What is the Internet? The Internet is a computer network connecting millions of computers all over the world It has no central control - works through the cooperation of network administrators

Jargon People use to talk about the Internet The Net Cyberspace The Information Superhighway The Online Community The Electronic Library Virtual Reality The Web

Benefits of using Internet Communication locally / internationally faster and more cost effective Long distance telephone charges eliminated by using Creates better informed staff/students with access to resources not otherwise available Good for advertising services / facilities offered by institutions/companies

Bookmarks / Favourites Bookmark your favourite URL’s for direct access with only a click

Search Engines Search engines help you to sort through the masses of information on the WEB Major search engines are: Google, Yahoo, HotBot

Which search engine is the biggest / best? Search engines are constantly evolving : competition is fierce Some handle boolean queries better e.g. Yahoo, MSN, Gigablast. Some better on relevance ranking e.g. Google Some more user friendly e.g. Ask Jeeves - but results not as good as larger search engines

Comparing search engines Very few standards in place Each search engine has own way of dealing with: – Boolean logic – Truncation – Phrase searching – Case sensitivity – Sorting by: date, site, categories, etc – Use HELP files

This website is periodically updated and groups the search engines by size Also compares search features By clicking on “Review” a complete update of search engine is provided

Information on Strengths, Weaknesses, Features, etc

General search requesting 4 terms to be present 1650 websites retrieved!

Narrow search by using the “Advanced Search”

Now only 17 websites retrieved

Click on “Images” and type in search term for pictures

Click on “News” for up-to- date general news

For “Health News” click on “Health”

Use Google Scholar for more academic information

Most hits are journal articles Can also do an advanced search

Advanced search

Google Scholar Retrieves more relevant and peer- reviewed documents Any articles from ejournals to which the University Library subscribes will be available in full text on-campus only

You can access Google Scholar from the Library Web page

Quality How up-to-date are the links? Is the resource full text? Is the Internet version of resource current, e.g. dictionaries How comprehensive is this site? Is the resource available from or pointed to by multiple Internet sites? Who is the author or producer? Was content developed by an academic institution/commercial enterprise with established reputation?

Quality (cont) Does resource stay current through regular updates or demonstrate on-going maintenance Was the content peer-reviewed by experts in field? What are dates of coverage ? Is any sort of bias evident? When was the Web item produced? When was the Web item last revised? Is contact information for author/producer included?

Conclusion The Internet is a rich source of information, which can be used to great advantage. However, because there is no control over the material that is placed on the Internet, evaluate any information very carefully. Main method of retrieving peer reviewed academic information is from computerized databases. e.g. Medline