1 / 23

What is the Internet?

What is the Internet?. It is the world-wide distributed network of computers It has no central control - works through the cooperation of network administrators. Benefits of using Internet. Communication locally / internationally faster and more cost effective

nash
Download Presentation

What is the Internet?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. What is the Internet? • It is the world-wide distributed network of computers • It has no central control - works through the cooperation of network administrators

  2. Benefits of using Internet • Communication locally / internationally faster and more cost effective • Long distance telephone charges eliminated by using e-mail • Creates better informed staff/students with access to resources not otherwise available • Good for advertising services / facilities offered by institutions/companies

  3. Bookmarks / Favourites • Bookmark your favourite URL’s for direct access with only a click

  4. Search Engines • Search engines help you to sort through the masses of information on the WEB • Major search engines are: Google, Yahoo, HotBot

  5. Which search engine is the biggest / best? • Search engines are constantly evolving : competition is fierce • Some handle boolean queries better e.g. Yahoo, MSN, Gigablast. • Some better on relevance ranking e.g. Google • Some more user friendly e.g. Ask Jeeves - but results not as good as larger search engines

  6. Comparing search engines • Very few standards in place • Each search engine has own way of dealing with: • Boolean logic • Truncation • Phrase searching • Case sensitivity • Sorting by: date, site, categories, etc • Use HELP files

  7. This website is periodically updated and groups the search engines by size • Also compares search features • By clicking on “Review” a complete update of search engine is provided

  8. Information on Strengths, Weaknesses, Features, etc

  9. General search requesting 4 terms to be present 1650 websites retrieved!

  10. Narrow search by using the “Advanced Search”

  11. Now only 17 websites retrieved

  12. Click on “Images” and type in search term for pictures

  13. Click on “News” for up-to-date general news

  14. For “Health News” click on “Health”

  15. Use Google Scholar for more academic information

  16. Most hits are journal articles Can also do an advanced search

  17. Advanced search

  18. Google Scholar • Retrieves more relevant and peer-reviewed documents • Any articles from ejournals to which the University Library subscribes will be available in full text on-campus only

  19. You can access Google Scholar from the Library Web page

  20. Quality • How up-to-date are the links? • Is the resource full text? • Is the Internet version of resource current, e.g. dictionaries • How comprehensive is this site? • Is the resource available from or pointed to by multiple Internet sites? • Who is the author or producer? • Was content developed by an academic institution/commercial enterprisewith established reputation?

  21. Quality (cont) • Does resource stay current through regular updates or demonstrate on-going maintenanceWas the content peer-reviewed by experts in field? • What are dates of coverage ? • Is any sort of bias evident? • When was the Web item produced? • When was the Web item last revised? • Is contact information for author/producer included?

  22. Conclusion • The Internet is a rich source of information, which can be used to great advantage. However, because there is no control over the material that is placed on the Internet, evaluate any information very carefully. • Main method of retrieving peer reviewed academic information is from computerized databases. e.g. Medline

More Related