SJSU Web Workshop

3/8/06

S. Gallardo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three guidelines for researching on the web

 

I. Know your URL

II. Use trusted sources

III.  Evaluate your sources

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I. Know your URL.

Usually, just seeing the address (URL) of a site will tell you several important

things -- this can help you quickly decide whether a site is worth investigating

further

A. The standard beginning

World Wide Web 

http://www.sjsu.edu

 

Alternative:     www.sjsu.edu

                 or     sjsu.edu

 

exceptions:    http://as.sjsu.edu/ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C. Actual name

http://www.sjsu.edu

or http://www.princeton.edu

 

 

http://www.latimes.com

 

http://www.chevrolet.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D. Ending (suffix) 

Five major website suffixes:

1. Commercial

   http://www.ford.com

   http://www.espn.com

   http://www.msmagazine.com/

 

2. Educational

   http://www.stanford.edu

 

3. Government

   http://www.census.gov

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Organizations

   http://www.glide.org

   http://www.aspca.org

5.  Network

   http://www.earthlink.net

   http://www.php.net ...


Finally, newer : .tv .info .biz .us .ws .tv

countries: .uk .mx .my .cn .ru .it etc….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D. So what do we know about these addresses?

Are these helpful academic sites?

http://www.nra.org ?

 

http://www.krispykreme.com ?

 

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Greekculture.html

 

http://civilrights.org/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

II. Web-searching.  A reliable source?

 

A. Trust the source. Love your librarian.

 

http://www.sjlibrary.org/gateways/academic/

for peer-reviewed resources:

>SJSU subject>W>WS>articles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

III. Evaluate your sources. Use your judgement and common sense.

 

.Evaluate the URL

.Find the “About Us” statement

.Assess author's qualifications

.Assess date, sources

.If unsure, scavenge...


Is it academically reliable?

Toolbox approach— Does it have value other than strictly academic?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keep these guidelines in mind when you do web searches!

         http://google.com.

Use your knowledge of urls to sift through search results.

Fred Korematsu

 

Tip: If you hit a broken link, try “backing up” to the last / in the url

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review:

I. Know & watch your url

II. Use trusted sources

III. Evaluate sources carefully.

 

Keep these in mind as you complete your worksheet....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below are some of the links you’ll be using.

Google search engine    http://www.google.com

2. Project Vote Smart    http://www.vote-smart.org

4. Focus on the Family   http://www.family.org

     Family Research Lab  http://www.unh.edu/frl/frlbroch.htm

    Alt: http://civilrights.org

6. Warrick Dunn Foundation   

http://www.warrickdunnfoundation.org/

7. International Parliamentary Union

     http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm

9. Internet archive    

     http://sjsu.edu

10.  http://guerrillagirls.org