The Internet and the World Wide Web

The Internet and the World Wide Web

Sullivan University Library

The Internet is a worldwide network of connected computers.

This allows the sharing of electronic information and resources.

What is the Internet?

The Internet is considered the LARGEST telecommunications system ever created.

A common set of rules, known as protocols, allow the transport and viewing of files and documents found on computers connected to the Internet.

What is the Internet?

The World Wide Web is a hypertext-based system.

Hypertext allows users to click on buttons or highlighted text using a mouse to go to other Web pages containing text, sound, pictures, or video.

What is the World Wide Web?

The World Wide Web is accessed by the use of a web browser.

The World Wide Web (WWW)

A browser lets you access the WWW and “browse” the Internet for information.

You use the browser to maneuver through web pages.

Web Browsers

Parts of a Web Browser

Title Bar: Lists the title of the web page that you are viewing. There are three buttons to the right of the title bar which reduce, maximize, or close the screen.

Content Area: Displays the current web page that is open on the browser.


Address Field: Shows the URL (Web address) of the web page that is currently displayed.

Status Indicator: Shows whether or not the Web page has completely loaded and can be viewed.


Progress Bar: Indicates how much of the web page has loaded for viewing.

Status Message Field: Tells you the status of the web page. Indicates when the web page is done and open for viewing.

Scroll Bar: This is used to move up or down on the web page.


A browser “reads” the WWW pages, which are written in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), and converts them into a readable form.

To look at an example of HTML, click the VIEW menu at the top of a browser screen. This brings down a sub-menu screen. Click on SOURCE. After viewing, click on X (the close screen button) to close the source box.

Web Browsers

This is part of the Sullivan University Library home page in HTML.

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <title>Sullivan University | Library | Home</title> <link href="js/slider.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery-1.2.6.min.js"> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> /*** Simple jQuery Slideshow Script Released by Jon Raasch (jonraasch.com) under FreeBSD license: free to use or modify, not responsible for anything, etc. Please link out to me if you like

it :) ***/ function slideSwitch() { var $active = $('#slideshow IMG.active'); if ( $active.length == 0 ) $active = $('#slideshow IMG:last'); // use this to pull the images in the order they appear in the markup var $next = $active.next().length ? $active.next() : $('#slideshow IMG:first');

Web Browsers

A web site is a collection of web pages.

A home page is “the front cover” that tells what is inside.

A web page is an individual page that can be found on a web site.

What is a Web Site?

http://library.sullivan.edu is an example of a web address (also known as a Uniform Resource Locator or URL)

Every web page must have an unique web address to be found on the Internet.

Web Addresses

Your browser uses the web address (URL) to find information located on another computer and to retrieve the corresponding page situated on that server.

Uniform Resource Locators (Web Addresses)

Each part of the URL directs the browser to the correct web page.

Uniform Resource Locators (Web Addresses)

Domain extension Type of domain

.com Commercial

.net Network

.edu Educational

.org Organization

.gov Government

Different Domains on the World Wide Web

Log on to an on-campus computer and choose Internet Explorer from the programs menu.

Connecting to the Internet

Type http://library.sullivan.edu into the address box of the browser window.

Sullivan University Library Website

http://library.sullivan.edu/

Online Catalog: Books, audiotapes, and videotapes available on Sullivan University campuses.

Databases: Databases available to Sullivan University students

Reference Center: Tutorials, research guides, and periodical information

Library Website Features

Archives: Class pictures, commencement programs, and copies of old Heralds.

CSS: Materials and information needed for the library component of College Success Skills class.

Library Services: Services offered by the library, including Ask A Librarian.

Library Website Features

Some of the different types of search tools include:◦ Search engines◦ Web directories◦ Metasearch engines

Finding Websites Using a Search Tool

Search engines include Google, Bing, and Ask.com

Search engines are used to retrieve specific websites based on search criteria.

No single search tool finds every website. Different ones search different and overlapping parts of the web.

Search Engines

You may get thousands (or millions) of results, especially searching for a common or broad term. Some of the results may not be exactly what you are looking for.

Search Engines

Web directories are a collection of websites gathered by the creators of the directory or submitted by publishers of websites.

The websites in a directory are classified by subject.

Web Directories

Web directories are often useful for researching broad subjects or topics.

Yahoo! has an example of a web directory.

Web Directories

Metasearch engines are very similar to search engines but present results from more than one search engine at a time.

MetaCrawler is an example of a metasearch engine.

Metasearch Engines

As mentioned earlier, you will not find every single website on a topic using search engines.

There is an Invisible Web (also known as the Hidden Web) that contains websites not found using typical search engines. Some of these web sites are found using specialized web databases.

The Invisible Web

Ask yourself:

◦ Are there unique words, abbreviations, acronyms or synonyms for your topic?

◦ Are there any organizations or societies on the web related to your topic?

◦ Do any of the topic words belong together as a phrase?

◦ Are there any words that you would like to leave out of a search?

◦ What broader or narrower terms are related to your topic?

Conducting an Effective Searchon the Web

Read the help or instruction pages for the search tool you are using.

Avoid using words such as “a,” “of,” and “for.” These are often ignored during a search.


Enter the most important words first.

Often search engines will search and rank the first term used before any of the other search words.


Use capitalization for proper nouns and acronyms.

Use the lower case for words other than proper nouns. (Many search tools will search for both capitalized and uncapitalized words if the lower case is used).


Enclose phrases in quotes: (example: “United States”) to keep the words next to each other.

Check for mistakes in the spelling of your search words.

Use Boolean operators (or plus or minus signs depending on the search tool) to combine words.


Change the search using synonyms.

Use broader or narrower terms.

Use another search tool.


The Boolean operators are AND, OR, and NOT.

Boolean operators also called logical operators) can be used to help broaden or narrow your search.

Boolean Operators

The Boolean Operator AND helps you to narrow a search.

Using AND between two search words specifies that both of the words must be found in the resulting websites.

AND “connects” the words in your search.

“AND”

Say your search is: TATTOOS AND INFECTION

The green shaded area would be your results. This area includes all the sites that contain the both the words tattoos AND infection.

“AND”

The OR operator B R O A D E N S your search.

Using OR specifies that the sites found must contain at least one of your keywords.

It does not have to contain both of the keywords.

“OR”

If your search is PEPSI OR COCA-COLA The blue shaded area would be your results,

includes all of the sites that contain the words Pepsi or Coca-Cola, either separately or together.

“OR”

NOT excludes terms from a search.

Using NOT between two search words indicates that you are looking for the first word but not the second word.

“NOT”

If you are looking for information on desserts, but don’t want information about pies, your search would be: desserts NOT pies

Your results would be in the yellow-shaded area only.

“NOT”

Netiquette is the proper use of etiquette and courtesy on the WWW.

Netiquette on the Web

Web pages can be updated, redesigned, or removed

Not everything can be found on the web

Not everything is free on the web

Limitations of the Web

The web may not be the best place to start your research. You may choose to:◦ Review encyclopedias and reference books for

background information.◦ Look at periodical or magazine articles related to

the subject.◦ Then… look for WWW sites to supplement or

update your information.

Limitations of the Web

Anyone can publish on the web. The author of a web page may be opinionated or incorrect about facts.

It is very important to evaluate a web site to make sure that it contains accurate and reliable information.

Evaluating a Website

Look at the main purpose of the website.

◦ Is the site informative or does it try to persuade you of something?

Is the web site accurate?

◦ Are there errors in spelling or punctuation?

◦ Does the information appear reliable?


Look at the authority of the web site.

◦ For example, if the site was published anonymously, there is a possibility that this may not be a reliable site.


Look at the point of view.

◦ Does the web site appear to have a bias?

◦ Many web sites are sponsored by companies or groups that have an interest in promoting a certain viewpoint.


What is the Currency?

◦ Is there a date on the web site?◦ ◦ How old is the web site?

◦ Has it been updated?

◦ Are the links current?


The Internet and the World Wide Web

Documents