ASSIGNMENT 1: SEARCHING THE WEB Purpose: This assignment provides an introduction to using the World Wide Web as an information resource. It involves using a topic of your choice to find Web based information using a variety of Web search engines. Your tasks will include an evaluation of information found, creation of a Web page to present the information discovered, composition of evaluative and informative annotations for each resource presented, and a critical essay describing your search strategy and evaluating the effectiveness of Web search engines.
Steps:
- Choose a topic on which you want more information. The topic should be substantial in nature, but fairly narrow in scope. For example, American history is too broad, but a particular historical event or time period would be acceptable. Determine a few words or phrases that describe your topic and which can be used as search terms. Do not choose a single person, institution or group as your topic for this assignment. Determine as well the purpose or intent of your search. That is, describe why you want the information, who the intended user(s) is/are. You will be using this topic for Assignments 1 and 2.
- Choose four Web search engines and sites that offer a variety of techniques for discovering information on your chosen topic:
- two search engines that allow searching by terms and phrases
- at least one service that provides a classified list of topics from which to choose
- at least one specialized subject index or site of an academic nature
Perform searches using the search engines and begin to choose resources that look appropriate for your purpose. Keep in mind the parameters of your topic and your intended purpose as you make choices. Follow the hypertext links that might take you to additional resources. (When you discover a possibly useful resource, you can create a Bookmark which will record the URL for the document and serve as a means for revisiting the site later).
- As you use the various search engines and terms that describe your topic, make notes on the effectiveness of different search approaches for composing your evaluative essay. Keep a running record of your search strategy to report in the essay.
- Search until you have a list of ten useful Web documents that provide useful information on your topic. Remember that not all, or not even the best information resources will be available through the Web. You may conclude that the Web available resources do not provide adequate information for this topic. But you will have to make a convincing case for having made a thorough search.
TO SUBMIT ON: Tuesday, 23 September at 11.10 am. in class:
- A Web page consisting of:
- a descriptive introduction to your topic, its scope and parameters
- a list of the search engines and terms used to discover the information resources in your list
- an annotated ranked list of 10 information resources (most to least useful) providing the link to the web page(s)and your evaluative assessment of the contents of those pages
- A written essay (minimum of 6 doublespaced typewritten pages) that covers the following:
- A narrative analysis of your search strategy, describing the terms you used for searching the topic, types of searches performed, changes you made in search strategy as well as an evaluation of how your strategy(ies) worked for you.
- A critical analysis of types of information resources you found by searching the WWW; discussion of their value; types of information that were not available; the authority and authenticity of the discovered information.
- A evaluative review of the search engines you used and types of searches you performed that draws conclusions as to the value of the various search engines employed. Your review should draw upon readings completed for this assignment.
- A bibliographic list of readings completed for this assignment.
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author: Charlotte Nolan - cnolan@sims.berkeley.edu -- with: Lucy Kuntz - lkuntz@sims.berkeley.edu
source: http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/courses/is190-2/f97/
date: Aug 15, 1997