press enter
• The page will then load and you can start
searching information
Search Engine
Using the search
engine
• To use the search engine you must first
click on the search box so that you can
type in the information that you seek
Click cursor
in here
Using the search
engine
• You can now type a word or a sentence for
information you are looking for (search tips
will be explained later on in the
presentation)
• When you have typed the word in, press
enter on the keyboard or with the mouse
click the search button next to the search
box
Searching for
information
• For an example of how to search for
information we are going to use the word
“gaa”
• So in the search box type in “gaa” and
press enter
1
2
3
Searching for
information
1- This shows the amount of results that are
available for the search conducted
2- This is the link to the webpage
3- Here is the URL for the webpage
More Search Engines
• Below are some other search engines that
can be used to search information
• www.google.ie
• www.yahoo.ie
• www.altavista.ie
• www.msn.ie
• www.ask.com
Searching for
information
So how do I get onto these webpage's?
• To access the webpage(s) you want to view you
can click on the link and it will open in the same
window you are viewing
Or
• You can right click on the link and open it in a
new window or open in a new tab
• A number of windows and tabs can be open at
the same time if desired
Searching for
information
Searching for
information
• If you choose to “Open in New Window”
then a new window will open for this
webpage separate to the one you are
viewing as can be seen in the next slide
Searching for
information
• If you choose “Open in New Tab” then a
new tab will open along the top of the
window you are viewing from
Searching for
information
• It is also possible to search for images of
topics if you want
• Just follow the same procedure as outlined
above for searching just choose the
“Images” tab at the search box
Searching for
information
• There are some websites that also have
their own search box on their webpage that
allows you to search for information on that
website
Image source: http://www.howstuffworks.com/
Some Tips for
Searching
1. When searching for a topic use specific
terms that relate to the topic as general
terms will return thousands of possible
sites
2. Use quotation marks “ ” to find a specific
sentence on the web
3. Use the advanced tab to help your search
be more specific
Some Tips for
Searching
Advanced Menu
Now you try!
• Go to the following website:
http://www.ncte.ie/
• Find the link on this page for “Internet
Safety” and load this link
• Read through this page and after this click
on the “advice” tab and again read through
this page as well
Now you try!
• Now using a search engine do a search for
the word “webwise” and see if you can find
an Irish website that has being created
with information about safely using the
internet and its applications i.e. email,
etc…