Internet research can be both rewarding and frustrating. Chapter Six of the Barebones 101: A Very Basic Web Search Tutorial has the following quote on performing research:

"It's always a good idea to THINK about your search before you begin. Create a search strategy in your head by asking yourself this question: What do I want to do? Browse?
Locate a specific piece of information?
Retrieve everything I can on the subject? " This will determine how and what you require to gather your information. With Internet research, as with any research you will need to establish a resource list. Since this is most likely your first Internet research project, I will assist you in finding resources used to perform Internet searches. From this resource list, other research is much easier.

To start, go to my web page:
www.conrad.albertson.com
(If for some reason, this page does not load, try one of my alternate sites:
http://home.westman.wave.ca/~conrad/ OR http://usersite.assiniboine.net/albertsc/
All three sites are identical.

Bookmark, or make a favourite to my web site. You will return there frequently. On the left side of my site is my main menu. Click on Searches. This is where you can locate tutorials on how to use search math and boolean operators to enhance and filter your searches as well as links to many of the popular search engines.

You will notice there are a lot of links on this page. The first links are different sites with similar information on how to do searches. The link I would like you to follow first is the top link to: Barebones 101: A Very Basic Web Search Tutorial

I would like you to print chapter 7 and 8 for your notes. Click on: Lesson 7: Basic Search Tips and print it out. Then do the same for:
Lesson 8: Searching with Boolean Logic and Proximity Operators

These are the two chapters I will review in class. These printouts will form your notes for this lesson. The other chapters are also very helpful for each of the respective topics, however our course will not delve past these chapters. Each chapter is about 2-3 pages long, so you may wish to go through the entire course on your own to improve your research skills.

Internet Research Project
Searching Questions

Use search engines and other websites to answer the following questions. You may also use any of the resources from my web site and the previous page of Tutorials. This page is posted online at:
www.mts.net/~conrad/project.htm
Hint: Highlight and copy this page from my website and paste it into a Wordpad document. Then when you get the answers to the questions, you can again highlight the information and paste it into your document. This will provide you with an ongoing set of notes.

1. What is baklava and how is it prepared? Hint: Just pick any search engine, enter the term baklava in the search box and click Search. For example, try www.yahoo.com and choose a link such as Home Life: How to Bake Baklava

2. What do the following terms mean? Hint:Try Webopedia: Online Computer Dictionary for Internet Terms and Technical Support
   Type in HTTP and click search. Repeat for the rest of the terms. Copy each definition into your file.

   • HTTP
   • Protocol
   • Jpg
   • Virus
   • Shareware
3. How does DSL work? [Print the first page only for your notes.] Hint:Try a specialty site like http://www.howstuffworks.com/
   You will have to do some scrolling as this is a long page.
4. How does a cable modem work? [Print the second page only for your notes.] Hint:Try a specialty site like http://www.howstuffworks.com/
   You will have to do some scrolling as this is a long page. Notice how the two competitors are beside each other in the page?

5. What were the names and crew complement of Christopher Columbus' ships on his first voyage?
   [Print the one long page with all the names, about 5 printed pages] Hint: This is the tough one. Start with yahoo and enter the search for:
   +"christopher columbus" +crew

   This gives a phrase search on "christopher columbus". The + sign forces the phrase and the word "crew" to be in the resulting pages. Yahoo will provide you with approximately 1500 results. Don’t panic. Your information is in the first 5. However you will have to click one level down from the original page Yahoo provides you. If you need to click farther than that, try another site as there is at least one way to get there with two clicks from Yahoo.
   BIG Hint: If you go past the first 5, before you hit the number 10 site you WILL find a direct link!