Boscobel

Basic Skills Seminars

 

The Internet is made up of billions of computers that serve up information on request. This class will focus on how you access the Internet, and then, once you’re there “online” how you go about finding what you’re looking for.  

 

·        Dial up connection

·        High speed connection: DSL, Cable, wireless network

 

 

·        Know the address of the website you want to look at:

o       http://www.chicagotribune.com/

o       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_search_engines

o       http://www.librarything.com/

 

·        Use a search engine to look for sites related to what you want to know about. Some common search engines include:

o       http://www.google.com/   Google

o       http://www.yahoo.com/    Yahoo

o       http://www.ask.com/  Ask

o       http://www.msn.com/   MSN and Live Search

o       http://www.dogpile.com/ Dogpile

o       http://www.webcrawler.com/ Webcrawler

 

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are dozens of specialized search engines, aggregators and “Web 2.0” applications available to help you find the information you want.

 

Search Tips: most search engines have a “help”, “tips” or “FAQ” (frequently asked questions) link. Take some time and read these to understand the best way to use that search engine. There are also many search tutorials available online that will help to rapidly improve your skills.  One of them is

     http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/SearchEngines.html