Sections:
|
Searching the Invisible Web
When you use a search engine on the Internet and can't find what you're looking for, what do you do? Maybe you're seeking to learn
something, which means you're probably going to keep trying until you
find it. Or give up in frustration. Don't give up that easily. There's
information out there that is actually not indexed in the big search
engines. Such Web pages are part of what's called the Dark, Deep,
Hidden or Invisible Web. Those pages that are actually indexed are known by some as the surface Web.
Fortunately, the invisible Web is getting easier to search, with tools
beyond the standard big three search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and
MSN.
Research Beyond Google: 119 Authoritative, Invisible, and Comprehensive Resources | OEDb
oedb.org/library/college-basics/research-beyond-go...
Thorough Research: Seven Rules of Basic Internet Searching
thoroughresearch.blogspot.com/2006/12/basic-intern...
A one shot lesson on authenticity of information:
Goal: Students will understand the concept of evaluating a website to determine if the information found on the site can be trusted and is appropriate for high school level work. Objective: Students will visit and evaluate five sites on the same subject. Vocabulary: URL, authenticity, indicators, evaluation Materials: computers with Internet connection, site evaluation worksheet, post it notes Procedures: Students in groups visit the five sites and share results with the class. You are the detective – today we will learn sleuthing strategies for becoming a smart consumer of information on websites. Students sign a numbered sheet to determine groups. Students are sorted into 4 groups to visit the 5 sites. They look at each site and fill out the worksheet (see below). They then summarize the main points they discovered and each group puts sticky notes on a large version of the worksheet. It is then interesting to see which sites caused the same reactions or different reactions from the different groups. The whole group notices what was in common and what reactions were specific to a specific group and discuss the reasons why that may have happened. Student groups could then each pick a topic and 3-4 sites on that topic, comparing the same information about those sites. http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/ http://www.martinlutherking.org/ http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html http://www.enchantedlearning.com/history/us/MLK/ http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jan/king.html table with categories: -URL- what does it tell you about the site? -who is publishing the site? -indicators that tell you if you can trust the information on the site -does it all add up – questions that you have about the site? Evaluation: Were the students able to understand the differences between the information on the different sites? Were the students able to make appropriate choices about which sites would be useful? A possible follow-up exercise: Yesterday we looked at three websites and tried to develop strategies for knowing how to trust different kinds of information that we find on the Internet. We looked at the technical and visual aspects of a site, the content on a site, the authenticity with which it is written and then we asked, “Does it all add up?” We checked to see who owned the site, who links to the site and how the site has changed over time. We also dissected the URL to see where the information originated. What will you take away from this project to help you as you look for answers to some of your questions? How will you know whether to trust information you find? If you’re confused, what will you do to figure it out? A one shot lesson on website evaluation: Here is the link to download the Site Evaluation worksheet file (4 pages) for this lesson. The text can be seen here but the lines for the worksheet are missing. Site Evaluation Technical and visual aspects of the page
Now find the source of the information by dissecting the URL. A ~ in the URL means that it is a personal web page on a server. What does the domain tell you about the site? (edu/com/org…) Take away each level by deleting after each / to find the home site.
Content
Now find out who owns the page and make some guesses about why they published this page.
Authority
Now find the sites that link to this site and how they link. In Google: link:URL
How has the site changed over time? Can you make some guesses about why it changed? Use the Wayback Machine
Does it all add up? What questions do you have?
An introductory one shot lesson on searching the Invisible Web
Searching Online – The Invisible Web/Databases We’ve talked about information that you find on websites and how to explore the origin and agenda of that information. Then we shared some strategies for becoming a better searcher and understanding search results online. Did you know that there is also information on the Invisible Web? What is the Invisible Web? The Invisible Web consists of material that general-purpose search engines do not or cannot include in their collections. The content is not invisible but it’s effectively invisible because it is so hard to find unless you know where to look. Sites using database technology are hard for search engines to access and index. Pick one of the topics that you have written about in your blog. Search for some information about your topic in one of the following databases. Eleanor Roosevelt High School Research Links/Databases http://www.erhsnyc.org/resources/links.html NOVEL: New York Online Virtual Electronic Library Participation in the new economy requires access to information and Information Age materials are often too costly to most individuals, small businesses, and the local libraries they turn to. These are two databases that we use: Ebsco: http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?group=empire user: password: Try this site. What questions do you have after trying a search in this database? What do you see here that you might use and why might you find it useful? Gale: http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/nysl_me_9_erhs password: Try this site. What questions do you have after trying a search in this database? What do you see here that you might use and why might you find it useful? Do the same search on Google. How was your search different from a search on Google? List 3 differences and describe how they are different. Citing our Sources - How and Why?
As the research process moves from 3x5 notecards to tools like Google notebook, citing our sources remains a constant part of doing good research. But, why do we cite sources in the first place? Is it simply to avoid plagiarism? Or, as the quote in the next note illustrates, are there other purposes for making citations?
It has been argued that every citation has a rhetorical purpose, the most important of these purposes being to support the argument the writer is making or to show the necessity of the research or the consistency of the arguments with previous research. What gives these citations their rhetorical power is not only the logic of the argument but the fact that these arguments have been published and sometimes peer viewed in reputable journals and magazines. This practice of citation can demonstrate knowledge of the field, be used to open gaps in the previous research, show areas of support for the argument, and provide recognition for the author of the text and valuable resources for the readers. Note created January 1, 2007 Howard, Rebecca Moore. (1999). Standing in the shadow of giants: Plagiarists, authors, collaborators - wac.colostate.edu/...Also, how do we cite sources? Should students still copy or type
the names of their sources out, or can we rely on web-based tools to
help them manage their online research?
While NoodleTools is perhaps the most popular subscription service for schools, there are many other free bibliography generators such as EasyBib, Citation Machine, and CiteULike. Is it appropriate, let alone advisable, to have our students use these tools? In addition to bookmarking sites that they find (either in their own browser or with a social bookmarking tool like del.icio.us or Furl), should we expect students to get citations for everything, even if they won't use it? Or, perhaps, we should teach them how to use new read/write web tools like Zotero, a Firefox plugin, to keep track of sources or Media Matrix to build their own online collection of multimedia sources? With the variety of online sources growing -- and citation styles struggling to keep up -- do we teach students the basics of APA or MLA style and then hope that they make an honest effort to get everything into their bibliographies? Or, do we look at the minutiae, and correct every misplaced comma or semicolon? This is an important question, as some college professors are very stingy about this, while others just appreciate the effort.
Webquests
Webquests - Love 'em? Hate 'em? Are they useful tools for structuring online research, or do they give students a prefabricated template to complete? What is your experience using them and how do they help or hinder the research process?
Interactive Note-taking
The emphasis in our school has been on interactive note-taking which I have chosen to put into a tech form. Recently I had to submit a sample of the kids notes for review. I put some samples on the net for them to see. This site is in no way complete so please understand that I am only now building the sample archives. My students do not have their notes open to the public since they are on our elgg, Personal Learning Space! You may visit the high school elgg, Youth Voices, which is open to the public. They are not using the note-taking idea but you can see how students can post blog entrys and add files such as pictures and videos to their posts.
My students share their notes in the same way you might add a photo as an attachment in your email to send to friends and family. They are encouraged to add audio, video, do skits, read outloud to listen to later, add pictures to learn by association, make up stories, and any other method they wish to use. They may burn a CD to take home and review or record cassettes (as old world as that is some do not have CD players but alot of parents and gaurdians have old Walkmans. The skies the limit and I merely accomodate their imaginations. I think it would be great if you could walk into my classroom and hear nothing but kids learning. There would be very little Teacher Voice standing above the kids with the exception of initial explanations. I know my students like and need that comfort zone so I always "teach" at them until they gain the confidence to launch off on their own to work at their highest potential. It is important to assure them that I am in charge and am a total professional capable of guiding them into their futures! Lee Baber Blogging as Research
This is a new idea for me, so I don't have any evidence to support it or specifics for how to carry it out. However, Paul graciously invited me in on this discussion, and it is something the teachers at my school have been thinking about lately.
We have a required research paper in the 11th grade that is sent away for independent "scoring." I won't go into the problems with the model the county has adopted, but I will say that one good thing about this is that students are working to achieve some "outside" assignment, which immediately casts the teacher in the role of facilitator (excellent). Another benefit of the assignment is that students are free to choose any topic they wish as long as they can write a "persuasive, documented argument" based on their findings. [PDF of the "handbook" is here.] Unfortunately, students are not always prepared for this kind of freedom and default to tired issues: legalization of marijuana, capital punishment, abortion, etc. Usually, there's no particular interest or passion behind these issues for the student, and so the research is an exercise in jumping through hoops and the resulting prose is limp, lifeless, and (worst of all) of no value or interest to the student. To help remedy this, I'm starting an experiment this year with my 10th grade students. Besides other uses of online writing (blogs, forums, wikis, etc.), I will be asking students to do some things that will help them identify topics about which they have a genuine (and hopefully passionate and abiding) interest. The primary tool will be blog reading and blog writing. Using Google Reader, I will be asking students to start "sharing" articles from blogs they find interesting, challenging, controversial. In their blogs, I'll be asking them to make bi-weekly entries about "what's got me thinking" lately. As they read through blogs (and I will ask that they subscribe to a few mainstream news feeds, too), I want them to write about the articles/events/issues that got them thinking, or upset, or worried, or questioning over the last two weeks. I also want them to keep a del.icio.us (or other) link archive of websites and articles that may want to pursue further (tagged "research" or something like that). Finally, I want them to contribute to the class wiki on a page called "possible research paper topics" where they submit annotated entries on issues they have found interesting (with links back to their relevant blog posts and/or link archive tags). I don't have any of the logistics worked out yet (how many posts do we need? how many links? how many wiki entries? how long should it be? how much is each one worth?) ... you know, all the questions that make me despair that they're doing it all for the wrong reason. [Yet, I do find that if you make the requirements sufficiently unthreatening, they soon stop worrying about those things and produce well beyond the "minimum."] I may be leaving out important tools, processess, etc., or failing to take advantage of certain networking/community approaches, but it's my starting place. Any ideas to develop this further ... or fix what's broken? Eric Hoefler This is a CD that was just released. On it is a video where Paul Allison is teaching in "New Journalism" class in the middle of a blogging project.
|
