Buckingham School

Internet Research Skills

Academic Project

Juan Pablo Cantor Castro

Henry Duran Mancera

2010-2011

Introduction

In this book, you will learn how to use internet in

order to research and evaluate web sites. Some

basic strategies to research in internet such as

the use of Boolean logic , libraries, data bases,

web browsers and their characteristics, and how

you can evaluate a web page taking into

account the content and intention of it. You will

also find information on how to find the security

level. Finally, you will find some useful library

web sites that you might use in your

researching. After you read this book, you will

acquire the knowledge to improve your research

skills.

Database

A database is a system that safes and organizes any

type of information in a clean, tidy and organized way

that allows the user to have his or her information

more organized and complete.

There are many types of databases. In fact some

databases are more professional than others like;

Oracle.

Internet

global computer network: a network that links computer networks all over the world by satellite and telephone, connecting users with service networks such as e-mail and the World Wide Web

Microsoft® Encarta® 2008. © 1993-2007 Microsoft Corporation.

Internet is a network that contains many web sites,

that can be seen in any computer and most of them

are free. These sites are from any topic or subject

like music, videos, books, sports, etc.

There are some steps to make a good research in a

data base. These are the following steps you should

follow:

1. Determine the key concept: List of words that

are important for the subject.

Example:

Topic: Tigers kill yearly 6 people in China.

Key concepts: Tiger and China.

2. Determine the information type: Place where you

want to take the information.

Example:

Topic: Tiger kill yearly 6 people in China.

Information concepts: newspaper, magazines,

statics, etc.

3. Search a database: List synonyms of the key

words.

Example:

Topic: Tiger kill yearly 6 people in China

Search a database: Felines-Asia-Death

4. Analyze a database: Determine the source,

author, dates, etc.

Example:

Topic: Tiger kill yearly 6 people in China

Analyze a database: When was it published, by

whom, etc.

How to Make a Research

Libraries vs. Internet

Libraries and internet are two different things but

they have something in common that we can

research in them. There are some pros and cons

between them here are some examples.

Library Internet

Uses universal cataloging systems that classify and organize all resources.

Online resources can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Houses professional books, newspapers, magazines, and other resources that have been edited and reviewed prior to their publication.

Web sites can be constantly updated to provide breaking news and timely information.

Provides free access to journals, magazines, newspapers, encyclopedias, and other print reference works.

Provides opportunities for two-way communication through e-mail, LISTSERVA, and NEWSGROUPS.

Libraries vs. Internet

In the previous chart it is shown some pros of

libraries and internet. The most important pros of

internet are;

That internet is able 24 hours a day, seven days

a week.

It can be updated very often.

Can make groups of comments from different

people.

Can accesses to different magazines,

newspapers, etc

Include videos, audio and more multimedia

Libraries vs. Internet

In the previous chart it is shown some pros of

libraries and internet. The most important pros of

internet are;

Contain professional and classic books.

Can have free accesses to magazines, books,

etc.

Have old books or documents.

Libraries vs. Internet

Here are some cons between libraries and internet.

Library Internet

Often has archived materials—newspapers and magazines—that date back many years.

Provides access to many newspapers, magazines, journals, and encyclopedias.

Often has archived materials—newspapers and magazines—that date back many years.

Some sites feature rare books, documents, and special collections that traditionally have only been available in libraries.

Offers a free Internet connection and other electronic resources, such as reference CD-ROMs. Has knowledgeable reference librarians to help you locate resources.

Offers a complete multimedia experience, with text, video, interactive features, audio, hyperlinks, and graphics all in one place.

Library Internet

Resources can be checked out by other patrons and, therefore, may not always be available.

Has no system that catalogs and organizes all resources.

A library's publications cannot provide up-to-the-minute news and information the way Web sites can.

Anyone with an Internet connection can publish a Web site.

Closes after hours. Reliability of information is not guaranteed.

Some cons of libraries are;

Sometimes the book you need it is being

used by someone more.

Cannot provide you the latest news.

Libraries vs. Internet

Internet

Archived materials might only date back several years.

Some electronic resources are only available through a subscription. Internet access is often not free.

Does not have knowledgeable librarians who can help you find resources.

Some cons of internet are;

Have no organization of sources.

Anyone, with no experience or ideas can make

or publish a web page.

Sometimes it isn’t free but expensive.

Doesn’t have the support of librarians or

workers.

Boolean Searching

There are some words that can help you

emphases your research. These words always

must be in capital letters. These words are:

NOT

AND

OR

NOT: You use this word to exclude a theme

or a topic.

Example: Hot weather NOT cold weather.

This mean that is excluding the topic cold

weather.

HOT COLD

Boolean Searching

AND: It is used to include two or more topics.

This means that the two topics will be taken account

at the moment of the research.

Example: Hot weather AND cold weather.

OR: It is used in order to include one or the other

topic.

Example: Hot weather OR cold weather.

HOT COLD

HOT COLD

Analyzing Web Pages

There are some web pages to analyze web pages.

One of these pages is called whois. This page will

allow you to identify the creator of the page, when

and where it was published, when was the last

update of the page, etc.

Up next I will show you an example of how to

analyze a web page:

First; enter to the following web page:

http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/

Second; read it all and understand it.

Then; enter to the following page that will allow you

to analyze the previous web page:

http://www.whois.net/

Analyzing Web Pages

After that; analyze the web page database answering

question like:

What organization or individuals are primarily

responsible for this web site?

What type of information you find in the web

page?

What is the purpose of the web page?

What information can you find about the author?

When and where it was done or published?

When was the last update?

Answers

1. The organization responsible for this web page

is the Consumers Union of U.S Inc. and the

responsible is Wendy J. Wintman.

2. We can find some useful information of rip-offs

online. This is an informative web site.

3. The purpose of this web page is to show up the

different ways of rip-offs online and how can you

avoid them.

4. The web page was created on the 1st

of

September of 2001 and it was done in the 101

Truman Avenue Yonkers, New York, United

states.

5. The last update was on the 15th

of February of

2007.

Conclusion

We can conclude that this was a very interesting

page because it inform us the different types of

rip-offs online and also they gave us a way to

avoid this rip-offs online. This was a “clean”

page because it didn’t have any advertising that

most the time is annoying. This web page was

well organized and had good information.

Analyzing Web Pages

MOZILLA FIREFOX VS. INTENERT EXPLORER

There are some differences between Mozilla Firefox

and Internet Explorer. The differences are that:

Internet Explorer;

Is fastest than Mozilla.

The presentation is simple.

Can have many web pages open at the same

time.

Have the option of zoom.

It has more options at the time of printing.

MOZILLA FIREFOX VS. INTENERT

EXPLORER

Mozilla Firefox;

It is more secure than Internet Explorer.

It has a lot of extras like music, videos, etc.

MOZILLA FIREFOX VS. INTENERT EXPLORER

Web Browsers

Web browsers are navigators of internet that will

allow you to find information in an easy way. For

example helping you with the page that contains

similar content to the one you are looking or helping

you with some good and qualify web pages. Also

they can help you with the loads in your computer

and current pages you have visited.

Here are some examples of web browsers:

Google

Chrome

Internet

explorer.

Safari

Mozilla Firefox

Opera

Netscape

Maxthon

Theworld

Tencent

Traveler

Up next I will show you five different free library web sites that are analyze

under the criteria’s we saw before. This web site were took from internet

and the analyzed each one by describing them, giving an introduction,

giving my opinion, giving a recommendation, and important dates like when

was it created, updated, etc.

The web sites we are going to analyze are:

1. http://www.librodot.com/

2. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/

3. http://www.readprint.com/

4. http://www.booksfactory.com/virtual.html

5. http://libros-gratis-online.blogspot.com/

http://www.librodot.com/

This web site is a free bilingual library, were there are more than 11,000

books and more than 1,000 authors. This is a free site where every

people can enter and in any part of the world. Every week new books are

included.

This web site is divided in three parts:

1. Languages

2. Registration

3. Pages

In languages there are two options: English and Spanish

This part allows the visitors to choose the language of the web

site between Spanish and English.

In Registration; the user is allow to login in the web site by

introducing their login and password. Also there is an option were

visitors can:

Donate: users can donate small amount of money, up to 10

dollars.

Purchase DVD: you can buy a DVD for 27 dollars.

Librodot Blog: is a link were you can go to a blog called Librodot

that contain other books of different authors.

Bookmarks: in bookmarks there are three options.

Home: this link takes you to the home page of the site. Were you

are able to choose different authors and books.

Favorite books: this link shows the favorite and most voted books

in this web site. You are able to choose the favorite books by

months.

Excel list: in this link you are able to see all the books this web

site have.

Domain Name: LIBRODOT.COM Registrar: REGISTER.COM, INC. Updated Date: 07-apr-2010 Creation Date: 25-may-2000 Expiration Date: 25-may-2013

In my opinion this is a complete, organize and easy web site because it contain

many books of different authors and of many genres. This site is very organized

because it contains an easy and fast way to search books classifying them by

author, title of the book and the genre. It also contains a wide list of all the

books this web site contains. The list is divided by the author’s name, the title of

the book, the genre of the book and the hometown of the author. The site is

easy due to the fact it is organized and has a simple menu but with some

different options like the language, the favorite books. Etc. Librodot also has the

options of “login” which allows a deeper and further investigation of other books.

It also has some options as to donate few amounts of money and o purchase

different DVDs.

I recommend this web site to young readers that are just entering in to the world

of literature, because it contains many books that are simple to read due to their

content. Also there are different and famous authors as Agatha Christie and

Julio Cortazar.

Librodot has some Google announcements in the top, left and down of the web

site. These announcements make the page look small and full of

announcements due to the fact it have a small menu. Also these

announcements make the page uncomfortable to read and to explore it.

Worldwide Rank

Monthly Users*

Monthly Pageviews*

274,145⇓ 5,609⇓ 185 per

day*

26,919⇓ 885 per day*

Website Value*

Monthly Earnings*

Daily Earnings*

$ 693.50⇓ $ 28.90⇓ $ 0.95

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/

“The Free Library” is a free web site that contains different kinds of

books, of different topics and different authors. This site is big due to the

fact it is divided in many parts. Although it is big, it isn’t disorganized

because it is divided in many parts. This web site allows the visitor and

the reader to modify it by adding and removing different windows.

The Free Library is divided in 6 different parts.

1) The first part is called “Publications”. This part allows the reader to

choose all kinds of publications that there were published since

the creation date to the latest. There you can choose by the first

letter or the topic of the publications.

2) The second part is called “Articles by Date”. This part allows the

reader to choose different publications from before 1995 to the

2011.

3) The third part is called “Articles by Author”. This part allows the

reader to choose the different publications by the different authors.

This “publications” include periodicals, literature and more

documents.

4) The fourth part is called “Authors”. This part allows the visitor o

reader to choose the author of the publication they want to read.

5) The fifth part is called “Literature”. This part allows the reader to

choose the type of literature of the publications. Also there are

some representative writers as Shakespeare that represents a

literary movement.

6) The other part is a division of publications by topics or themes.

Some examples of these divisions are Health, Law, Business,

Humanities, Science, etc.

In my opinion this is a complete and professional web site

because it contains many publications; not only books but

periodicals publications and these are written by different writers.

This web site has a tool bar that allows the visitor and/or the writer

to find the publications she or he needs or wants. This page

allows the visitor to exclude or to add new windows to the home

page so as to facilitate the visit to the web site. The web site

allows the members to login to go further with this site. And also

this site permits to anyone to upload or to submit any type of

article in the site.

In my opinion this is a very useful and complete web site because

it contains many types of articles as well stories. This page also

allows modifying it, so this makes easier visits and is more

comfortable to look information. I recommend this site to

professional writers and readers because in here you can find

much information from business to recreation articles as well as

from 1995 articles to 2011 articles.

This site is clean of advertisements and announcements, this

make the site easier and more comfortable to read.

Domain Name: THEFREELIBRARY.COM Registrar: MYDOMAIN, INC. Referral URL: http://www.namesdirect.com Updated Date: 21-jul-2010 Creation Date: 19-apr-2003 Expiration Date: 19-apr-2020

Worldwide Rank Monthly Users* Monthly Pageviews*

4,568⇓ 2,306,692⇓

75,837 per day* 6,205,000⇓

204,000 per day*

Website Value* Monthly Earnings* Daily Earnings*

$ 330,332.30⇓ $ 13,763.85⇓ $ 452.51

http://www.readprint.com/

Read Print is a simple web site that contains different types of books, of

different genres and of different authors. This web site is organized by the

different authors, from Agatha Christie to Charles Darwin. This web contains

more than 8,000 books and more than 3,500 authors. This site has a search bar

that allows the reader to find a book by its title, author, key word, etc.

This web site is divided in seven parts:

1. The introduction: this part allows the author to move around the read

print home page, were visitors can find books, find quotes, find

groups, etc.

2. What is Read Print? This part of the site is an introduction, where the

reader can find what is the purpose of then site and also there is

included a list of top author and top books.

3. Genres: this part allows the reader to choose what type of stories they

want to read. There are six options that are; fiction, non-fiction,

essays, plays poetry and short stories.

4. The fourth part is a web site division where the reader or visitor can

see the quote of the day, can subscribe to the new Newsletter and

finally how they can meet on Facebook or Twitter.

5. The fifth part is a sub-division of the site where readers can find out

why and how does site is considered to be one of the best 50 Time

Magazines.

6. The top 250 author; is a sub-division of the site where visitors can

choose different books from the top 250 authors of the site.

7. The top 5; is a sub-division of the site where visitors are able to see

and to read the top 5 books and see the top 5 authors of the site. Also

there is a search bar that allows the reader to find the books by its

title, author, key word, etc. finally there is a part that allows the reader

to volunteer by spreading the word about read Print.

In my opinion this is an organized, complete, amateur site because you can find

many books of different authors and of different genres, but at the time it is

organized and easy to find what you are looking to due to the fact it has two

search bars that help the reader to find faster what they want. This site is

considered amateur because it contains common books of common authors like

Edgar Allan Poe or Mark Twain, and also it doesn’t contain a wide range of

books like other sites that have more than 10,000 books. An advantage of this

site is that it is free from advertisement and publicity, this make the page see

clear and organized.

I recommend this site to young readers because is a web site where they can

find different books of commons authors and where they can easily find the

books and read them. I also recommend this web site to teachers because is a

small site that contain different books of different genres and that they can

share with their students.

Domain Name: READPRINT.COM Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC. Updated Date: 16-sep-2010 Creation Date: 03-nov-2003 Expiration Date: 03-nov-2013

Worldwide Rank Monthly Users* Monthly Pageviews*

92,265⇑ 145,856⇑

4,796 per day* 338,386⇑

11,125 per day*

Website Value* Monthly Earnings* Daily Earnings*

$ 22,396.40⇑ $ 933.18⇑ $ 30.68

http://www.booksfactory.com/virtual.html

Books Factory is a free web site library were visitors can find any types

of books, any types of author and any types of genres. This site also

contains other libraries web sites that will support or help the reader in

case he or she doesn’t find what is looking for. Books Factory has an

advanced and complete search tool that allows the reader to find the

books he or she want by looking for the title, author, time it was

published, etc. This site contains different books in Spanish but if the

reader wants he or she can also search for books in other languages.

This site is divided in three parts.

1. The introduction; this is a small part of the site where the

reader is able to choose the language of the book she or he

want to search and a brief introduction to the site.

2. The search bar is a search tool that allows the reader to find

the book she or he wants. This search tool is divided by author,

title, subject, date and other information.

3. The last part of the site is a list of other web sites libraries that

help or support the reader to find other types of books or other

authors.

In my opinion this is a complete but disorganized web site

because it contains a wide range of books from any genre,

from any author and in case the reader doesn’t find it he or she

is able to visit other sites suggested by Books Factory. This

site is disorganized because the suggestions of the other sites

are a long list in a small letter which makes it difficult to read.

Then the site contains a lot of publicity and advertisement that

makes the site to look small but with many information.

I recommend this site to professional or old reader that are

looking forward to new books from new authors because this

site offers a wide range of books from all period of history. Also

this site is recommended to old and professional readers

because is not easy to move around this site due to the fact it

contains many information and publicity.

Domain Name: BOOKSFACTORY.COM Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC. Updated Date: 29-may-2009 Creation Date: 28-jul-1999 Expiration Date: 28-jul-2012

Worldwide Rank Monthly Users* Monthly Pageviews*

516,354⇓ 8,872⇓

292 per day* 10,646⇓

350 per day*

Website Value* Monthly Earnings* Daily Earnings*

$ 379.60⇓ $ 15.82⇓ $ 0.52

http://libros-gratis-online.blogspot.com/

Libros Gratis Online is a free web site library in Spanish were there are many

books and movies from South American authors. This site is organized and

easy to work out in it due to the fact there are many images or pictures but they

are organized good all around the site. This site has many divisions that make it

look organized and tidy. This site contains some publicity and advertisement but

doesn’t make the page look disorganized.

This site is divided in seven parts.

1. The home page; this sub-site shows three thing. The first part shows

the best and newest books loaded in the site like “El Café de los

Corazones Rotos” of Penelope J. Strokes or “Como Agua Para

Chocolate” of lauraEsquievel. The second part shows few questions

that are used to the benefit and future of the site. The last part allows

the visitor or reader to buy books or movies by Amazon.

2. “Indice de Autores” is a sub-site where the readers can find all the

authors whose books are published in the site.

3. “Indice de Temas” is a sub-site where the readers can find all the

types of genres that are included in the books. The genres can vary

from Humor novel to Terror Novel.

4. Indice de Titulos” is a sub-site where readers can find out the books

she or he wants by its titles. This list is organized in alphabetical

order.

5. Bestseller is a sub-site where readers can find out the bestseller

books or what books are the most sold in the market.

6. “Juvenil” is a sub-site where the readers can find out the favorite

types of books for young people and it gives some examples of the

best books for children and teenagers.

7. “Misterio” is a sub-site where the readers can find out the best books

or novels of the Mystery or Gothic genre. The sites shares the best

books of this genre.

In my opinion this is a very organized and complete site, due to the fact it

contains many types of books and from different authors but at the same time

as well as managing many books this site is because it classify the books by

title, author and genre. This is also an easy site because it doesn’t contain

many links that makes the page difficult and boring but it contains many images

and pictures from every story or book. Also this site contains some few publicity

and advertisement of Facebook, which makes the site look big.

I recommend this web site to all types of readers, from young readers to old

readers, due to the fact this site contains many famous and common books to

some new and estrange books. Also I recommend this site to readers that are

interested in the Spanish literary genres.

Domain Name: BLOGSPOT.COM Registrar: MARKMONITOR INC. Updated Date: 15-sep-2010 Creation Date: 31-jul-2000 Expiration Date: 31-jul-2011

Worldwide Rank Monthly Users* Monthly Pageviews*

5⇑ 627,246,573⇑

20,621,806 per day* 3,926,563,542⇑

129,092,500 per day*

Website Value* Monthly Earnings* Daily Earnings*

$ 233,341,536.20⇑ $ 9,722,564.01⇑ $ 319,645.94

Conclusion

In conclusion we can learn many things about

internet from its terminology to its practice. We

learned about how to do a research, databases,

Boolean tools, Mozilla Firefox vs. Internet Explorer,

how to analyze a web page and some examples of it.

There is something new we can learn every day.