Using the Internet to find the best Information For Students in grades 7-8

Why do kids use the internet? It’s easy It’s fast It’s current It’s fun You are going right to the source

So, what’s wrong with that? Anybody can put anything on the internet so your information might be incorrect. Crazies are out there! You have to be safe. There are things you shouldn’t be seeing on the web.

What’s this all about? This presentation will show you –How to choose a topic for a research paper. –How to use the internet to find good information –How to use the internet to help get a report in on time. –How to find magazine and encyclopedia sources on the internet. –How to find out if a website is a good source of information. –How to stay safe when you are using the internet.

This is Charlie. He’s doing a report on Iraq because his cousin is over there right now. He wants to know about what it’s like there, and why there is fighting in Iraq. Getting Organized

What does he know already? First, Charlie opened Appleworks and made a form with two columns, like this one.

Charlie wrote down the things he already knows in the first column. They are statements. WHAT I KNOW Iraq is on the other side of the world. The seasons are different there The land is very different than ours There is a war there

WHAT I WANT TO LEARN: How does their weather and climate compare to ours? What is their land like? Why is there fighting in Iraq? Charlie looked at the statements and made questions for the “What I want to learn” column

Research Statements Charlie looked at his questions and came up with these goals for his paper.. He will: Compare Iraq’s weather and land to Ponsford. Find out reasons for the war. Now they are statements again because “statements” answer “questions.”

Setting up a schedule Here’s a tool Charlie found on the school research webpage to make sure his paper gets done on time. 7th and 8th graders might find this useful You need to have an address for it to work! Research Project Calculator

First you fill out this information

Then this page will come up and show you what you need to have done by each date, so that you will be finished on time. Click on each task for hints on how to do things if you get stuck! Plus, you get reminders.

Places to look for information using the internet Start on the school webpage and go to the “Library and Research page.” First try the “Pine Point Library” link by clicking on it.

Here are the books Charlie found in the Pine Point Library when he did a search for Iraq books.

- he can see that they are both available - at first he wondered why an Animal Rescue book was there, but when he looked at the description, he found out that there’s a section on rescue dogs in Iraq. - For more details, he clicked on the books.

Next, on the Pine Point Research page, Click on “Research Sites for 6-12” and this page will come up:

Charlie went to a box near the bottom of the page and chose “Junior Reference collection.” He clicked on “Iraq” in the right-hand column

He’s got full text encyclopedia articles on this page, and if he clicks primary sources, he’ll see speeches about Iraq, and if he clicks mulitmedia, he’ll see maps and flags!

Going to the “InfoTrac Student Edition link,” on the “Research Sites for 6-12” page, Charlie can access magazine articles, books, multimedia and academic journals!

Using Browsers “Browsers” are indexes of the internet. You use them to find information. There are two browser links on the school webpage: Ask for Kids and Google. Google. Ask for kids is set up so that you can put in a question just like you would ask a person, and you will find webpages to answer those questions. Google is well-known because it has so much information. You can search google using terms (single words) instead of whole sentences.

Comparing results Charlie typed in “What is Iraq’s climate?” in “Ask for Kids” and got this response: Those underlined links at the bottom mean if you click on them you will go right to those resources!

Comparing results Charlie typed in “What is Iraq’s climate?” in “google” and got this response:

Evaluating sources Charlie wanted to find out why we are at war in Iraq. He used the phrase“Iraq War, Why?” Ask for kids gave him this:

Can you tell where this information came from? Is the Info-please almanac a good source? Source and date right here.

Google Results

Looking closer at the Google results Wikipedia Wikipedia is an encyclopedia on the web that has been written by anyone who wants to add information to those pages. Make sure you verify any information from this site and also check the references link on each page. Sponsored Links: If a link is sponsored, someone has paid to put it there. The person paying for it can put anything on that site, so it may not have straight facts. Bias: is when someone feels strongly about something and arranges the truth to support his/her beliefs. Many pages on the internet are biased. There are several sites on this page that are written by people who don’t like the war or the president who got us involved in the war. They are biased. This doesn’t mean what they say is wrong, it just means you need to verify this information … Make sure it’s just the facts.

Looking at the webpage address for information You can tell the source of information on a website by looking at the address. The last three letters will explain: –.com: Commercial: is trying to make money, not always a good source –.gov: U.S. Government source –.org: An organization; often with strong bias –.edu: School or university. May be a student. Check! –.net: networked site –. ~ if this sign (~tilde) is on the front of a name, that means it’s a personal website. Verify any information you find on this site.

What have you learned? Now, see what you have learned by going to this webpage and going through these pages. When you’ve finished, you’ll be even better at finding out the best information on the web! Evaluating Websites 101 The Evaluating Websites 101 presentation was Written by Carol Anne Germain and Laura Horn University Libraries, University at Albany January 2001

Getting it together Charlie decided to use the two books in the library, the article he found in the database and the information he got from Ask for kids. He had to find a way to show his teacher where he got his information, so he went to / to have the computer write out citations for him. He was able to answer his research questions and get a terrific report in on time. /

Staying safe on the internet Charlie knows how to be safe on the web. Do you? -Don’t ever give out your name, address, or phone number or post pictures of yourself. -If you don’t know the person sending you , don’t open it! Unsolicited (spam) often contains viruses that will mess up your whole computer and the computer of everyone in your address book. -If you open a webpage that is rude or embarrassing, click out of it right away. The school has software to protect you from those sites, but sometimes they still get through. -Facebook and other social networking sites are fun, but not resources for reports. If you participate, be careful! Bullying is wrong in person or on line. If you are being harassed, tell someone right away.