Which website do I Choose?
You can expect to find everything on the web: silly sites, hoaxes, frivolous and serious personal pages, commercials, reviews, articles, full-text documents, academic courses, scholarly papers, reference sources, and scientific reports. How do you sort it all out? Begin by understanding the search results' page.
Exploring the search results page Each time a search engine lists a page of links to sources that it found for your query, it is called a search results page. Search bar is near the top of the results page, where you can see your query and either modify it or enter a new one. Advertisements appear in the right-hand column, and sometimes at the top of the results in a coloured box. These results appear because |
someone paid for them to be there and only appear if they are relevant to your search. They always are marked with the word “Ads,” so you can identify paid results.
Natural results These results are not paid for by anyone and cannot be bought. Google, and other search engines, ask around 200 questions about how your query matches different pages it found on the web before deciding which pages to feature, and in what order, to list them. One reason search engines do not reveal more about how they rank is they don’t want people to be able to manipulate the system and get irrelevant or malicious pages highly ranked in the results. Filters are links in the top navigational menu, just below the search bar on the results page. Filters allow you to look specifically at results in one kind of media, or otherwise narrow the results. |
Knowledge Panel When you search for an entity, such as a person, place, book, movie, character, animal, etc., Google may show a special informational box on the right-hand side of the screen. For example, one appears for the query - New Zealand.
Activity Time 5
Download the worksheet and save it in the class folder. Print one for you and one for your partner it you have one. Identify the search bar, ads, natural results, knowledge panel and filters on the screenshot by circling and labelling them on the worksheet.
Identifying the main parts of an individual search result
Title: In blue, the first line of a search result. Web address: In green, just under the title. This is the location of the page on the Web and can help you understand at a glance who is offering you the source, what kind of source it will be, and more. Snippet: The black text under the web address. This text is taken from the source to which the link points and gives an idea of how your search terms appear in the text. It is not a summary of what appears on the link, does not provide full information on a topic, and is not intended to do so. You should always click through to see your search terms (and the information they provide) in context. Bold words: The words that appear darker on the screen are your search terms. In some cases, Google automatically finds synonyms for your search terms, so if you search for “kid,” you might see “child” bolded in your results. Ellipses: Google uses three dots (…) in snippets to show places in the source where the search terms appear. Unlike ellipses used in traditional writing to show omission of text but still with a fluid thought, the ellipses in a search result are intended to show where search terms appear in the source, and so can omit portions of the text important to the actual meaning. Remember to not take information from the snippet, but always click through to the source itself and see the full text there. |
Reading web addresses to get information about the source.
Knowing how to choose the most useful links among the possible results your search engine offers, increases your efficiency and gets you quickly to the best possible source. To begin to get an idea about a source, look at the web address. It is not a sure-fire way to know what type or quality of information the source will contain, but it can give important clues.
Google usually points you to specific pages on a website, though that might sometimes be the front page, or homepage. It can sometimes be helpful to notice if the website on which the page is located is one you know about and if it is well-matched to your task. Sometimes, the name of the site gives you an idea about the kind of information you will find there. The name of the website is usually in the first part of the web address located AFTER the http and www and BEFORE the “suffix,” which typically can be any of these: .com, .org, .edu, etc. Note: After the .com or .org or .edu, there is a string of other information denoting folders and files.
Knowing how to choose the most useful links among the possible results your search engine offers, increases your efficiency and gets you quickly to the best possible source. To begin to get an idea about a source, look at the web address. It is not a sure-fire way to know what type or quality of information the source will contain, but it can give important clues.
Google usually points you to specific pages on a website, though that might sometimes be the front page, or homepage. It can sometimes be helpful to notice if the website on which the page is located is one you know about and if it is well-matched to your task. Sometimes, the name of the site gives you an idea about the kind of information you will find there. The name of the website is usually in the first part of the web address located AFTER the http and www and BEFORE the “suffix,” which typically can be any of these: .com, .org, .edu, etc. Note: After the .com or .org or .edu, there is a string of other information denoting folders and files.
Activity Time 6
s3_what_might_you_find_at_these_web_adresses.docx | |
File Size: | 127 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Download and save in your class folder, the worksheet - What Might You Find at These Web Addresses?Decode the web addresses and record on the sheet what you believe about the sources located at each. Print the sheet when you are finished and ask the teacher what to do next.
www.math-play.com/Integers-Jeopardy/Integers-Jeopardy.html
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/pointsofview/themes/life/index.html
www.sjusd.org/leland/teachers/sgillis/mapping/hist_of_maps3.ppt
http://www.answers.com/Q/Are_sausages_healthy&isLookUp=1#Q=Are%20sausages%20healthy%3F
http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/Home.html
http://www.cookie.com/kids/story/the-king-and-the-ring.html
http://kidcyber.com.au/topics/planet-earth/weather/
http://www.coo_lmath-games.com/0-2048
http://www.triviachamp.com/Greek-Mythology-Trivia-Questions.php
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/literature/china/6_8.html
http://www.mathwords.com/a/angle.htm
https://www.nsw.gov.au/your-government/premier
www.math-play.com/Integers-Jeopardy/Integers-Jeopardy.html
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/pointsofview/themes/life/index.html
www.sjusd.org/leland/teachers/sgillis/mapping/hist_of_maps3.ppt
http://www.answers.com/Q/Are_sausages_healthy&isLookUp=1#Q=Are%20sausages%20healthy%3F
http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/Home.html
http://www.cookie.com/kids/story/the-king-and-the-ring.html
http://kidcyber.com.au/topics/planet-earth/weather/
http://www.coo_lmath-games.com/0-2048
http://www.triviachamp.com/Greek-Mythology-Trivia-Questions.php
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/literature/china/6_8.html
http://www.mathwords.com/a/angle.htm
https://www.nsw.gov.au/your-government/premier
Grouping Key: White = Kids search engines; Yellow = metadata search engines; Orange = General search engines; Red = Visual-relational search engines; Purple = Subject search engines; Pink = Australian search engines; Black = Dictionaries with a difference; Teal = Search help
What do the suffixes mean?
Only a few top-level domains are currently recognized, but this is changing. ICANN (Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers) Here is a list of the domains that have been in operation for the past several years and are generally accepted by all:
Because the Internet was created in USA, "US" was not originally assigned to USA domain names. Other countries have their own two letter codes as the final part of their domain names, e.g., au for Australia, nz for New Zealand .uk for United Kingdom; .ca for Canada; .fr for France, etc. For a list of Internet Country Codes, go to: ISO's list of Country Codes
Only a few top-level domains are currently recognized, but this is changing. ICANN (Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers) Here is a list of the domains that have been in operation for the past several years and are generally accepted by all:
- .edu -- educational site (usually a university or college)
- .com -- commercial business site
- .gov -- U.S. governmental/non-military site
- .mil -- U.S. military sites and agencies
- .net -- networks, internet service providers, organizations
- .org -- U.S. non-profit organizations and others
- .aero -- restricted use by air transportation industry
- .biz -- general use by businesses
- .co -- general use by companies and communities
- .coop -- restricted use by cooperatives
- .info -- general use by both commercial and non-commercial sites
- .museum -- restricted use by museums
- .name -- general use by individuals
- .pro -- restricted use by certified professionals and professional entities
- ".bike", ".camera", ".equipment", ".estate", ".gallery", ".graphics", ".lighting", and ".photography"
Because the Internet was created in USA, "US" was not originally assigned to USA domain names. Other countries have their own two letter codes as the final part of their domain names, e.g., au for Australia, nz for New Zealand .uk for United Kingdom; .ca for Canada; .fr for France, etc. For a list of Internet Country Codes, go to: ISO's list of Country Codes