The student will be able to have a better idea of the internet and distinguish sources of information by domain and/or place of origin.

 

 

The internet is a series of networks interconnected worldwide through computers; the largest internet being the Internet (with a capital "I"). Most common to the Internet is the Web (a hypertext information system) linking together a wealth of information from all web users (including information put out by government agencies, educational and other institutions, businesses and also by individuals like you and me).

 

 

There are no rules governing the contents of thousands of web pages that are created everyday. For this reason, the college user needs to evaluate and be critical of the contents of the web pages encountered.

There is a vast amount of information on the Internet, but not all you need for your courses is found there on the Internet. Other resources such as books, ebooks, ejournals and magazines, databases, etc., are also available to you in the UWF Libraries.

In general, students can find reliable information related to their courses in different websites published by:

• Federal government agencies and departments -- identified by .gov
• Example: http://www.usda.gov/ (U.S. Department of Agriculture)

• Professional societies and organizations -- identified by .org
• Example: http://www.mla.org/ (Modern Language Association)

• Colleges and universities (excluding student pages) -- identified by .edu
• Example: http://www.utexas.edu (University of Texas at Austin)

 

 

Due to the vast and decentralized nature of the Internet, the information as a whole has no meaningful organizational structure. You can, however, find useful information on the Internet by using:

• Internet Search Engines (from James Madison University Libraries)
  Use search engines, such as Google and AltaVista, to locate internet sources with one or more keywords. It is highly recommended to go the the advanced search options to narrow or broaden your search (by format, type of source, etc.). A search will usually retrieve a large number of hits ranked by relevancy. You can then browse the list for sites that are the most relevant and useful for your assignment or projects.

• Finding Sources of Information by Topic or Subject
  Many useful lists of links for particular subjects can be found on the Internet. Here are two:
  • UWF Research Subject Guides - Developed by Subject Specialists, these guides are a valuable starting point for locating important information.
  • Librarian's Internet Index - LII is a publicly-funded website and weekly newsletter serving California, Washington state, the nation, and the world.

• UWF Library Databases & Journals
  This link access hundred of library databases that are particularly useful for scholarly research (please note, that some have restricted access). You may locate a specific online journal or do a meta-search across multiple databases. The results contain references to books, book chapters, ebooks, articles in scholarly and popular journals, and many other full-text information sources.

There are hundreds ways to identify and locate internet resources. Try one of these to learn more about this particular topic.

• More Google (includes Google Scholar) - http://www.google.com/options/index.html
• A9 Search Engine - http://www.a9.com

Now it’s time to test what you’ve learned. Click here to test your knowledge. Be sure to print out your score or e-mail it to yourself or your instructor as proof that you have completed this tutorial.

 

 

Alberto Hernández

albertohernandez@uwf.edu

April 18, 2007