RESEARCH ACTIVITY:
FREE & INVISIBLE (HIDDEN) WEB
NAME________________-____
In-Class Exercise: Research Activity
(15 Points)
This exercise will familiarize you with researching on the free web and the invisible
(hidden) web. These are skills that you will need in order to research Paper 4 - the
Argumentative Synthesis.
All of your research for paper 4 can be conducted on a computer with an Internet
connection. Using a computer, there are two places that you can look for sources on
your topic: The Free Web (WWW) and Invisible or Hidden Web (The Ivy Tech Virtual
Library online databases are hosted here).
The Free Web You can find a wide range of articles and sources on the World
Wide Web. Getting to these materials can be as simple as
finding a search engine (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Dogpile, etc.)
and typing in your search words.
The Hidden (Invisible) Web – There are private databases which house
articles published in journals, magazines, etc. and transferred
into electronic format. They are stored inside databases (like
ProQuest and EBSCOhost) which are not available to the
general public. They require subscriptions.
As an Ivy Tech student, you have access to these databases.
Because this material has been vetted, selected for publication,
fact checked and edited, it can be considered reliable.
*Depending on the browser you use, some wording of the links you are to open may differ slightly. You
can still find the appropriate links the directions are referring to. The wording was developed as if you
were using Mozilla Firefox.
THE INTERNET
1. Click on the browser of your choice. In the search box, type in the words “Ella
Enchanted” and hit “enter.” Click on the entry labeled “Ella Enchanted (film) –
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.” According to this entry (look at the sidebar),
what was the film’s budget? What was its box office take?
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2. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia. Many college-level instructors will forbid you
from using it as a source. Do you know why? To find the answer, return to the
search box, and type in the words “criticism of Wikipedia.” Hit “enter.” In the list of
items produced by your search, you will find one labeled: “Criticism of Wikipedia –
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.” Open this site and indicate below at least
2 reasons why Wikipedia might be considered a less than reliable source for an
academic paper.
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In truth, Wikipedia is a good place to begin a search for information. It will give you
ideas and open avenues for exploration. But at the college level, you need to
move well beyond using encyclopedias and dictionaries (online and otherwise) for
information.
3. You may use the web to find sources, but you must be cautious about which web
sources you choose to use, and you must be creative when you choose your search
terms (the words you type into the “search” box).
Return to the search box in and type in the words “Finding NEMO.” Open the entry
entitled “Finding NEMO / Disney / PIXAR / Official Site.” What type of site is this?
(What is its purpose?) In other words, what kind of information does it provide?
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4. Remember, you are not writing an INFORMATIONAL paper about Disney and your
selected movie. You are writing an ARGUMENTATIVE paper, and that means that
you need to find sources that analyze your movie, take it apart, and argue its good
points and/or bad points. To find web sources that might help you with this, you
might try refining or changing your search terms.
Go back to the search box, and this time, instead of using the search words “Finding
NEMO,” use the search words “Finding NEMO Reviews.” In your results list, click on
the item titled: “‘Movie Review: ‘Finding NEMO’- NY Daily News.”
Skim the article. What earlier Disney animated film does the author compare Finding
NEMO to? Why?
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5. One of the problems with taking information from the free web sources is that it’s
sometimes difficult to tell if the information is reliable or not. Use the checklist below
to determine if the site you were looking at in Question 4 is a reliable site.
Answer the underlined questions.
Who authored the article?
A reliable website will usually
clearly state the names of its
authors.
If you needed to contact the
people in charge of the website,
would you know who to
contact? And how? A reliable
website should provide a way
for you to contact someone
associated with the site. (It
may take some searching.)
What is the website’s purpose?
A reliable website should be
upfront about its intent – to
sell, to inform, to persuade, etc.
When was the information
posted or updated?
A reliable website should
indicate when information was
posted and should be up to
date.
After answering the questions, what do you think? Is The Daily News site a reliable
source of information?
6. One additional way to access movie reviews on the free web is to visit movie review
sites like IMDB, MRQE, or Rotten Tomatoes (there are others). Type “MRQE Snow
Dogs” into the search box and hit “enter.” Click on “Snow Dogs (2002) Movie
Review – MRQE.” You will see a list of reviews hyperlinked (in blue). Click on the
review labeled “New York Times (A. O. Scott) review.”
Skim the review. Does
the reviewer think Snow Dogs is a good film? Why? Why not?
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7. Remember, as you collect sources from the free web (and the hidden/invisible web),
to collect any information you might need in order to write a reference for that
source.
Using a Research Documentation guide, find the information for how to create a
reference entry for an online newspaper article to write a reference entry for the
A.O. Scott review. Remember to follow MLA or APA guidelines depending on which
is required. Remember, this is an online source (not print) newspaper article.
Make sure you use a hanging indent.
*Working with the Hidden (Invisible) Web begins on the next page.
THE IVY TECH VIRTUAL LIBRARY / DATABASES
8. Using the Free Web to find secondary sources is perfectly acceptable as long as you
screen your sources carefully. But for your argumentative synthesis assignment,
you are required to use sources from the Hidden (Invisible) Web – specifically the
online databases available to you through the Ivy Tech Virtual Library.
To get to the Ivy Tech Virtual Library databases, follow the steps below if you have
a Campus Connect username and password:
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Go the Campus Connect portal page, enter your username and password.
Click on the “Library” tab.
On the top left of your screen, click on the word “Library for Bloomington.”
Click on “Search and Find” (with the image of the magnifying glass).
You will see a list of options. Any of these will take you to library resources
(online). Go to “Articles”.
You’ll see a list of search engines, beginning with America’s Historical
Newspapers.
You will have access to the database information.
If you don’t have access to Campus Connect, follow the steps below:
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Search for “Ivy Tech Virtual Library.”
Click on the “Bloomington” link.
Click on “Search and Find” (with the image of the magnifying glass).
You will see a list of options. Any of these will take you to library resources
(online). Go to “Articles”.
You’ll see a list of search engines, beginning with America’s Historical
Newspapers.
*To access the information from the databases, see me to log you in.*
Inside each search engine is a list of databases. Click on “Ebscohost,” and list the
first three databases it identifies.
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9. Notice that in front of each database is a small box. If you click on the box, you tell
the computer to search that particular database. You can also choose to search all
the databases at once by clicking on the box at the top that says “Select / deselect
all.” For now (to simplify things), click on the “Select / deselect all” box. Scroll to
the bottom (or top) of the screen and click “Continue.”
A series of boxes comes up in which you can type search words. In the top box,
type in the words “War Horse.” Notice that there are many ways to refine your
search terms. For now, simply make sure that under the “limit your results” bar,
you click on the box marked “full text.” This will ensure that your search produces
only complete articles (otherwise, you’ll get citations for articles that aren’t actually
in the database and for which you’d have to make a trip to the physical library).
After you’ve clicked “full text,” click the “search” box at the top. How many
articles were found? The number should be in a box on the left side of your
screen.
10. If your search produces a long list of available sources (as this one did), you might
want to focus your search terms. In the search boxes at the top, type the word
“movie” into the box below the one in which you have already typed “War Horse.”
Hit search. How many hits do you get this time?
11. In your results list, scroll down to the article entitled “War Horse Lets Every Emotion
Run Wild.” Who wrote this article and in what source was it originally published?
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12. To access the article, click on the title. You will see the reference information
for the article. Beneath the reference information, you’ll find the entire article.
If you wished to use this article, you could simply print it out or email it to yourself
(see the email button on the right). MAKE sure that you successfully collect NOT
only the article but also the reference information (in case you need to write a
reference entry for it later).
What information do you need to write a reference entry for a database article?
Go to a Research Documentation guide and find how to reference a database
article. Remember to follow MLA or APA guidelines depending in which is required.
What information does it tell you to include in a reference entry for a database
article?
13. When writing a reference for a database article, the reference entry is different for
MLA and APA.
MLA: For a source retrieved from a library’s subscription database,
first list the publication information for the source (make sure you know if
the original source was a web-based source or a print source) and then
provide information about the database.
APA: Start with the publication information for the source (original
source). If the database entry includes a DOI for the article, use the DOI
number at the end. If there is no DOI, include the URL for the home
page of the source. OWL ADDS: You can also use the item number or
accession number. BUT – DOI, URL, item number or accession number is
not required.*
“War Horse Lets Every Emotion Run Wild” was published in USA Today, which is a
newspaper. So, to write a reference entry for this source, you must find the
information on how to write a reference entry for a print newspaper.
Write a reference entry for “War Horse Lets Every Emotion Run Wild” using the
assigned format.
14. Use the back arrow to get out of this article OR click on “result list” at the top.
This should take you back to the list of articles you found about War Horse.
Notice that under each item in the results list you will find either “HTML full text”
and/or “PDF full text.” It’s important to know the difference between these two
types of documents.
To see the difference, click on the article titled “War Horses.” This is a PDF article.
Click on the PDF icon to the left of your screen. Study its appearance.
Now, hit the back arrow or click on “Result List” at the top to get back to your
result list. Click on the article titled “War Horse pulled something from my heart,
says Spielberg.” This is a HTML article. Click on the title and you can access it
either by scrolling down (it will be at the bottom of your screen) or by clicking on
the HTML icon to the left of your screen. Study the appearance of this article.
Describe below the difference in appearance between these two articles.
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PDF:
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HTML:
15. You can use both HTML and PDF articles as sources, but if you have a choice –
you’ve found an article that’s available in both HTML and PDF – which format
should you choose to use and why? [If you need help answering this question,
don’t hesitate to ask!]
So far, you’ve been working in the EBSCOhost database, but there are many
others. Return to the “Online Subscription Resources – Articles” page.
To enter any of the other databases, click on one of them and type your search
words in the search box provided.
Spend the rest of class time researching the movie you’ve chosen to write about.
At first, you’ll probably just want to search for reviews of your movie, but
eventually – as you narrow down the argument you wish to make, you should
conduct more focused searches.
*When you complete Short Assignment 9, for every additional relevant
source you include in the Works Cited page, I will give you 2 extra credit
points (for a total of up to 10 extra credit points). Look at the assignment sheet
to find the steps to earn these RP points.