Not just Wikipedia

You may have noticed your students using still more websites with Wiki somewhere in the title as sources in their research.  Like Wikipedia, these Wiki websites can be modified by anybody – in fact that’s the whole point – so I suspect we’re going to have to tell our students that any website with Wiki in the title cannot be used as a legitimate source for research. 

Wikis are intended to be modified by many people collaborating, and can be wonderful resources since many people are sharing ideas, but since anybody can change a Wiki, a Wiki really cannot be considered a valid research source.

Some research paper resources

                Grolier – subscription databases available only within SBS building.  The website is www.go.grolier.com.  Userid is stbernard, Password is dogs.  Grolier provides a number of research databases.   For more information, see Sue Thomson.

                Iconn.org – databases available anywhere in Connecticut (or outside of Connecticut with a library card from a public library in Connecticut).  Databases include New York Times and a number of other national newspapers, professional and popular journal articles, historical issues of newspapers, and other subject area reference materials.  For more information go to www.iconn.org, or see: http://franblo.edublogs.org/2008/07/03/using-great-internet-research-tool-iconn/.

                Why not Wikipedia?  Did you know that anybody – anybody – can make changes to Wikipedia pages?   Enough said.

                The SBS Style Manual is on Fred Smith’s and Art Lamoureux’s Edline pages.  (Login to Edline, then click on Classes, over on the upper right.  Scroll through until you see a class one of them teaches and click on the class title.  The Style Manual is among the documents at the right.) 

                An internet source that provides citations for bibliography/works cited in MLA format,  virtually identical to our Style Manual format, is www.citationmachine.net.  You select the type of resource (book, webpage, database accessed through a library, etc.) then fill in the blanks provided; the program generates the appropriate citation.   For further information, see http://franblo.edublogs.org/tag/citation-bibliography/.

Searching the internet for a topic – automatically

                Are you preparing for a unit next month, and you’d like to know about any news that relates to that unit?  Rather than going to the Internet and doing a search for current articles every few days, wouldn’t you like to be able to have these searches done – and delivered to you  - automatically? 

                Here’s how. 

First, go to www.news.google.com 

Here, you can perform your search.  For example, I wanted to see if there were any recent articles about To Kill a Mockingbird, since I’m teaching that novel.  When I searched on the title, (”to kill a mockingbird” put in quotes so I didn’t receive articles about killing and mockingbirds) I found news articles and blog postings to look at.  One important note here:  make the search specific.  If I search on something too general – “death penalty” – I’ll get much more than I want.  Use more keywords to narrow the search.  For example:  race  “death penalty” 

But I’d also like to know when new information is posted, so I click on News Alerts (over to the left of the search results).  This allows me to set up a Google Alert that will come to me once a day, once a week, or as the stories are posted – my choice.  I can also choose just straight news, but I’ve chosen comprehensive so that I get everything possible.

Will I get some junk?  Sure, but I’ll also get some items I might easily have missed. 

Once I click on Create Alert, I’ll be told there’s one more step to take.  I’ll be told that a verification email has been sent to my email address.

                When I get that confirmation email, I’ll follow the directions – click on the link to Verify this Google Alert Request – and this will confirm my request.  (This has become a standard practice due to prank Alerts people have set up for others.)  This part of the email will look something like this.   

         Verify this Google Alert request:  http://www.google.com/alerts/verifyxxxxxxxx

 So I’ll click on this link.

The time may come when I don’t want this Alert anymore.  Then, at the bottom of the alert, I click on “remove alert,” and they’ll stop sending it. 

                I can set up as many different Alerts as I want, so I can follow many different topics at once.

                I’ve set it up, and now I can just check my email, which I do anyway, and see what’s new on my topic.  Easy, no?

Going beyond Google

                Although Googling is a perfectly adequate way of search for information on the Internet, it’s not the only option.  And there may be a better search engine for you.

                Google and Yahoo both are out to make a buck, so not surprisingly, they put their advertisers on top of any search list.  They also use other algorithms that influence placement on the list. Wouldn’t you like to do searches without this bias?

                Try using a metasearch engine.  These search other search engines.  For example, try out www.dogpile.com or www.cactisearch.com .  These are just as fast as Google, but provide a filter that can bring up more valuable websites. This excerpt from a dogpile search shows which search engines identified this link. Both Google and Yahoo put Wikipedia’s link higher for this same search. (Wikipedia allows the public to change materials posted there,  so its contents can be questionable.)

                Also, if you like your information displayed more visually than just a list, try www.clusty.com which displays your search results in groups. 

               Or www.mooter.com which displays your search results as a web or cluster. 

                Finally, if you’d really prefer to use plain old English, rather than using keywords, try out www.brainboost.com (the same as www.answers.com/bb ).  You may have to rephrase your question a few times before you get your answer, or it may not work at all, but it may be worth a shot.

                Happy browsing!

Using great internet research tool – ICONN

Using the best research tools on the internet - in support of your graduate work, to peruse professional journals, for scholarly research – and to keep ahead of your students

Remember the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature?  It doesn’t exist anymore.  Now anyone wishing to look up journal articles uses the internet.  But Google is not the tool that replaces the Reader’s Guide.  Rather, there are many subscription databases.  Happily, the public libraries of Connecticut have worked together to create a rich collection of such databases for all their patrons.  All those expensive databases are yours for free.  You have resources such as the New York Times, Washington Post, professional journals and magazines, historical documents, reference materials, art work …..  Interested?  Detailed information about what’s available follows the how-to-use-Iconn.

How do I use Iconn?

On the internet, go to www.iconn.org.

On the first Iconn web page, if you have your Connecticut library card, enter the long number that’s  on the back.  This identifies you and your local library; if you want to do interlibrary loan through Iconn, you’ll need this.  But you don’t have to have your library card with you; just click on “Try This.”  (If you don’t live in Connecticut, you can’t use the Interlibrary Loan features, but you can still search and use all the resources.)

Either way, you will be taken to the main Search screen:

At this point, you can either search every resource, or search specific resources.  If you search every resource, simply type in your keywords here; you will get a very lengthy listing which can be overwhelming.  I find it better to click on “Link to Individual Resources” or “Link to Additional Research Resources” which are below the main search box.  I then click on the search box offered for the specific resource I chose.

You will receive a list of resources.  When you click on individual articles, your options include the ability to print or email the article to yourself.  Each database works slightly differently, but all have a search function, allow you to print, and almost all allow you to email.   Important tip:  email individual articles; I have never been able to mark articles and email them together in a group.

If you have trouble, or aren’t sure how to do keyword searches, let me know and I’ll give you a quick personal seminar.  If you have Googled successfully, you know the basics of keyword searches.

Iconn.org Resources include:

Library catalogues

Magazines and journals

Newspapers

Subject area resources