POLS 2 - Sweeney

Description

• Websites are online spaces that host a multitude of content. The collection of content for a website is within the same domain. (In the example below, sfdph.gov is the domain).
  • Examples:
    • Website Name: San Francisco Department of Public Health
    • Website Address (URL): https://www.sfdph.org

What do they contain?

• Webpages (which contain articles, blog posts, etc)
  • Example
    • Webpage: Environmental Health
    • From the Website: San Francisco Department of Public Health

How often are these sources published?

• Continuously

Found on:

• The "open web." Search engines "crawl" and "index" items found in the open web, such as webpages, blog posts, infographics, PDFs, and other material that people post to the web. The open web contains materials not behind a paywall (such as when an online journal website asks for payment to show you an article). Databases are technically behind a paywall, because they contain material that is accessed after the library pays a subscription fee.

Searching for information on the web efficiently requires developing a search strategy. Take your topic and think how you will turn it into search terms. While you can certainly search the web by entering a question, a stronger search strategy would be to choose the most impactful words of your question, and shape it in a way that the search engine understands.

If your research question is "What is the best solution to homelessness in the Bay Area?" the most essential elements to find are solution, homelessness, and the Bay Area. It can help to brainstorm alternatives to the words IN your research question, because different words will surface different results in your search.

Note: the quotation marks around some search terms help tell the search engine that you want results with the words stuck together exactly as you have them.

Combining three of my search concepts, a sample Google search is shown below.

You will need at least two Internet sources other than encyclopedias. They should be specific to your country or topic.  

Searching for information on the web efficiently requires developing a search strategy.  Many specialized databases and search tools are also available on the web. You will need to pay special attention to evaluating the credibility and objectivity of your Internet sources. Check out the research skills page to learn about ways to evaluate your website choices.